I wonder why we haven't seen more coverage of this story in the mainstream media?
At least five officers of the Pakistan Navy received death sentences in a secret military trial for allegedly trying to hijack a Pakistan Navy vessel to attack a U.S. Navy refueling ship, Daily Pakistan reports.
The officers were convicted of planning and orchestrating the September 6, 2014, attack on the Karachi Naval Dockyard located at Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast. The attack was thwarted by Pakistani military personnel with purportedly two attackers killed and four arrested alive (some sources cite 10 killed, including four rogue naval officers).
The attackers allegedly attempted to hijack the F-22P Zulfiquar-class frigate Zulfiqar, the lead ship of its class, with the intention of using the ship’s missiles to attack a U.S. Navy refuel vessel in the Arabian Sea (other sources claim that the target was a U.S. aircraft carrier).
There's more at the link.
The Chinese-built frigate is armed with eight C-802 anti-ship missiles, among other weapons - the same missile used by Hezbollah to attack the Israeli corvette Hanit in 2006. Eight C-802's probably wouldn't sink a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier, but they'd almost certainly cause enough damage to put it out of action for a long time. If they were targeted on a replenishment tanker, they might well sink it, particularly if its cargo of oil fuel and other supplies (possibly including munitions) was ignited.
I'm not sure that we've heard the whole story about this attempt. Five officers, most of them junior, would not have been able to take over and operate a modern frigate without assistance. What about the rest of the crew? Did the conspirators have an entire jihadist crew trained and ready to take over? If so, what happened to them? If not, how did they propose to succeed? The unanswered questions are, if possible, even more interesting - and alarming - than the guilty verdict.
I wonder whether we'll ever find out the whole truth of this affair? I suspect the powers that be would really rather we didn't, on the basis that what we don't know can't be used against them . . .
Peter
I think longest journal covered this a while ago. Pakistan is scary...
ReplyDeleteThey move nukes around secretly due to fear of a surprise attack from India. Easy hijacking target.
The Pakistani support for the Taliban amazes me. Their support for terrorists against India. The Islamization of their society that is Saudi funded. The assassination of Bhutto's daughter. The amount of money spent on their military. Probable funding of the traitor that killed a bunch of cia. The agent who had baked the turncoat a birthday cake....
All this in a sane msm would be wall to wall coverage. Instead we get mention in a GI Joe movie...
Another anon
They very well would sink an oiler - none of them are armed, even for self defense. They are all civilian-crewed Military Sealift Command "USNS" ships, and are barred by law from having more than small arms aboard. They wouldn't even know what hit them until after the fact.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, the C802 is a very well known quantity in the ASMD community. A CVN would eliminate an 8-missile salvo in short order, if it's escorts didn't get them first.
FCCS(SW/AW) Jeff Weimer, USN (ret)
You'd definitely screw over a tanker with 8 C802s. Might even sink it or burn it to the water line.
ReplyDeleteAgainst an alert US DDG or carrier group they'd be easily dealt with. A good lashing with modern ECM and I'd imagine they have a bell of a time even acquiring a ship to hit.
Question would be how quickly the rest of the Pakistani navy would be sitting on the ocean floor. What's the flight time to Pakistan from Knob Noster?
Thre is a significant part of the upper class and middle class Pakistani population that is militant Muslim and cannot be reasoned with. These are the folks that support the Taliban and the terrorists that attack the Afghanis and the Indians....and helped hide Osama Bin Laden.
ReplyDeleteNot much you can do with 'em. Like a rabid dog or a rattlesnake on your porch. Kill 'em.
The quantity of arms mixed with the mix in Pakistan and the basically unarmed ship . . . yeah, if Americans knew the whole truth, there'd be 'drama'.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile let's all get back to the distractions presented, have a nice TV dinner and go soundly off to our beds to dream of firework shows and ice cream . . . smh . .