C-802 Missile

[gazzzwp]

Apologies for posting this on the wrong section; it should be here:

With a confrontation with Iran looming ever closer, what is the truth about the US Navy's ability to defend against the dreaded C-802 missile? Will Aegis defense cope with it? Supposedly these missiles are cheap to manufacture and the Iranian, Chinese, and Pakistani military all possess these missiles in huge numbers. They can apparently be launched from hovercraft, fast moving small vessels, and aircraft.

This is the same missile that was launched by Hezbollah that nearly sunk an Israeli vessel in 2006.

Could this be part of the reason why there has been huge procrastination involved with the Iranian issue?

Any thoughts?

G

[PCShogun]

Seems to me that the first line of defense is to remain more than 200 km off the coast of Iran, the maximum range of the C-803 land variant missile. Barring a land launch of the weapon, the only remaining option is for Iran to fight its way through a U.S. Combat air patrol using its 20 or so remaining operational F-14's or its Mig-29's, and its obsolete F-4, F-5, or derivative indigenous attack aircraft. Not saying they couldn't do it, but the odds are unlikely if the target task force was on alert. I doubt the fear of the weapon is causing consternation for this reason. United States and other NATO forces could deploy into neighboring Iraq or Saudi Arabia, and from Carriers in the Arabian Sea, away from the threat of a C-802/C-803 and mount attacks against Iran without fear of an attack against its naval assets. Once air superiority was obtained, the range of the weapon is much reduced and the air war becomes a hunt for the mobile launchers and SAM sites, while bombing internal targets affecting infrastructure and military CNC.

There has been rumors of Iran upgrading its air force with aircraft from Russia and China, but none have yet appeared.

[lucinator]

Iran only has 60 of these and no parts to keep them upgraded, and it would be hard for them to get one in the fleet group to the carrier unless they used all 60 and even then it is unlikely that enough launch vehicles or aircraft would be able to get in range to launch enough to sink a carrier.

Also it is not known if the missile used by Hezbollah was a c-803, it is just a guess. Also it only did light damage, as the vessel was back in action in a few weeks.

[PCShogun]

Originally Posted by lucinator

Iran only has 60 of these and no parts to keep them upgraded, and it would be hard for them to get one in the fleet group to the carrier unless they used all 60 and even then it is unlikely that enough launch vehicles or aircraft would be able to get in range to launch enough to sink a carrier.

Also it is not known if the missile used by Hezbollah was a c-803, it is just a guess. Also it only did light damage, as the vessel was back in action in a few weeks.

Actually, it was back in service after a few months, not weeks, but considering that if the missile was a C-803, and the missile has a 600+ pound warhead, the amount of damage was not what one would have expected being used against a Corvette class vessel. A second missile missed the target and did manage to sink an Egyptian Freighter and killing several members of its crew.

Damage to the Corvette can be seen here: Exclusive: Photos of navy ship hit during war revealed - Israel News, Ynetnews

And footage of the missile launch is here:Report: Ship crew didn't realize missile threat - Israel News, Ynetnews

Watching the launch profile, the missile gains quite a bit of altitude before dropping down. the explosion comes very quickly afterward which makes me think the missile did not have time to deploy into its normal flight profile of a sea skimmer. The damage to the INS Hanit seems to have been on the main deck, near the helipad, not the lower hull where one might expect. I was not aware that the C-803 used a terminal popup maneuver, and the video does not show this, but could be blocked by buildings.

[lucinator]

I've got a a source that claims 3 weeks, not sure where 3 months comes from?
besides I agree with you that it probably wasn't a c-803
Navy ship redeploys following attack - JPost - Israel

[PCShogun]

Originally Posted by lucinator

I've got a a source that claims 3 weeks, not sure where 3 months comes from?
besides I agree with you that it probably wasn't a c-803
Navy ship redeploys following attack - JPost - Israel

My information came from the article above (YNetnews) which stated:
"The ship was repaired over a period of many months and was recently put back into operation."

There seems to be a lot of misleading information on this incident as further reading about the attack shows another source saying the freighter sunk was Cambodian, not Egyptian.