You don't know what you're talking about. The other NATO ships have the ability to shoot down the drones & cruise missiles & repel boarding parties with armed helos. They can & have been shooting down drones & cruise missiles.Kismet wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 7:40 amAgreed. Saudi navy doesn't have a ship bigger than a frigate. Mostly corvettes. Maybe divert some of that LIV golf $$$$$ to build some kind of military defense capability in a bad neighborhood.tech37 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 7:18 amNever thought I'd end the year agreeing with a fan on much of anything. Too bad it's regarding more war, unprovoked or otherwise.a fan wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 9:07 pmIran does. Start sinking ships. They'll get the message.
I'm against unprovoked war. But defending your nation is fine.
I get that. That's THE point: build one. How the F do the Saudis have THAT much coastline with THAT much dependence on shipping oil....and not have a freaking fleet?
You're being perfectly clear. You're giving the Saudis (and others) a pass for not protecting shipping lanes that are directly adjacent to their own freaking countries. I'm not. They've got money. They've got shipyards. Build a fleet.old salt wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 12:13 am Am I not being clear in explaining this, or are you being willfully obtuse because you don't accept reality as it exists ?
The Iranians are opening a whole new front in their war against the civilized world & we're releasing their sanctioned $'s to pay for it.
As for the Houtis? Hit the Iranians if you want to avoid hitting Yemen. Start turning their ships into coral reefs. If that doesn't get the message across, start hitting ports.
Defend your nation.
Iran keeps playing these games because no one hits back.
Hit back.
And barking the BS about NATO command when no NATO Navy except the Brits and us have the ships and weapons to do the job is just more anti-European piling on by their biggest "fan" around here. Sometimes think Saltine hates the Euros more than the Rooskies.
Wasn't too long ago we were trying to get the Saudis to stop bombing the Houthis which they finally did - no everyone wants us to bomb them. Maybe retract that terrorist designation first though.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/ ... a-military
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67738032
They just don't have the BMD capability or carry as many missiles as USN AEGIS destroyers do. 1 USN AEGIS destroyer can provide BMD for the entire task force.
It is not surprising that the Saudis or other NATO navies do not possess a BMD capability. They have not faced the threat like USN & Japanese warships do from Chinese & N Korean ballistic missiles. It's an extensive & expensive upgrade & technology we only share with our most trusted allles.
The Saudi's have 4 air defense frigates based in the Red Sea, each with 26 short range SAM's.
They could escort ships in close proximity. They just don't have a BMD capability, but neither do any of our NATO allies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Madinah-class_frigate
NATO could easily command the task force. Norway & Spain both have AEGIS ships. The Brits, French, Italian & German air defense destroyers & frigates do not have AEGIS, but they have capable systems.
Except for the BMD threat, NATO (without USN ships) is perfectly capable of dealing with this low intensity air defense threat.
https://cepa.org/article/nato-must-be-r ... -conflict/
We're protecting the Euros from the Rooskies because they take us for granted & are too cheap to do it themselves.