US Navy warships are training to survive the naval nightmares that wrecked Russia's Black Sea Fleet

[Rogue Valley]

US Navy warships are training to survive the naval nightmares that wrecked Russia's Black Sea Fleet

Task Force 66 is on the front lines of the Navy's efforts to learn innovative and asymmetric warfighting tactics like those observed in Ukraine.

www.businessinsider.com

7.2.25
Amid rapid changes in naval warfare, a ship today could find itself suddenly facing a swarm of small, fast, uncrewed vessels ready to strike hard right at the waterline — a potentially critical hit. With this growing threat in mind, the US Navy is training warships to defend against attacks by hostile drone boats. Navy leadership is closely watching how drones are shaping the conflict in Ukraine and studying how it can integrate uncrewed systems into the traditional fleet for future operations. Drone boats, specifically, are dangerous and innovative weapons that Ukraine used to inflict pain on Russia's fleet in the Black Sea. Top commanders see the offensive potential, as well as the need to be ready to defend against them. "These asymmetric capabilities can be used against us, too," Rear Adm. Michael Mattis, commander of the Navy's Task Force 66. He said this specific exercise was designed so sailors could understand the operating characteristics of the fast and agile naval drones, which can appear almost undetected out of nowhere and quickly swarm a vessel.

In the Black Sea, Ukraine has demonstrated to the US and its NATO allies the dangers of ignoring these capabilities. Ukraine's operations damaged or destroyed dozens of Russian warships and forced Moscow to relocate the bulk of its fleet from its long-held headquarters in the occupied Crimean peninsula to the port of Novorossiysk in the eastern part of the Black Sea. The Navy watched this asymmetric warfare cycle unfold in the Black Sea and realized the pressing need to reduce it down to its most basic form in a "red-versus-blue" training scenario. Mattis said the exercise took place at the basic level, with the purpose of creating what he described as a dilemma. He explained that "when someone pushes a gun in your face, as Russia did with Ukraine, and you are forced to innovate to survive — when it is absolutely 'figure it out or die' — the ability to get after problem-solving and the ability to remove barriers and eliminate excuses is incredible." "We've seen our Ukrainian partners do that in ways that are incredibly inspiring," he said. The US Navy isn't in that kind of fight, but it realizes it needs to be ready for one.

Russian warships in the Black Sea are susceptible to Ukrainian naval drones, airborne kamakazee drones, and Neptune anti-ship missiles. The Black Sea has become too deadly for Russian warships and they remain in port at Novorossiysk, Russia.

 

[Peacenik]

I wonder if drone torpedoes have been developed. A long range torpedo which could be remotely controlled to alter it's course and speed would be very difficult to defend against.

 

[Tangmo]

Good on the USN and the Army too, each of which is moving to protect its capital assets against attack by drones. The Army is going for a Top Attack Protection TAP add on armor system for its tracked vehicles focusing on its tanks. It's adding armor protection to the top surface of its tanks and other tracked attack vehicles.

Army Wants Cope Cage-Like Armor To Protect From Drone Attacks On Its Tanks

With the threat of drones rapidly changing the realities of warfare, the Army finally requests overhead armor on 1,500 tracked vehicles.

www.twz.com

To better protect its armor from top-down attacks by drones and, to a lesser extent, anti-tank guided missiles, the U.S. Army wants to buy more than 1,500 passive Top Attack Protection add-on armor systems for its tracked combat vehicles. The systems are designed to protect the top of vehicles, where there is less armor protection, from overhead attacks. The Army is allocating about $92 million to install TAP systems on 1,528 vehicles. It is part of a $107 million Vehicle Protection System (VPS) package that also includes Laser Warning Receivers (LWR) and Signature Management Paint (SMP).


Further info at the link is good.

 

[Peacenik]

Are we approaching a point where humans are not required for war?

Perhaps it will be drone wars?

And then, eventually, why have the hardware?

Virtual wars?

 

[Rogue Valley]

The first thing the Russians did on the morning of 24 February 2022 was to cyber-attack Ukraine's Ministries, the banking system, power grids, etc.

 

[MamboDervish]

I wonder if drone torpedoes have been developed. A long range torpedo which could be remotely controlled to alter it's course and speed would be very difficult to defend against.

And very, very difficult to control remotely, as water tends to strongly suppress radio waves. Conventional torpedoes are effective, but even they require a boat to deploy them, and its a bit too late for Ukraine to build a viable navy.

 

[Peacenik]

And very, very difficult to control remotely, as water tends to strongly suppress radio waves. Conventional torpedoes are effective, but even they require a boat to deploy them, and its a bit too late for Ukraine to build a viable navy.

It could perhaps be sonic controlled.

 

[Napoleon]

I wonder if drone torpedoes have been developed. A long range torpedo which could be remotely controlled to alter it's course and speed would be very difficult to defend against.

Russia has one. It’s called the Poseidon torpedo.

 

[MamboDervish]

It could perhaps be sonic controlled.

But the drone torpedo operator will still have to see the target to direct it.

 

[Napoleon]

But the drone torpedo operator will still have to see the target to direct it.

Not necessarily. Russia’s Poseidon torpedo is fully autonomous. They just give it a target, drop it in the water, and it does the rest. It has a range of 6,200 miles and can be armed with either a conventional or nuclear warhead.

 

[Peacenik]

But the drone torpedo operator will still have to see the target to direct it.

That could be accomplished with modern technology. It does not have to be actual visual sight as long as the target could be detected and located.

 

[MamboDervish]

Not necessarily. Russia’s Poseidon torpedo is fully autonomous. They just give it a target, drop it in the water, and it does the rest. It has a range of 6,200 miles and can be armed with either a conventional or nuclear warhead.

So it isn't really a drone at all. It's the equivalent of an underwater cruise missile.

 

[Napoleon]

So it isn't really a drone at all. It's the equivalent of an underwater cruise missile.

More like if an ICBM was underwater and could think independently to guide itself. Its uses are twofold. One is detonating outside of coastal areas to destroy shipyards and generate radioactive tsunamis. The other is to reach the interior of Western Europe through river deltas. So, for example, they could deploy it anywhere within a radius of 6,200 miles to ultimately travel down the Sein and detonate in the middle of Paris. There aren’t currently any countermeasures to defend against it.

 

[MamboDervish]

More like if an ICBM was underwater and could think independently to guide itself. Its uses are twofold. One is detonating outside of coastal areas to destroy shipyards and generate radioactive tsunamis. The other is to reach the interior of Western Europe through river deltas. So, for example, they could deploy it anywhere within a radius of 6,200 miles to ultimately travel down the Sein and detonate in the middle of Paris. There aren’t currently any countermeasures to defend against it.

It would seem like layers of simple steel netting at the river mouths would be a more than sufficient countermeasure to prevent that.

 

[Napoleon]

It would seem like layers of simple steel netting at the river mouths would be a more than sufficient countermeasure to prevent that.

There are a lot of ways to neutralize that and, of course, to have any hope at all they would need advance warning. The Poseidon is also equipped with stealth technology so they’d never see it coming. It is the ultimate weapon in nuclear surprise.

 

[JMB1911A1]

I wonder if drone torpedoes have been developed. A long range torpedo which could be remotely controlled to alter it's course and speed would be very difficult to defend against.

You mean like the Mk48 ADCAP that we have had for decades?

Mark 48 torpedo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bodi]

Are we approaching a point where humans are not required for war?

Perhaps it will be drone wars?

And then, eventually, why have the hardware?

Virtual wars?

The greatest soldiers of future wars will be gamers...