"Military Subplane" author: Big Ivan
According to the website of the US "Power" community "Warzone", on October 19, Admiral Michael Kurilla, commander of the US Central Command, visited the US Navy's "Ohio"-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine "West Virginia" (SSBN-736), which is on duty in the Indian Ocean.
Admiral Kurilla (second from right) and Vice Admiral Brad Cooper (second from left), and some of their entourage during their visit aboard the USS West Virginia.
Sources say Michael Kurilla arrived in the waters of the West Virginia somewhere in the Arabian Sea with Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet/Navy Central Command, but did not say how General Kurilla arrived at this location.
Admiral Michael Kurilla will use an Ohio-class periscope for observation
Admiral Kurilla allegedly spent eight hours aboard the West Virginia, inspecting work, participating in the duty of U.S. Navy officers and sailors, and operating periscopes on nuclear submarines. Admiral Kurilla later declared that he was deeply impressed by the professionalism, expertise and discipline of the West Virginia ballistic missile nuclear submariners, believing that the West Virginia showed flexible, mobile and covert operational characteristics, which was the embodiment of the strong combat effectiveness of the US Navy.
Intelligence revealed during the visit
Although the columnist of "Warzone" complained that General Kurilla's run on the "West Virginia" nuclear submarine was purely a help, not only did it not help the nuclear submarine much, but the "West Virginia" spent eight hours on the surface of the sea may expose the ship's position and whereabouts. However, we really have to thank this General Kurilla, for his perhaps whim-whim, condolence to his subordinates, we can indeed analyze a lot of useful information from it:
The first is the deployment of the US Navy's "Ohio" class ballistic missile nuclear submarines in the Indian Ocean. I remember in January this year, we had a news that the US Navy's "Ohio"-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine "Nevada" arrived at the Apra Naval Base in Guam. At that time, Big Ivan's speculation on the whereabouts of the "Nevada" was mainly divided into two parts, one of which was that the "Nevada" was carrying out the mission of deploying forward and using tactical nuclear weapons to deter the forward strategic zone of the US military in the Asia-Pacific theater; The second is that the arrival of the "Nevada" in Guam is only a transit, and the more important task is to enter the Indian Ocean sea zone, using Diego Garcia as an operating base, and carry out strategic nuclear deterrence and ballistic missile nuclear submarine combat readiness cruise missions in the Indian Ocean.
The Ohio-class nuclear submarines can launch Trident II intercontinental ballistic missiles
Now connect the two news pieces and things are clear. Facts have proved that the US Navy's "Ohio" class ballistic missile nuclear submarine has indeed entered the Indian Ocean, and has already begun to carry out strategic cruise missions, passing through the Apra Naval Base on Guam in the middle, which basically clarifies the duty mode of US ballistic missile nuclear submarines in the Indian Ocean.
The second is the US Navy's "Ohio" class ballistic missile nuclear submarine crossing and combat capability. When the Nevada arrived at the Abra Naval Base in January, Big Ivan believed that the Nevada (SSBN-733) might be part of the 17th Submarine Squadron of the 9th Submarine Group at Submarine Base Kisap Bangor, Washington, from Kisap Bangor to Apra in Guam and onto the Indian Ocean. This is mainly because the distance from Kisap Bangor to the Indian Ocean is so long that it is necessary to complete two voyages of more than 4,000 nautical miles from the Guam base as a "transit point".
In recent years, the United States has also redeployed its B-2 bomber fleet from mainland to the Diego Garcia base
The Kings Bay submarine base on the east coast of the United States has a range of more than 10,000 nautical miles to the Diego Garcia base, and there is no transit station in between, and Big Ivan believes that the US military will not use the "Ohio" of the Kings Bay base to the Indian Ocean. But what I didn't expect was that the "West Virginia" (SSBN-736), which appeared in the Indian Ocean this time, belonged to the 10th Submarine Group of the US Navy Submarine Command Kings Bay Submarine Base, which means that the Kings Bay Submarine Base is also involved in combat readiness cruising missions in the Indian Ocean.
In the absence of nuclear submarines passing through the Suez Canal, the ballistic missile submarines at the Kings Bay base need to go south to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, circling the entire African continent and then to the Indian Ocean, the voyage cycle may be about a month, and in order to ensure concealment and high speed, it is often necessary to complete the sailing process underwater. In other words, the US crew members will stay underwater for about a month without showing their heads, and it can be seen from this that the training quality and combat effectiveness of the US Navy's ballistic missile nuclear submarine force are indeed very strong.
The United States changed the purpose of the deployment of nuclear submarines
With the deployment of the "Ohio" class ballistic missile nuclear submarine to the Indian Ocean, and it seems that it will be regularly deployed in the Indian Ocean in the future, with Diego Garcia as the base to carry out combat readiness cruise operations, the tasks undertaken by this type of ballistic missile nuclear submarine in the direction of the Indian Ocean are basically self-evident, and most likely have little to do with tactical nuclear deterrence against Iran.
USS Nevada nuclear submarine (SSBN-733) loading Trident II ICBMs
Quite simply, against an opponent of Iran's level, it seems that it is not necessary to use the UGM-133 "Trident II-D5" order of strike, but can use the LGM-30G "Minuteman III" type of slightly inferior intercontinental ballistic missiles to attack Iran's social wealth. If you want to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, you can even consider using F-35A or B-21 with B-61Mod12 tactical nuclear weapons to bomb, use "Ohio" ballistic missile nuclear submarines, and fire from the direction of the Indian Ocean.
Since the US military "Ohio" is regularly deployed in the Indian Ocean, and to a large extent has nothing to do with Iran, it is self-evident who this thing has to do with it. Yes, the threat must be to the two great powers located on the Eurasian continent, especially Russia.
The Russian A-135 ballistic missile interceptor system is located at the Don-2N radio radar station in Sofrino, near Moscow
From the perspective of Russia's ballistic missile early warning capability, Russia's ballistic missile early warning capability is still in the recovery period, the A-135 anti-missile interceptor system is basically abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the new generation of A-235 "Nudor River" system is still in the construction period. Several important early warning radar stations, such as the two large "Voronezh-ДM" early warning radars scheduled for Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, are not yet on combat readiness duty, which makes Russia a huge blank space in the entire southern part of the country.
China's giant early warning radar deployed along the eastern coast (picture from MIA)
As for us, the problem is similar to Russia, Russia's main strategic direction is westward, so a large number of early warning radars, such as the first generation of A-35M "Adan" main early warning radar, are oriented to the west, the main monitoring is NATO's ballistic missiles in the European direction, especially the launch of medium-range ballistic missiles, our main strategic direction is to the east, facing problems similar to Russia.
A single boat can carry up to 24 Trident II ICBMs
Judging from the positioning of the "Ohio" class ballistic missile nuclear submarine in the US strategic nuclear forces, the ballistic missiles and corresponding nuclear devices on board, it undertakes the valuable "first nuclear strike" task in the US military's strategic nuclear forces, that is, a preemptive strike that disarms the main nuclear exchange opponent.
Trident II ICBM
To this end, the UGM-133A submarine-launched ballistic missile has extremely strong strike accuracy, using starlight inertial guidance plus GPS guidance components, and its strike accuracy is even higher than that of land-based well-launched ICBMs, and it has the potential to directly hit 5000psi strong silos.
In addition, the UGM-133A submarine-launched ballistic missile is equipped with the strongest nuclear device of the US military so far, it is currently equipped with two nuclear devices: one is the MK-4/4A multi-warhead vehicle, in addition to carrying the W-76 series nuclear device, but also equipped with its latest improved model W-76-2 nuclear device, which is a tactical nuclear weapon, the US military believes that it can be used to hit certain time-sensitive targets, here we will not repeat; The second is the MK-5 MIRV, which is equipped with the famous W-88 nuclear device, which is the most comprehensive nuclear device of the US military, and its overall design and manufacturing process is said to be close to the theoretical limit, the curb weight is said to be less than 180 kg, and the detonation yield is as high as 475kt. In the case of the latter, the Trident II-D5 submarine-launched ballistic missile will be used in a "preemptive" mode against the ballistic missile silos of nuclear exchange opponents.
Therefore, in the current strategic situation, the "Ohio"-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine, which suddenly appeared in the Indian Ocean, undoubtedly intends to "soft belly" from the Asian continent. In unexpected directions for Russia, the ICBM silos that threaten Russia, the ICBM launchers running in the Great Siberian Wilderness, and even at the most critical juncture, undertake the "first strike" mission and disarm the Russian military. Considering that according to the 2018 edition of the US Nuclear Strategy Report, the Trump administration, including the current Biden administration, has begun to radicalize its nuclear strategy again, gradually transitioning from a flexible nuclear deterrence strategy to a verification warfare strategy, the threat of the US "Ohio" class nuclear submarine is real.
Therefore, at present, for countries on the Eurasian continent, after the "Ohio" class normalizes into the Indian Ocean, they do need to consider the direction of the Indian Ocean, which is a strategic direction that is likely not fully considered before, to launch anti-missile interception operations.
The coverage of the Russian army's giant early warning radar is very wide
In fact, from the perspective of the geopolitical characteristics of the Eurasian continent, the Eurasian continent is equivalent to a continent "sandwiched" by two oceans. The Arctic Ocean in the north and the Indian Ocean in the south, not only in the direction of the Indian Ocean, the threat in the direction of the Arctic Ocean is as serious as the direction of the Indian Ocean, and the US nuclear submarine can fully use its advantages of external maneuver to exist in the Indian Ocean and the Arctic Ocean at the same time. This makes the countries of the Eurasian continent have to take into account anti-missile interception operations in both directions at the same time, even if there is a slight lack of a strategic direction.
In 2017, China began deploying new giant early warning radars in Inner Mongolia and other places
As for how the countries of the Eurasian continent can take into account anti-missile interception in both directions, this is a matter of opinion, and I believe that everyone will have their own ideas. But in any case, with the arrival of the "Ohio" class ballistic missile nuclear submarine in the Indian Ocean, cooperation among the countries of the Eurasian continent on the anti-missile system has never been more urgent, and we must realize this.
In recent years, China's mid-course anti-missile interception tests, which have attracted great attention, have achieved a success rate of 100% in the five tests announced so far. According to statistics, the United States has failed 9 of the last 20 mid-course anti-missile interception experiments.