US, France, UK Conclude Anti-Mine Exercise off Bahrain Coast
Dr. Shaul Shay
| 13/05/2019
US Army photo by Spc. Vincent Fausnaught (Source: DVIDS)
The tensions between Iran and the United States are on the rise following a “maximum pressure” strategy applied by the Trump administration against Tehran. Among the steps recently taken in this regard were the listing of the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department and the decision to end sanction waivers to countries importing oil from Iran.
In response, Iran designated the US as a state-sponsor of terrorism, and CENTCOM, the command of US armed forces responsible for the Middle East region, as a terrorist organization. Adm. Alireza Tenksiri, commander of the naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, stated in April 2019 that Iran would close the Hormuz strait to all traffic if Tehran were prevented from using it.
Amid this growing tension, the US, French and British navies have held a joint anti-mine exercise off Bahrain in April, called Artemis Trident, in support of the free movement of trade in Persian Gulf waters and the Strait of Hormuz.
The exercise involved over 700 personnel, ten ships, and five helicopters from the three nations. The ships included the US Navy expeditionary sea base USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3), fleet ocean tug USNS Catawba (T-ATF 168), Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship USS Sentry (MCM 3), Island-class coastal patrol boats USCGC Maui (WPB 1304) and USCGC Wrangell (WPB 1332); the United Kingdom Royal Navy’s RFA Cardigan Bay (L3009) and minehunters HMS Shoreham (M112) and HMS Ledbury (M30); and the French Marine Nationale’s minehunters FS L’Aigle (M647) and FS Sagittaire (M650). US Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM-15) MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters also participated in the drills.
“As mines threaten maritime traffic indiscriminately, the US, France and United Kingdom are dedicated to conducting tactical training to counter the risk of mines in order to support the continued free flow of commerce and freedom of navigation in this critical region,” said a statement by the US Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.
The 5th Fleet’s area of operations includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. The expanse is comprised of 20 countries and includes three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen.
Any mine-clearing process is slow, tedious, and costly. The generally low availability of mine countermeasure resources in the Gulf region compounds the difficulty in any rapid mine clearing efforts. The US has between four to five mine countermeasure vessels ported in Bahrain at any given time, and although reinforcements could be summoned this would take weeks. The French Navy, British Royal Navy, Royal Saudi Navy, and UAE Navy possess a mixture of mine countermeasure vessels but they are generally limited.
The Sea Mine Threat
Sea mines are one of the oldest weapons in the naval inventory. They represent a highly desirable, cost-effective, low-tech weapon that can inflict considerable loss to adversarial forces. Naval mines allow weaker forces to challenge superior forces as they are difficult to find even with modern equipment.
Naval mines are cheap to manufacture, have relatively uncomplicated maintenance requirements, possess longevity, and can be deployed from various platforms.
In the 1980s, during the Iraq-Iran war, Iran was mining waters in the Persian Gulf to prevent oil tankers from coming in or out of ports in the Arab part of the Gulf — Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, etc. At the end of the war in 1988, an Iranian mine was able to inflict severe damage to the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf.
American intelligence estimates the mine arsenal of Iran to number around two thousand mines, although other sources speculate the number could be as high as five thousand mines. Iran is one of nearly two dozen nations that can manufacture mines domestically although its more advanced inventory of naval mines is largely comprised of purchases from Russia, China, and North Korea.
Iranian-produced mines are often replicas of Chinese-designed mines fitted with upgrades and modernizations (the Chinese were involved in the development of Iranian mine manufacturing facilities), and may be able to produce its own rising mines – it discussed such transfer of technology with Beijing as far back as the early 1990s. Iran is also able to retrofit older contact mines with new technologies such as smarter actuation fuzes, and it claims to be able to domestically produce mines using non-magnetic materials – a stealth measure which makes them much less susceptible to detection by high-frequency sonar.
The ability of Iranian forces to rapidly deploy mines depends on variables related to its minelaying platforms. For the types of mines Iran possesses, submarines represent the best mine-laying platforms. For such endeavors, Iran’s most capable assets are its fleet of three stealthy Kilo-class submarines which come with six torpedo tubes that can lay 24 mines per sortie. In addition to its Kilo-class subs, Iran is now believed to operate seven Ghadir-class and one Nahang-class midget submarines, all of which are indigenously built. Iranian forces will also utilize mine-laying platforms such as converted small boats, open-decked ships, and even disguised merchant vessels.
Iran has threatened that it will close the Hormuz strait for shipping if Iran’s oil export is blocked and the use of naval mines is one of its military options. The Houthi rebels in Yemen are using naval mines in the Red Sea, which are believed to have been sourced from Iran. The mines are a significant threat to merchant shipping using the busy Red Sea shipping lanes.
Summary
The US, UK, and French navies have conducted anti-mine drills off Bahrain’s coast amid rising tensions with Iran after the designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terror organization by the US. The kingdom of Bahrain is located in the waters between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Bahrain is a strategic ally of Saudi Arabia, and also home to a permanent British military base. Exercises are prioritizing boosting interoperability and illustrating the dedication of the three countries to guarantee unfettered maritime operations.
The Iranian-backed Houthi militias spread naval mines, off the western Yemeni coastline – especially in the vicinity of Mokha, Al-Hodeida, and Midi, thereby endangering international ships and shipping lanes.
The Yemeni forces and Saudi Navy are constantly engaged in mine-sweeping operations on Yemeni shores, amid warnings over mines planted by Houthi militias but these anti-mine warfare efforts don’t seem to be sufficient for confronting the threat. The US Navy is the main force in the region that does maintain a robust anti-mine warfare capability.
Iran’s backing of the Houthi rebels necessarily raises comparisons between the Bab al-Mandeb situation and the significant chokepoint in the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz and Iran is watching how the Trump administration and the Saudi coalition respond to the challenge.
[Sources: The Defense Post, al Arabiya, The New Arab, INEGMA]
US Army photo by Spc. Vincent Fausnaught (Source: DVIDS)
The tensions between Iran and the United States are on the rise following a “maximum pressure” strategy applied by the Trump administration against Tehran. Among the steps recently taken in this regard were the listing of the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department and the decision to end sanction waivers to countries importing oil from Iran.
In response, Iran designated the US as a state-sponsor of terrorism, and CENTCOM, the command of US armed forces responsible for the Middle East region, as a terrorist organization. Adm. Alireza Tenksiri, commander of the naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, stated in April 2019 that Iran would close the Hormuz strait to all traffic if Tehran were prevented from using it.
Amid this growing tension, the US, French and British navies have held a joint anti-mine exercise off Bahrain in April, called Artemis Trident, in support of the free movement of trade in Persian Gulf waters and the Strait of Hormuz.
The exercise involved over 700 personnel, ten ships, and five helicopters from the three nations. The ships included the US Navy expeditionary sea base USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3), fleet ocean tug USNS Catawba (T-ATF 168), Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship USS Sentry (MCM 3), Island-class coastal patrol boats USCGC Maui (WPB 1304) and USCGC Wrangell (WPB 1332); the United Kingdom Royal Navy’s RFA Cardigan Bay (L3009) and minehunters HMS Shoreham (M112) and HMS Ledbury (M30); and the French Marine Nationale’s minehunters FS L’Aigle (M647) and FS Sagittaire (M650). US Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM-15) MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters also participated in the drills.
“As mines threaten maritime traffic indiscriminately, the US, France and United Kingdom are dedicated to conducting tactical training to counter the risk of mines in order to support the continued free flow of commerce and freedom of navigation in this critical region,” said a statement by the US Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.
The 5th Fleet’s area of operations includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. The expanse is comprised of 20 countries and includes three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen.
Any mine-clearing process is slow, tedious, and costly. The generally low availability of mine countermeasure resources in the Gulf region compounds the difficulty in any rapid mine clearing efforts. The US has between four to five mine countermeasure vessels ported in Bahrain at any given time, and although reinforcements could be summoned this would take weeks. The French Navy, British Royal Navy, Royal Saudi Navy, and UAE Navy possess a mixture of mine countermeasure vessels but they are generally limited.
The Sea Mine Threat
Sea mines are one of the oldest weapons in the naval inventory. They represent a highly desirable, cost-effective, low-tech weapon that can inflict considerable loss to adversarial forces. Naval mines allow weaker forces to challenge superior forces as they are difficult to find even with modern equipment.
Naval mines are cheap to manufacture, have relatively uncomplicated maintenance requirements, possess longevity, and can be deployed from various platforms.
In the 1980s, during the Iraq-Iran war, Iran was mining waters in the Persian Gulf to prevent oil tankers from coming in or out of ports in the Arab part of the Gulf — Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, etc. At the end of the war in 1988, an Iranian mine was able to inflict severe damage to the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf.
American intelligence estimates the mine arsenal of Iran to number around two thousand mines, although other sources speculate the number could be as high as five thousand mines. Iran is one of nearly two dozen nations that can manufacture mines domestically although its more advanced inventory of naval mines is largely comprised of purchases from Russia, China, and North Korea.
Iranian-produced mines are often replicas of Chinese-designed mines fitted with upgrades and modernizations (the Chinese were involved in the development of Iranian mine manufacturing facilities), and may be able to produce its own rising mines – it discussed such transfer of technology with Beijing as far back as the early 1990s. Iran is also able to retrofit older contact mines with new technologies such as smarter actuation fuzes, and it claims to be able to domestically produce mines using non-magnetic materials – a stealth measure which makes them much less susceptible to detection by high-frequency sonar.
The ability of Iranian forces to rapidly deploy mines depends on variables related to its minelaying platforms. For the types of mines Iran possesses, submarines represent the best mine-laying platforms. For such endeavors, Iran’s most capable assets are its fleet of three stealthy Kilo-class submarines which come with six torpedo tubes that can lay 24 mines per sortie. In addition to its Kilo-class subs, Iran is now believed to operate seven Ghadir-class and one Nahang-class midget submarines, all of which are indigenously built. Iranian forces will also utilize mine-laying platforms such as converted small boats, open-decked ships, and even disguised merchant vessels.
Iran has threatened that it will close the Hormuz strait for shipping if Iran’s oil export is blocked and the use of naval mines is one of its military options. The Houthi rebels in Yemen are using naval mines in the Red Sea, which are believed to have been sourced from Iran. The mines are a significant threat to merchant shipping using the busy Red Sea shipping lanes.
Summary
The US, UK, and French navies have conducted anti-mine drills off Bahrain’s coast amid rising tensions with Iran after the designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terror organization by the US. The kingdom of Bahrain is located in the waters between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Bahrain is a strategic ally of Saudi Arabia, and also home to a permanent British military base. Exercises are prioritizing boosting interoperability and illustrating the dedication of the three countries to guarantee unfettered maritime operations.
The Iranian-backed Houthi militias spread naval mines, off the western Yemeni coastline – especially in the vicinity of Mokha, Al-Hodeida, and Midi, thereby endangering international ships and shipping lanes.
The Yemeni forces and Saudi Navy are constantly engaged in mine-sweeping operations on Yemeni shores, amid warnings over mines planted by Houthi militias but these anti-mine warfare efforts don’t seem to be sufficient for confronting the threat. The US Navy is the main force in the region that does maintain a robust anti-mine warfare capability.
Iran’s backing of the Houthi rebels necessarily raises comparisons between the Bab al-Mandeb situation and the significant chokepoint in the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz and Iran is watching how the Trump administration and the Saudi coalition respond to the challenge.
[Sources: The Defense Post, al Arabiya, The New Arab, INEGMA]
