[Newsbot]

Title: Iran navy tests surface-to-air missile near Strait of Hormuz | Sympatico.ca News
Category: Military
Posted By: stokes
Date: 2012-01-01 13:12:02
Canadian

[GreenTiger]

Things could get interesting in the gulf.

Years ago I read a book The Long Fuse which describe the many causes and actions that cause WW I. Recent events in the world seem really remind me of that book. I hope the end result isn't the same.

[Batsy]

The Royal Navy's newest and most advanced ship is being sent to the Gulf for her first mission amid heightened tensions with Iran over threats by Tehran to block a busy shipping lane.


First mission: Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring, which employs a 'stealth' design to help avoid detection, is to join the British presence in the region, the Ministry of Defence confirmed



The Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring, which has a 'stealth' futuristic design to help avoid detection, is to join the British presence in the region, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.

The dispatch of the ship comes days after Defence Secretary Philip Hammond warned the regime that any attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz would be 'illegal and unsuccessful' and would be countered militarily if necessary.

Scheduled to leave Portsmouth next Wednesday, the £1 billion destroyer also carries the world's most sophisticated naval radar, capable of tracking multiple incoming threats from missiles to fighter jets.

The vessel has been fitted with new technology that will give it the ability to shoot down any missile in Iran's armoury, according to The Telegraph.

An MoD spokesman said: 'The Royal Navy has had a continuous presence East of Suez for many years, including the Armilla patrol and its successors since 1980.

'While the newly-operational Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring is more capable than earlier ships, her deployment East of Suez has been long planned, is entirely routine and replaces a Frigate on station.'

The second Type 45, HMS Dauntless, will also be available to sail at short notice.

HMS Daring completed four years of sea trials and training late last year and is the first of six new destroyers which will replace the Type 42 vessels which started service in the 1970s.

The vessel, with a crew of 180, is the first to be built with a futuristic design that makes it difficult to detect using radar.

It also has a large flight deck which can accommodate helicopters the size of a Chinook as well as take on board 700 people in the case of a civilian evacuation.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1istGAwNK