Iran tests 'super-modern flying boat'

[Felix the Cat]

http://www.itv.com/news/world_1943943.html

Iran has successfully tested its "super-modern flying boat" and land-to-sea Kowsar missile which could cause havoc to key shipping lanes, according to reports.

Iranian state radio said the Kowsar could evade radar and that its guidance system could not be scrambled. It was designed for sinking shipping in the Gulf.

The tests came in the middle of Gulf war games that started on Friday.

The Defence Ministry was not immediately able to give details of a "flying boat" that was shown on television.

The small propeller-driven aircraft floated on a trimaran hull until it took off and flew low over the surface of the water. State television said it could reach speeds of 100 knots.

"A super-modern flying boat was successfully tested in the 'Great Prophet' war game in Persian Gulf waters," state television said.

"Because of its hull's advanced design, no radar at sea or in the air can locate it. It can lift out of the water. It is wholly domestically built and can launch missiles with precise targeting while moving."

An aviation web site showed the vessel shared features with WIGE vehicles, known to Russians as ekranoplanes.

Earlier in the war games, Iran said it had tested a radar-evading rocket and the Hoot (whale) underwater missile which could outpace any enemy warship. On Monday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard test-fired a torpedo it said was being mass-produced in Iran.

The US said it was possible Iran had developed weapons that could evade sonar and radar but warned the Islamic Republic had a tendency to "boast and exaggerate".

Although Iran's military technology might not be highly advanced, analysts say Iran would not need much know-how to cause chaos in vital oil shipping channels.

They say Iran could be testing arms in the Strait of Hormuz, a key tanker nexus, to dissuade Israel and the United States from taking military action against Tehran's nuclear programme.

Iran has been referred to the UN Security Council after failing to convince the world its atomic scientists are working exclusively on power stations and not branching into weapons.

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/rids/20060404/i/r2574615000.jpghttp://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/rids/20060404/i/r2539139501.jpghttp://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/rids/20060404/i/r1915218812.jpg

[Felix the Cat]

Iran sends a message to the West by boasting about its high-speed torpedo (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/04/03/wiran03.xml)

Iran announced that it has carried out successful test-firings of the world's fastest torpedo, capable of outrunning any warship.

The message was intended as a signal to western military planners considering attacks to deal with Iran's nascent nuclear capability.

While military plans remain secret, it is believed that Washington, London and Tel Aviv have begun drawing up options ranging from surgical air strikes to helicopter-borne commando raids.

A new torpedo of the speed and capability described by Ali Fadavi, a rear admiral of the Revolutionary Guards, would not be used to combat western warships involved in an attack on Iran but to punish western military action by crippling the world's oil supply.

Iran holds the northern side of the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow neck in the Persian Gulf through which two fifths of the world's traded oil passes. A hi-tech torpedo could be used with devastating effect against oil tankers and western warships sent to protect them, choking off the world's oil supply, driving up prices and causing global economic chaos.

"This device evades sonar technology under the water and even if the enemy's sonar system could detect its movement, no warship could escape from it because of its high velocity," Admiral Fadavi said.

"The Islamic Republic is now among only two countries who hold this kind of missile." He did not name the other. "Under water, the maximum speed that a missile could move was 25 metres per second. But now we possess [one] that goes as fast as 100 metres per second.

"It carries a very powerful warhead that enables it to operate against groups of warships and big submarines."

Iran is known to have a number of Kilo-class submarines. Built in Russia, they are relatively sophisticated hunter-killer boats, designed to sneak up on enemy shipping, attack with torpedoes and escape. Iran lied to the international community for more than 10 years about its nuclear capability, denying that it had any technology or ambitions.

Intelligence leaks to the West eventually forced Teheran to admit that it had a relatively advanced nuclear programme but even now it insists that this is purely to generate energy. It flatly denies any military ambitions.

There has been a significant toughening of the language used by western diplomats about Iran recently.

[Sulla the Dictator]

I think one of those "super modern flying boats" took me to a small island beach once. :p

[themistocles]

Just wait until they discover water skis.

[Excorcism]

Just wait until they discover water skis.

Scientists in Iran today have discovered a low-cost machine that attaches on a scuba diver's feet and they're called "motorized water skis." The Pentagon believes they may be used for suicide bombers on the ocean against enemy vessels. Now the ocean itself is not safe from suicide bombers. :p

[cerberus]

Looks like a bit of death trap to me.