After months of toe the “ reddish line”set by US president Obamaregarding the use of chemical arm against his own civilian population , Syrian President of the United States Bashar al - Assad ’s authorities has seemingly been caught kill more than 300 Syrian civilian and sickening over 1000 more in a suspectedsarin nerve gasattack . The US hasalready consideredits air rap options . Here ’s how it would get the job done .
http://gawker.com/obama-orders-release-of-report-justifying-air-strike-in-1205362037
How closely are we ?
France , Britain , Turkey , and other NATO allies have already anathemize al - Assad ’s government as the GB attack ’s culprit , withFrancelast weekenddemandingthat UN inspectors be allow immediate access to the alleged site of the approach . “ The result is obvious . There is a United Nations squad on the ground , just a few kilometers away . It must very cursorily be allowed to go to the web site to extend out the necessary tryout without hindrance , ” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius toldReuterslast Saturday .
That independent UN team did receive access to the site — five days after sustained and sound heavy weapon shell by pro - Assad forces — andcame under sniper firewhile there . And according to aCBS newsworthiness report , the President Obama spent most of this past Saturday poring over grounds of the attack with his internal security squad , putting together “ a skinny zephyr - wet circumstantial case that the Syrian government was behind it . ”
CBS Newsfurther explains :
There was no public debate at the Saturday coming together that a military response is necessary . Obama ordered up legal justification for a military strike , should he consecrate one , outside of the United Nations Security Council . That procedure is well underway , and particular emphasis is being placed on say infraction of the Geneva Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention .
An external military interference in Syria ’s two - year - plus civil war is coming , whether the Russians like it or not . Here ’s what America ’s purpose in an ally violation it will believably involve .
By sea
Between the Arab Spring uprisings , the saber - rale of outgoing hardliner Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , the US invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan , and the bedlam observe the fall of Libyan and Egyptian tyrants , the Middle East has been an global military and political focal point for more than three year now . And wherever the US military machine tramp its gaze , fleets of warship are bound to follow .
We ’ve already got a healthy armada patrolling region in the Fifth and Sixth fleet . The US Fifth Fleet , which is reportedly presently police the Persian Gulf and Red Sea , include two of our biggest , baddest carrier : USS Nimitz and USS Harry S. Truman . Each of these 1,000 - foot , 116,400 - ton floating military bases is power by a pair ofWestinghouseA4W nuclear reactors , giving them limitless range and nearly illimitable tycoon .
These carrier are equipped with nominal defence — basic electronic and gun countermeasure — and light offensive capacity — a few Sea Sparrows and other miscellaneous missiles — namely because they ’re pack with rough 90 hard armed specify - flank aircraft and helicopters . Each . That ’s not even including the horde of support ships , destroyers , patrol car , and submarines that make up aUS Navy Carrier Strike Group .
The Fifth Fleet would n’t even really need to travel into the Mediterranean to strike military targets in Syria . With the right clearance from NATO allies like Jordan and Turkey , the Fifth could ride comfortably in the Red Sea and lob sail missiles over allied airspace into the conflict zone .
The Sixth Fleet , on the other hand , is already currently on patrol in the Mediterranean . Interestingly , since the news of an impending smash broke , the DoD has been careful to specifically note its four Arleigh Burke - form ruiner : the USS Mahan , USS Gravely , USS Barry and USS Ramage . Each of these 500 - foot , incorporated propulsion warships is stuffed with more than 90Surface - to - aviation missiles , ASROC anti - undersea missiles , and Tomahawk and Harpoon cruise missiles . They also sport two 5 - inch grease-gun , a duo of M242 Bushmaster autocannons , a host of Mk-50 torpedoes , and later builds carry a distich of MH-60R LAMPS III helicopters as well .
But the most devastating weapons of the Sixth Fleet are rarely attend — at least above the sea ’s control surface . The USS Florida and USS Georgia Ohio - class SSGN sail missile submarine sandwich are no stranger to recent Mideast incursions . The Florida reportedly kindle nearly a hundred sail missiles during the ruin of Muammar Gaddafi , decimating Libyan air defenses and paving the way for further NATO airstrikes . “ Never before in the account of the United States of America has one ship conducted that much land attack hit , conventionally , in one brusque fourth dimension period , ” explainedRear Admiral Rick Breckenridgein a DoD closet command .
Each submarine is equipped with 154 Tomahawk sail missiles — that ’s over 300 totality potentially pointing at al - Assad ’s forces in amount from just these two ship . These $ 1.4 million a tonic guided missiles were developed from German V-1 technology , and have become a major component of the US armoury . They are capable of delivering a magnanimous , 1000 - pound warhead long distances with an exceedingly gamey arcdegree of accuracy , often at gamy sub- to low supersonic speeds while following ego - guidedNOE routes .
Even more deadly than the Tomahawks is the contingent of Navy Seals deployed on these submarines . They can easy splay ashore ( if they have n’t already ) aboard a miniskirt - sub or dissipated - approach surface pontoons . Although , unlike their tactical invasion during the Second Iraq War , our SEALS wo n’t be able to infiltrate Syria ’s well - acquire and thickly populated coastline nearly as easily , not to mention the political implications of redact troop on the ground . We ’re undecomposed off ship in the drones for recon tariff instead .
And yes , the Fifth and Sixth Fleets have laggard capacity . The Navy already run a pair of 737 - sized Global Hawks , and there are unconfirmed reports that a few waster in the Fifth Fleet could be outfitted withFire Scout violation dronesas well .
https://gizmodo.com/drone-helicopter-gets-deadlier-with-precision-kill-we-5901632
The $ 131 million Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk is one of our biggest and good remote-controlled surveillance platforms . With a 130 - fundament wingspread and 7,600 lbf Rolls - Royce F137 - RR-100 turbofan railway locomotive , the Global Hawk can loiter at 60,000 feet for 28 hours at a clip , capturing every detail of the battles below using its suite of synthetical aperture radar ( SAR ) , EO , and IR sensors .
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout , on the other paw , is an remote-controlled helicopter platform design for lower - altitude ISR and land assault missions . The MQ-8B operates for up to 8 hours with a 20,000 - substructure avail roof while scanning with its EO - IR sensor gimbal or hunting targets with its newly - deployed Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System aka laser - guided 70 mm rocket salad .
I mean , if eventhe Coast Guard is arrest Scan Eagles — the humiliated - monetary value , 40 - pound arbalest - launch surveillance craft Iran supposedly shot down last year — there ’s a good chance they ’re also being deployed to dynamic combat area . They may not be ride aboard the USS Florida or USS Georgia , but you may reckon they ’re aboard the Seawolf - class USS Jimmy Carter .
This the third and concluding submarine in her class , the Jimmy Carter measures nearly 100 foundation longer than her precursor thanks to the installation of the Multi - Mission Platform ( MMP ) . This political platform allows for the launch and recovery of Navy SEAL mini - sub , submerged ROVs , mines , and ethereal surveillance drones .
By air
Depending on how aggressively the international residential district intends to strike , the US could very easy escalate the plan of attack from just sail missile to include fixed - wing aircraft as well — such as the US - based B-2 strategical Cuban sandwich ( we flew them to South Korea and back without block ; they can reach Syria as well ) and the B-1 bombers based at Qatar ’s Al Udeid Air Base .
“ In such an cognitive operation , the United States would be able to carry out repulsion attacks beyond the range of Syrian melodic phrase defense mechanism , while B-2 bombers could stealthily penetrate the Syrian desegregate atmosphere defence connection to drop bunker - wear bomb with minimal risk , ” ananalysis by intelligence service firm Statfor declares .
draw attacks would be carried out with the AGM-158 JASSM ( Joint Air - to - Surface Standoff Missile ) , a semi - stealth missile with a 2,000 - pound payload — twice the destructive baron of a Tomahawk . These $ 1.37 million , GPS - guided recollective - range sail missiles built by Lockheed can be launched from any number of US aircraft include the B-2 Spirit , F-15E Strike Eagle , the F / A-18(E / F ) Hornet and Super Hornets , and the new F-35 Lightning II . As for the bunker buster , well , who can forgetthe MOP ?
https://gizmodo.com/america-gussies-up-its-biggest-bunker-buster-to-nix-ira-492256766
As for the list of potential targets , there are many . harmonise to report from theWashington Free Beacon , Free Syrian Army Commander Salim Idris fingered the Al Mazzah Military Airport outside of Damascus as the launch land site of the SAMs used in the chemical substance attack . Say bye to that airport . Other targets could include reputed chemic weapon memory board facilities and weapon batteries .
The biggest doubtfulness of all , of trend , is whether this show of solidarity with the Syrian rebels will end reasonably peacefully , like Libya , subdued down for a bit before irrupt in topsy-turvydom again , like Egypt , or start World War III . We ’ll see in the coming 24-hour interval . [ DoD – US Navy1,2 – Medium – The Age – Gawker – NY Times – Wiki1,2,3,4 – CBS News – Washington Free Beacon – CDC – LA Times – Top Image : AP Images , Gas onslaught image : Al Jazeera , Tomahawk : Raytheon , all others : US DoD ]
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