CV-90 with Spike-LR ATGM and Iron Fist APS - walkaround

Iran Readies Carrier Barge for Show of Force

Satellite imagery shows Iran repairing the U.S. carrier mock-up it previously targeted during the Great Prophet 9 military exercise in February 2015. The first signs that Iran may have renewed plans for the mockup occurred between July and August 2019. At the time, workers relocated the barge inside the breakwaters at Bandar Abbas naval base to begin repairs.

While work was not initiated until October, imagery acquired in November shows substantial patchwork already completed as well as ongoing reconstruction of the lattice structure supporting the barge’s deck. The steady increase in repairs suggests that it could be used in an upcoming military exercise before the end of the Iranian year in March 2020.

It’s expected Iran will likely target the barge inside the Strait of Hormuz to demonstrate its capabilities against a would-be aggressor. During the previous 2015 exercise, Iran struck the mock-up with multiple land-based anti-ship cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, fast attack craft, as well as suicide vessels. A final phase saw Iranian Special Forces fast-rope from helicopters onto the barge surface and attack the mock-up’s superstructure.

Iran’s ongoing signaling of its ability to strike U.S. assets in the Strait of Hormuz further reiterates its anti-access/area denial strategy. It is also keenly aware that any potential disruption to trade flows would likely impact the global economy. According to data collected by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, approximately 21 million barrels flowed through the vital chokepoint in 2018.

In light of the U.S. assassination of Qassim Suleimani and retaliatory strikes against U.S. positions in Iraq, Iran rehearsing an attack against a U.S. carrier would serve to further inflame tensions. At present, it’s unknown if Iran has planned other escalating measures.

Bottom Line – Iran will likely demonstrate its ability to attack a U.S. carrier in the Gulf before the end of the Iranian year, but repairs to the barge began before the recent tensions around Suleimani’s death.

Link - Iran Readies Carrier Barge for Show of Force

Al-Shabab claims attack on base serving US, Kenyan troops

AIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan police official says five suspects have been arrested after the al-Shabab extremist group on early Sunday attacked a military base used by U.S. and Kenyan troops.

Lamu county commissioner Irungu Macharia told The Associated Press the five suspects are being interrogated about the attack.

The U.S. Africa Command confirmed the attack on Camp Simba in Lamu county. Spokesman Col. Christopher Karns called al-Shabab's claims, including of inflicting severe casualties, "grossly exaggerated."

There was no report of U.S. or Kenyan deaths. The camp has under 100 U.S. personnel, according to Pentagon figures.

An internal Kenyan police report seen by The Associated Press said two fixed-wing aircraft, a U.S. Cessna and a Kenyan one, were destroyed along with two U.S. helicopters and multiple U.S. vehicles at the Manda Bay military airstrip. The report said explosions were heard at around 5:30 a.m. from the direction of the airstrip. The scene, now secured, indicated that al-Shabab likely gained entry "to conduct targeted attacks," the report said.

Al-Shabab's claim of responsibility said the attack destroyed U.S. equipment including aircraft and vehicles. It said fighters covertly "entered enemy lines" and that the attack was ongoing.

Kenya's military, however, said that "the airstrip is safe." It said that "arising from the unsuccessful breach a fire broke out affecting some of the fuel tanks located at the airstrip." The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said the airstrip was closed for all operations.

Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaida, is based in neighboring Somalia and has launched a number of attacks in Kenya. The group has been the target of a growing number of U.S. airstrikes during President Donald Trump's administration.

The latest attack comes just over a week after an al-Shabab truck bomb in Somalia's capital killed at least 79 people and U.S. airstrikes killed seven al-Shabab fighters in response.

Last year al-Shabab attacked a U.S. military base inside Somalia. The extremist group has carried out multiple attacks against Kenyan troops in the past in retaliation for Kenya sending troops to Somalia to fight it. Al-Shabab also has attacked civilian targets in Kenya including buses, schools and shopping malls.

The early Sunday attack comes days after a U.S. airstrike killed Iran's top military commander and Iran vowed retaliation, but al-Shabab is a Sunni Muslim group and there is no sign of links to Shiite Iran or proxies.

Analyst Rashid Abdi in Twitter posts discussing the attack said it had nothing to do with the tensions in the Middle East but added that Kenyan security services have long been worried that Iran was trying to cultivate ties with al-Shabab.

"Avowedly Wahhabist Al-Shabaab not natural ally of Shia Iran, hostile, even. But if Kenyan claims true, AS attack may have been well-timed to signal to Iran it is open for tactical alliances," he wrote, adding that "an AS that forges relations with Iran is nightmare scenario."

When asked whether the U.S. military was looking into any Iranian link to the attack, spokesman Karns said only that "al-Shabab, affiliated with al-Qaida, has their own agenda and have made clear their desire to attack U.S. interests."

The al-Shabab claim of responsibility said Sunday's attack was part of its "Jerusalem will never be Judaized" campaign, a rarely made reference that also was used after al-Shabab's deadly attack on a luxury mall complex in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, in January 2019.

U.S. Immediate Response Force Equipment Deploys to Central Command

U.S. Air Force Airmen load equipment assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, onto a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft bound for the U.S. Central Command area of operations from Fort Bragg, N.C. on January 4, 2020. This deployment is a precautionary action taken to respond to increased threat levels against U.S. personnel and facilities. The 'Devil' Brigade is the nucleus of the U.S. Immediate Response Force, capable of rapidly deploying anywhere in the world in response to a variety of contingency operations. (U.S. Army video by Sgt. 1st Class Jason Hull).

Paratroopers and equipment assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division load aircraft bound for the U.S. Central Command area of operations from Fort Bragg, N.C. on January 4, 2019. This deployment is a precautionary action taken to respond to increased threat levels against U.S. personnel and facilities. The 'Devil' Brigade is the nucleus of the U.S. Immediate Response Force, capable of rapidly deploying anywhere in the world in response to a variety of contingency operations.

VIA DVIDSHUB

IDF: 54 targets struck in Syria, 900 in Gaza over past year

ისრაელის თავდაცვითი ძალების განცხადების თანახმად, გასული წლის განმავლობაში ისრაელის ავიაციამ 54 სამიზნე გაანადგურა სირიაში და 900 გაზას სექტორში. უპილოტოებმა მთლიანობაში 40 000 საათი იფრინეს მტრის სამიზნეების საიდენტიფიკაციოდ. ამგვარად ისრაელი ცდილობს აღკვეცო ირანის მცდელობა მოიპოვოს გავლენა და გასასვლელი ხმელთაშუაზღვის რეგიონში.

ბოლო წლების დეტალური სტატისტიკა იხილეთ ინგლისურ ტექსტში:

Israel has struck 54 targets in Syria and 900 in the Gaza Strip over the last year, which has also seen a decrease in attacks in the West Bank, data released by the IDF has shown.

Thursday marked the first time that Israel’s military publicly stated the exact number of targets struck by the Israel Air Force in Syria.

Israel has been carrying out a “war-between-wars” campaign aimed at preventing Iran from reaching its goal of establishing a 1,200 km. length land bridge from Tehran to the Mediterranean, entrenching itself on Israel’s northern borders. Hundreds of targets are estimated to have been struck by Israel over the years.

During the first few years of Israel’s campaign against Iran, the state denied having struck targets in war-torn Syria, preferring instead plausible deniability in an attempt to prevent any retaliatory attacks by Iran or their proxies like Hezbollah.

On September 1, on the first day back to school in Israel, Hezbollah fired a Kornet anti-tank missile toward an IDF vehicle in northern Israel, driving between the communities of Yir’on and Avivim.

While there were no Israeli casualties or injuries, the incident marked the first time since the Second Lebanon War in 2006 that saw direct confrontation between the IDF and Hezbollah, which could have spiraled into war.

In addition to the targets destroyed in Syria, the IDF noted six cross-border attack tunnels dug by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. The military also noted that 38 kilometers of the barrier between Syria and Israel has been built along the northern border.

The past year saw the most serious peak of violence between Israel and terror groups in the strip since the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014, with 1,295 rockets fired in 2019 – the majority (93%) having been fired during the 12 violent rounds of confrontation between Israel and terrorist groups in the Strip.

According to the military, 729 of them were fired toward open territory while another 478 were fired toward residential areas, with 85% of them intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

While almost every year since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 the number of rockets fired toward Israel was in triple digits, 2018 has seen the most serious peak of violence between Israel and terror groups in the strip like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), since the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

In comparison, a total of just over 1,000 projectiles were fired toward Israel in 2018, and 35 projectiles were fired toward Israel in 2017, 15 the previous year and 21 in 2015, for a total of 71 rockets launched from the coastal enclave by terror groups.

In response to the rocket fire from Gaza, the Israel Air Force carried out over 1,800 sorties and struck 900 targets in the Strip over the past year, the large majority of them belonging to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. In comparison, 865 targets were struck in 2018.

Unmanned aerial vehicles spent over 40,000 operational hours during missions over the past year.

According to the IDF, only 22 out of a total of 47.5 kilometers of the underground barrier with the Gaza Strip has been completed. It was expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

In the West Bank, there has been a notable decrease in attacks by Palestinians against Israeli troops and civilians, with a total of 51 terror attacks in the past year compared to 76 in 2018, 75 in 2017 and 141 in 2016.

According to the data, there were 19 shooting attacks in 2019 compared to 33 during the previous year, 34 in 2017 and 54 in 2016. There has also been a decrease in stabbing attacks with 12 in 2019 compared to 17 in 2018, five in 2017 and 22 in 2016. The military noted that there was also a decrease in stone and IED throwing toward Israeli cars over the past year, with 1,469 instances of stone throwing in 2019, compared to 1,881 in 2018, 2,549 in 2017 and 2,225 in 2016. Meanwhile, there were 290 IEDs thrown at cars in 2019 compared to 990 the previous year.

The military also noted that 603 guns and 521 knives were confiscated from Palestinians in the West Bank, compared to 406 guns and 273 knives confiscated the previous year. The IDF also confiscated NIS 972,560 in terror funds compared to NIS 2,156,089 in 2018.

Only 20 out of 152 German Tiger and NH90 helicopters ready for action

As reported by local outlet Bild, the German Army is currently facing severe available issues with its helicopter fleet.

The German Army only had 8 available Tiger attack helicopters (out of a total of 53) and only 12 ready-to-use NH90 transport helicopters (out of 99) available in November, according to local media.

“The catastrophic operational readiness of the tiger now also affects the training of the pilots. This state of affairs is irresponsible,” Tobias Lindner told BILD here.

Availability issues have been impacting the operational effectiveness of the German military for some time now. Last year, we reported that less than a third of German military assets were operational.

The 2018 ‘Report on the Operational Readiness of the Bundeswehr Primary Weapons Systems’ was presented to Germany’s lower house of parliament with the following headline availability figures.

• Typhoon jets: 39 of 128

• Tornado jets: 26 of 93

• CH-53 transport helicopters: 16 of 72

• NH-90 transport helicopters: 13 of 58

• Tiger attack helicopters: 12 of 62

• A400M transport aircraft: 3 of 15

• Leopard 2 tanks: 105 of 224

• Frigates: 5 of 13

• Submarines: 0 out of 6

According to local media, the German Defence Ministry said that a higher number of training missions and deployments since Russia’s intervention in eastern Ukraine in 2014 had caused existing equipment to wear down quicker than it had previously.

“It’s a real disaster for the Navy, it’s the first time in history that there will not be any submarine operating for months,” warned the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament, Hans-Peter Bartels, in an interview published at the time.