Remember That Houthi Missile That Almost Got Through?

The significance of the missile that almost got through to the USS Gravely, and Arleigh Burke class destroyer, bears repeating—so I’ll repeat it. Or at least the first part of the post:

Did Someone Just Send The US A Warning?

Potentially very big story out this morning: A US Arleigh Burke class destroyer shot down a Houthi cruise missile, using one of its Phalanx CIWS guns. What’s the big story here? Arleigh Burke class destroyers—the one in question was the USS Gravely—are:

The Arleigh Burke class of guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) is a United States Navy class of destroyer centered around the Aegis Combat System

Phalanx CIWS?

The Phalanx CIWS (SEE-wiz) is an automated gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats.

What this means is that the Houthi cruise missile got past our most sophisticated defenses and had to be taken down by the destroyer’s last ditch defense system. Count on this—nobody wants to have to take down a cruise missile with a “close-in weapon system.”

Now, I’m nowhere close to being an expert in missiles and air defense and all that jazz. So, the casual reader might have come away with the impression that there was something magical about the missile that was used. Perhaps that’s the story, but we know there’s got to be more to it—what’s the magic, what problem did that magic solve?

John Helmer has a fascinating post that suggests what could be going on, what’s behind the missile attack on the destroyer, what was behind the inability of the air defenses at Tower 22 to detect the incoming attacker—whatever it was. It also suggests why retaliatory strikes are unlikely to make any difference, because the strike on Tower 22, like the missile sent towards the USS Gravely, was a message. It comes down to the Russians having solved the air defense systems that the US stationed in Ukraine, and then sharing that solution with Iran. This, likely, has US defense officials freaked out, as Helmer makes clear, and they’re not eager to advertise that.

There’s quite a bit more beyond what I’ve excerpted, so you’ll want to follow the link. I’ve omitted the embedded photos and videos.

THE TOWER-22 STRIKE IN JORDAN TRIGGERS US, ISRAEL INTO ALL-FRONT WAR – THE ARABS AND IRAN ARE READY, THE RUSSIANS TOO

…

It was unclear on Sunday why air defences at the outpost failed to intercept the drone, which former military commanders said appeared to be the first known assault on the location since attacks on U.S. forces began soon after the Oct. 7 incursion.”  

Well-informed military sources are emphatic that the Tower-22 operation has strategic significance in quite another way. They believe Pentagon officials have already told the White House.

“This is a significant accomplishment,” one of the sources said. “Was the bypassing of the US air defence system at Tower-22 pulled off with Russian assistance? US bases generally rely on the C-RAM [Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar] system.  It was sent to Ukraine last year where the Russians have been learning to defeat it. What now of American EW [electronic warfare]? They’ve been doing a fair job of knocking drones down up to now. It seems a ‘coincidence’ that, not a week after the meetings in Moscow with Arabs and Iranians, we see this success. It’s a success the circumstances of which, we can be sure, Biden and Austin are not keen to advertise.”

Confirmation that C-RAM units are the principal air defence systems operating at US bases in Syria and Iraq, including Al-Tanf and Tower-22, came last October from former Pentagon official, Stephen Bryen. Bryen claimed at the time “for years I have complained that vulnerable American bases in Iraq and Syria lacked adequate air defenses. Bottom line: they still do.” When Bryen was at the Pentagon, he was also unusually close to the Israeli government.  

For details of the C-RAM system, its US Army development history and its allied counterparts, click to read this.  The evidence that C-RAM was delivered to Kiev last October, test-fired, and then installed to become part of Kiev’s air defence supporting the Patriot missile units, can be viewed in this 10-minute video from Night Hawk Veterans.  

Starting last May, there have been several effective Russian missile attacks against the Patriot batteries in Kiev.  At the start of this month, there were fresh Russian missile and drone attacks across Kiev.  

While there has been no announcement from the Russian Defense Ministry of a successful hit against C-RAM in Kiev, military sources believe Russia’s General Staff have acquired the technical capability to neutralize the American system, allowing drones through to hit their ground targets, including the C-RAM mounted truck unit.

The Iranians have been observing, as have the Arab forces planning and executing drone attacks against C-RAM defended US bases. How much of the Russian intelligence on C-RAM is being shared with them?

For details of last week’s detailed talks in Moscow with visiting delegations from the Yemen Ansarallah government (Houthis) and the Iranian Security Council, read this.  

Apart from US reports of the Tower-22 drone attack striking the troop living quarters, there is no information yet on how many drones detonated, and what equipment at the base may also have been hit.

The military source again: “If there’s no coincidence, and if this isn’t a lucky strike for the Arabs, then this may reflect a step-change up in Russian military assistance to the Iranians. Maybe Tower-22 was selected as a small target for demonstration effect, so as to send a message about the bigger targets, Al-Tanf and Muwaffaq Salti. Hitting them next makes ‘regional war’, and then US ground forces are going to be in the thick of it — the Biden Administration will have a new war on its hands — and bodybags, instead of votes, for Election Day. “

For the time being, Russian military bloggers – the only open-source reporters of Russian military operations in the Ukraine and worldwide – are not analyzing the implications of the Tower-22 operation.  

However, Militarist has reported the deployment of the Iranian naval drone carrier and electronic warfare vessel, the Shah Mahdavi, in the Gulf of Oman. There is no open-source western vessel tracking source for this report and the map.  

US Navy and other western media have been reporting for almost a year the conversion of the older container carrier into a warship by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).  

The current positioning of the Shah Mahdavi is a signal that if the Biden Administration, or the Trump election campaign, or their claques in the US Congress decide on making a direct, retaliatory strike against Iranian targets — military personnel, territorial units, or naval vessels — the IGRC will close the Strait of Hormuz.  Iran will then be at war with the US, and so will the rest of the world which, until Israel started its war against the Palestinians, depended on the Suez Canal, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean for its energy supply and trade lifelines.

“This is a major embarrassment and a message for the US and its allies “, the military source concludes. “It should resonate with all of them. It’s the conclusion to be drawn from the fact that the systems they have relied on have been defeated on land [in the Ukraine] and are now defending their ships on the Red Sea, and being defeated there too. The implications of all of this are enormous.  Now, even the smallest maritime country, at a relatively low cost, can project force and inflict harm on the traditionally dominant actors. No need for expensive fighter or strike aircraft, let alone the pilots to operate them, or technicians and facilities to maintain them. No need for specialized military ship-building facilities. Any bulk transport, cheaply got, will do.”

Next question: What else don’t we know about Russian and Iranian capabilities? And, whose idea was it to wage war on these obviously smart people?