Well, whatever happens, it looks like all things are getting ready:
Missile-defense exercise held in Middle East
By Andrew Scutro
Friday Jul 4, 2008
NORFOLK, Va. — In an unprecedented move, the Navy recently tested the communications network supporting its Aegis ballistic missile defense system across the Middle East. The test comes as top military commanders are expressing a hardened stance against Iran’s intransigence.
The upgraded Aegis systems aboard Navy destroyers and cruisers can track ballistic missiles and intercept them with ship-launched SM-3 missiles.
Tensions have flared recently over Iran’s intent to attain nuclear arms and its persistent threats to destroy Israel, which has indicated it could defend itself with a pre-emptive strike.
The intensified sparring — with the consequences of an additional Middle East war in mind — has prompted U.S. military commanders to speak up.
On July 2, Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, the 5th Fleet commander based in Bahrain, told a conference of naval leaders in the Persian Gulf that maritime security in the area remains an “essential condition” to global stability.
While not speaking specifically about the BMD exercise, he said naval operations in the area reflect the high stakes involved. “Conducting these operations in and around the Arabian Gulf sends a signal of security within the region that is commensurate with the area’s global importance,” he said.
The BMD exercise, which took place from June 28 through July 2, involved the destroyer Benfold operating in the Persian Gulf and the destroyer Russell operating in the eastern Mediterranean.
According to 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy, the exercise has been “long scheduled,” with planning initiated last year. On top of the regional hostility, oil shipping through the gulf remains vulnerable, with rising energy prices generating widespread anxiety in the U.S. economy.
Cosgriff was quoted in news reports from the Gulf Naval Commanders’ Conference in Abu Dhabi saying that Iran will not be permitted to choke off the Strait of Hormuz, through which millions of barrels of oil pass on tanker ships every day. “We will not allow Iran to close [the Strait of Hormuz],” Cosgriff said.
Command presence
Cosgriff spoke just days before relinquishing command of 5th Fleet to Rear Adm. Bill Gortney. Gortney recently led the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group on a seven-month deployment that included a rotation in the Persian Gulf. He arrives following an Israeli air force exercise in June that has been characterized as a rehearsal for a strike on suspected nuclear facilities in Iran.
Top military commanders also have been in the region recently.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead have visited Israel in the past few weeks, where they met with military leadership.
At a Pentagon news conference July 2, Mullen told reporters that he believes Iran is a “destabilizing factor” in the Middle East and remains “on a path to get to nuclear weapons, and I think that’s something that needs to be deterred.”
He emphasized his preference for a diplomatic solution and would not speculate on what actions the Israeli military may take. “We certainly talked about Iran and the degree to which the Israeli military views the Iranian regime as a threat to their security and to the security of the broader Middle East,” he said of his meetings in Israel. “I won’t discuss the details or the concerns they expressed, nor will I comment one way or any other about the speculation surrounding Israeli intentions. Those are matters for the Israeli military and the Israeli government to address.”
Mullen said another shooting war would be “extremely stressful” on the U.S. military and that an Israeli strike would lead to further trouble. “This is a very unstable part of the world, and I don’t need it to be more unstable,” he said.
The Navy has been refining its seagoing ballistic missile defense system, both its ability to track the trajectory of a ballistic missile and to intercept it. There have been nine successful strikes of target ballistic missiles by Navy ships in the Pacific.
According to the Missile Defense Agency, by 2009, three cruisers and 15 destroyers will be capable of intercepting ballistic missiles. The recent exercise in the Middle East was described as a communications exercise to test the rapid exchange of information between the two fleets.
“During the exercise, the ships will work with one another in detecting, tracking, sharing information and engaging a simulated ballistic missile by sharing data via a number of paths,” according to information from 6th Fleet.
It’s not known whether the scenario involved such a simulated missile being shot from a Persian Gulf nation such as Iran toward a Mediterranean nation such as Israel, or vice versa.
Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow for foreign policy and a military expert at the Brookings Institution, said there may be symbolic values to staging such an exercise in the region, given the antagonism among Iran, Israel and the U.S. But more importantly, the exercise will test the military communications both ashore and afloat throughout the region. “You want to learn how you coordinate the data in real time,” he said.
Bob Work, a senior defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the tests show the fleet continues to refine its ballistic missile defense tactics.
“The great value of Navy Aegis/BMD ships is that they can position themselves anywhere in the world along likely missile threat axes to maximize the probability of a successful interception,” he said. “Exercises in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf demonstrate that these ships are equally capable operating off of North Korea, near Iran, or near any other potential adversary.”
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/0...ctest_071408w/
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