Monday, July 27, 2020

Why a dummy?

Commander Salamander and his commenters are musing about why Iran would spend the money on a fake aircraft carrier, and then tow it to the Strait of Hormuz. It isn't as though they're rolling in dough. The boat isn't as expensive as a real carrier, but it isn't chicken feed either.

Two interesting suggestions so far are "graft" (somebody connected has a boondoggle contract) and as an obstacle in the strait. And, of course, propaganda movies for home consumption as they blow the "American" carrier to bits.

It's a dummy carrier, but it isn't obvious what lies under the fake flat top. I'm not an expert on the strait, but maybe they're laying mines with the thing. It doesn't "look like" a mine layer, so you've got some surprise there. If they were planning an imminent attack, it could also be a "fire ship" or kamikazi. I don't think they've got the drones to use it to launch a fast drone-swarm attack. (I wonder how many drones you need to overwhelm anti-aircraft measures on our modern boats. I suppose you might do some damage with hundreds of small drones too--sort of like strafing.)

3 comments:

Douglas2 said...

My understanding is that it's the same dummy carrier used as a training-target/film-set in 2015, rebuilt atop the same barge.

I'd say odds are that the purpose this year is just the same, but it doesn't bother me that others are thinking about whether it might be some different 'secret weapon' usage.

DOuglas2 said...

OK, who had "create a shipping hazard in the approach to the Iranian harbor of Bandar Abbas" on their bingo card?

james said...

This has been a weird year.