Youtube of a late January 31, 2017 suicide boat attack (20 seconds in) by Iranian backed Houthi rebels. This damaged a Saudi frigate off the coast of Yemen and killed two Saudi sailors. If the Saudis had submarine for monitoring might this rebel activity have been prevented?
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As Saudi Arabia is so far behind the navies of powerful regional neighbours [1] in using submarines what steps could the Saudis take?
My advice is Saudi Arabia should undertake the following, all at once:
- utilising its submarine owning country connections (with the US, Europeans SSK owners and
Pakistan) to monitor the Saudi's opponents including Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemenand
Iran itself,
Pakistan) to monitor the Saudi's opponents including Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemenand
Iran itself,
- seconding Saudi officers and senior crew to Pakistani submarine training establishments and then
subsequently seconding them to Pakistani submarines.
subsequently seconding them to Pakistani submarines.
- if these secondments and minisub trials indicate subs are of value to Saudi Arabia could
consider:
= ordering lower cost, quickly built (by 2020?), S20s or at least refurbished Type 035 Mings from
China (see next article about the Saudi increasingly looking at China as a weapons source)
= ordering medium sized subs from Europe or South Korea for delivery by the mid 2020s.
= asking Italy or South Korea to build minisubs (by 2020) 2 x 200 ton (Dolgorae type) or 400 ton
HDS-400 minisubs .
= UUVs from US or Europe - ready soonest 2018 and at lowest cost? (mainly for radio intercept
duties)
= ordering lower cost, quickly built (by 2020?), S20s or at least refurbished Type 035 Mings from
China (see next article about the Saudi increasingly looking at China as a weapons source)
= ordering medium sized subs from Europe or South Korea for delivery by the mid 2020s.
= asking Italy or South Korea to build minisubs (by 2020) 2 x 200 ton (Dolgorae type) or 400 ton
HDS-400 minisubs .
= UUVs from US or Europe - ready soonest 2018 and at lowest cost? (mainly for radio intercept
duties)
[1] Large regional sub owning countries include Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan and smallish Israel.
[2[ I’m aware submarines can monitor radio transmissions and phone calls but I’m unsure about the specifics. What makes submarines uniquely useful platforms to conduct electronic monitoring (in addition to close to the shore missions and undersea cables)?
Pete
Pete