【Military Subplane】Author: Lele
Since the end of last month, a number of media outlets, including the American website "The Drive", have reported that Yemen's Houthi rebels have used anti-ship ballistic missiles to attack water ships (and even US destroyers). By the middle of the month, things had finally taken a turn for the new one, when a container ship bound for Israel was hit, and the billowing smoke in the sky heralded a heavy blow, if nothing else, the first instance in the world of an anti-ship ballistic missile hit.
▲DF-26 is a masterpiece of China's anti-ship ballistic missile
Anti-ship ballistic missiles originated in the Soviet Union and were developed by China in the second decade of this century, and as the world's awareness of this cutting-edge weapon has deepened, more countries are equipping/developing similar weapons. The Houthis themselves do not have the capability to develop such weapons, and it is generally believed that Iran is behind them, and this successful attack means not only that the performance of anti-ship ballistic missiles has been proven, but also that Iran's deterrence in this area has been tested. Compared with ordinary anti-ship missiles, the most prominent advantage of anti-ship ballistic missiles is that they are fast, based on the flight characteristics of ballistic missiles, their speed is often more than Mach 5 when diving towards the target. It is very difficult for the shipborne air defense systems equipped by various countries to intercept weapons of this speed, so anti-ship ballistic missiles will be famous. This time, the Houthis mainly targeted civilian merchant ships, which have no air defense capability at all, and the reason why they dispatched anti-ship ballistic missiles is to test and deter.
▲ Even destroyers with a capacity of nearly 10,000 tons can hardly withstand the blow of anti-ship ballistic missiles
In 2015, China's Dongfeng-21D and Dongfeng-26 teamed up to unveil, which shook the world for a while, and the U.S. Navy then introduced the so-called distributed firepower strategy, trying to use scattered small formations to deal with ultra-fast and super-heavy anti-ship ballistic missiles. Since then, the two missiles have been regarded as typical of the new field and have been repeatedly mentioned by various media. What is very interesting is that as early as 2010, Iran actually exhibited its own anti-ship ballistic missile, the "Persian Gulf", which is based on Iran's first-generation solid-fuel ballistic missile "Fatah", with a range of only 300 kilometers, but a 650-kilogram warhead is extremely lethal. Because the range of the "Persian Gulf" is too short, only in the special terrain of the Strait of Hormuz can it exert its leeth, so it is not regarded as a masterpiece of anti-ship ballistic missiles. Now that it has moved to Yemen and set a world record in the hands of the Houthis, the story behind it is worth telling.
▲Iran is armed with solid-fuel ballistic missiles
Yemen's Houthi attacks on sea targets are not far away, and within 300 kilometers means that conventional cruise anti-ship missiles can also complete the attack mission, and the dispatch of precious anti-ship ballistic missiles naturally has other plans. The most important thing is that, judging from the report of the "The Drive" website, the Houthis have launched a lot of missiles, which is a very luxurious thing for the expensive "Persian Gulf". Behind this anomaly, it is worth making a bold assumption: the Houthis are not using the "Persian Gulf", but a modified version of liquid-fuel ballistic missiles, after all, when attacking merchant ships, even if the preparation time is longer and the missile speed is slower, it will not affect the overall situation. The Houssein, on the other hand, can thus save the crucial "Persian Gulf" and obtain the real attack data of anti-ship ballistic missiles, which is the most reliable basis for missile improvement in the later stage. In addition to this, the U.S. Navy has repeatedly claimed to have shot down drones from the Houthi side, which means that it is very likely that the Houthis will begin to use drones as a missile relay platform to guide missiles beyond the range of support on land.
▲Iran is more technologically mature in the field of liquid-fuel ballistic missiles
Compared with the DF-26 with a combat range of more than 1,500 kilometers, Iran's "Persian Gulf" is technologically backward, but in this special area of the Persian Gulf, 300 kilometers is a sufficient range, smaller size and lower cost to ensure that there are enough numbers to be put into battle, and the different characteristics of the two weapons are caused by the different national defense needs of the two countries. However, while anti-ship ballistic missiles are difficult to intercept, their speed is too fast, which also brings the problems of poor maneuverability in the terminal stage and difficulty in tracking targets. The Houthis fired a number of missiles during this period, but many of them landed near the target, and it was not until the past two days that the results were achieved, and this is probably the reason. There is no fluke in missile guidance technology, as long as it hits successfully, it means that this path is right, and as long as the success data is analyzed and used, the hit rate of anti-ship ballistic missiles is bound to go to a deeper level, and this is the most direct benefit of this missile hit.
In addition, the previous doubts about the performance of Iran's "Persian Gulf" naturally no longer exist, with the help of the Houthi armed forces, Iran has successfully built its own anti-ship ballistic missile deterrent, although it can only cover a limited area of the Persian Gulf, but the blockade of the strait can still affect the world's energy landscape.
▲ Iran's later display of an improved 700-kilometer-range anti-ship ballistic missile
Many years ago, during the Iran-Iraq war, Iran and Iraq used anti-ship missiles purchased from abroad to attack and block shipping lanes. Now, more than 30 years later, Iran's blockade weapons have been upgraded to ballistic missiles, and they have been produced completely autonomously, without relying on external imports. In addition, the use of UAVs on the battlefield is becoming more and more extensive, although the outside world will also focus on the integrated investigation and combat UAV, but in fact, relay guidance, remote reconnaissance is where UAVs show their skills. In the past, the navies of various countries mainly relied on carrier-based helicopters to complete similar tasks, and although their prices were not high, it was not cheap for large and medium-sized warships that could carry and maintain carrier-based helicopters. Now that drones have filled this gap, anti-ship ballistic missiles are probably going to become even more popular in the world. The most fortunate thing is that China has made a lot of achievements in this field, and it is no longer embarrassing to be in the past.
Resources:
https://www.toutiao.com/article/6770878599542080003/?channel=&source=search_tab