Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / US sea drones, ground troops & more 'Military experts on Iran'

Transcript

US sea drones, ground troops & more 'Military experts on Iran' · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: CARDL. Layton.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: We've heard a lot about drones being used in the
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Iran War, and for the first time, Syncom says that
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: the US used a seed drone in combat. Tell us
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: about the significance of that.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's really significant, Panela. One of the key things
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: here is when you look at the actual explosions that
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: are a part of this. This was a dry dock
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: that the Iranians used, and you can see the seed
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: drone moving forward into the dry dock area, and dry
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: docks are used for maintenance for ships, and here you
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: can see the color view from the seed drones perspective
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: that looks like a mini submarine that was in dry
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: dock there and blowing that up is of course a
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: very significant thing. It allows us to get in there
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: using these seed drones without risking personnel. It allows us
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: to get in there without really putting in danger not
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: only the forces that would have to take over this
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: particular area, but also air crews potentially who could be
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: used in an attack like this. So this is a
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: major achievement from the Navy's perspective, and it kind of
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: mimics what's going on in the Ukraine War because the
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Ukrainians have been able to use sea drones to great
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: effect against the Black Sea Fleet. They've basically eliminated the
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Russian Black Sea fleet and they're now going after commercial
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: vessels in the Black Sea.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Here.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: What we're doing is we're going after those small boats
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: and those submarines that even many submersibles that the Iranians have,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: and that of course is a very significant thing. Yeah,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: it was.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Interesting because I was just overseas on the USS Abraham
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Lincoln and the military officials I spoke to said they
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: learned a lot from Russia's war on Ukraine in terms
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: of drone warfare and how much it has changed modern warfare.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: Tell us warfare, tell.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Us more about that.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Yes, one of the key things here this is a Saronic.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: This is one of the US Navies above surface drones
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: and it was actually used in the rescue operation for
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: the Apache helicopter crew that was forced to ditch their
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: aircraft in the Persian Gulf. So it's used for search
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: and rescue missions. They did that for the first time.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: It's also of course used as an attack platform. And
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: because it is part of that, it really is a
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: revolution from what we had before. When you look at
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: how we started out with things. We start out with
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: the Predator back in the late nineties early two thousands
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: that became first in the intelligence community, was part of
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: the mix that they had, but then it was used
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: by the Air Force not only for reconnaissance purposes, but
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: also for example using hell fire missiles and Tomahawk missiles
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: to go after the various elements that would be potentially
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: providing danger to US forces and also as an offensive
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: weapon that it can be used to go after those
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: areas that would be there. And then of course we
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: also had the Global Hawk. This was a high altitude platform.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: The Predator was a low altitude, lower altitude platform. This
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: has a huge range of twelve thousand, three hundred nautical miles,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: can stay up for thirty four hours, and it is
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: a good launch platform and also a great reconnaissance platform
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: as well. So that's how we started. But then when
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: you go back to some of the things that we
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: can do nowadays, the Saronic is an example of that
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: of vessels that are not only surface vessels, but then
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: we also have of course much smaller drones that are
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: in the air as well.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: So the US is using drones obviously, but also Iran
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: is and it's really been trying to use that to
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: its advantage because they're significantly cheaper, and sometimes the US
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: has to use these more expensive weapons to take down
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: the threat.
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: Tell us about that.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: That is so true. For example, the Iran shah had
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: one thirty six, so it's a relatively small aircraft when
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: you look at it, but it's still noticeable. It's eight
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: point two feet with its wingspan as a range of
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: about twelve hundred miles, costs only twenty thousand dollars, So
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: that's an important number to keep in mind here. And
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: you know, when you see the shah head take off,
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: it is, you know, an aircraft that can be can
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: be seen in a way that you don't normally expect
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: aircraft to fly. But it is a fairly effective weapon.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: And now when you look at the SHAHD one thirty six,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: we mentioned the twenty thousand dollars cost a standard missile
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: or a Patriot interceptor they cost between three and four
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: million apiece, so that's the difference. Now, having said this,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: there are US weapon systems that are being used that
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: cost much less than this. For example, there's a weapon
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: system that's being used on actual missiles that are in
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: rockets that are fired by aircraft. That costs only forty
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: thousand dollars, not quite the twenty thousand dollars that we
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: have with the shah head, but much cheaper than three
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: or four million gret.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: You know, you heard Trump tonight threatened to knock out
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: all of Iran's bridges and power plants. By the way,
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: this is a threat that he's made before, right back
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: when he was talking about wiping a civilization off a map.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: In that era of this rhetoric, he had made specific
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: threats against the bridges and power plants. But now here
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: we are again with this sort of a threat. What's
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: your reaction to it now?
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: I think Kevin just said casting about. I think that's
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: a pretty good way to put it. Both the United
• 5:01
  Speaker 5: States and Iran. I think you just see casting about
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: on both sides. I think the problem with that threat
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: it's problematic on its face, but also I'm not sure
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: the Iranians take it seriously. But if they do take
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: it seriously, Aaron, again, it is the Revolutionary Guard that
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: is in charge in Tehran, and they will strike infrastructure
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: in the Gulf. I mean, that is basically what they
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: said I think they have proven the demonstrated willingness and
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: capacity to do that. So then you're in a war
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: targeting each other's civilian infrastructure, and that can really damage
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: the global economy. That's the problem of one of many
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: problems here.
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And as we all remember, right when desalination plants
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: were suddenly on the table, right when that's sort of
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: what brought this whole thing to a halt, that that
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: would be a global economic catastrophe with an incredible loss
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: of civilian life. General commit Trump was asked tonight about
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: the possibility of a ground campaign. Right, so, once again
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: bridges and power plants being threatened, but also ground troops.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: Here's the exchange.
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: Are you really not a ground campaign in a limited capacity?
• 6:06
  Speaker 7: I don't want to say that either, but I would
• 6:09
  Speaker 7: say no if I thought it was appropriate. I'd say,
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: sometimes you need a ground campaign. But we have other
• 6:14
  Speaker 7: people that will do the ground campaign for US.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: Okay, General, I have many questions from this, but I
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: guess let's just go with two of them. First of all,
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: what would a ground campaign at this point for the
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: US actually mean? Right, We're now in month five, and
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: when he says someone's going to do it for us.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: I mean, who is that? Are we back to the
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: Kurds again?
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Well, well, first of all, I'd just like to make
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: a comment about bridges and infrastructure. In fact, I think
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: it's important to note that bridges and infrastructure that are
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: primarily being used support military forces are legitimate military targets.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I didn't hear anything about civilian infrastructure. I didn't hear
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: anything about civilian bridges. So let's hope we're going to
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: stay focused on the military targets. Ground campaign, certainly, I
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: don't think the President is talking about attacking intitator on
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: but at ground campaign could certainly be something like going
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: into Keshuman, I could be going into carg Island. I
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: certainly hope we don't do that. I think they're better alternatives.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: But it's also important to note that what the President
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: was doing was not ruling in He was just not
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: ruling out ground forces to keep his options open.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: Right, I mean, and in a sense, I guess that's
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: back to casting about Brett right at keeping everything on
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: the table. I want to play for you, Brett, some
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: of what Trump said about this issue with a toll, right,
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: because yesterday that really stunned the world, right after the
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: US had said it's international waters, you can never do it.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: It's against all international law. Rubio has been completely clear
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: on this issue. Then suddenly Trump comes out and says
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: he's going to charge every ship of twenty percent fee.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: And now he's changed his mind. Here's part of why
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: he said he's doing that.
• 7:58
  Speaker 8: I put it out yesterday, thought it was good. I
• 8:00
  Speaker 8: was called by different people different countries, kings and emirs
• 8:05
  Speaker 8: and all of the people that we all know and
• 8:08
  Speaker 8: we all love, and they've been frankly, they've been very
• 8:11
  Speaker 8: strong partners, and they said, we'd love to do it
• 8:14
  Speaker 8: a different way.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: So, Brett, what do you think happened to make the president,
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: I mean less than twenty four hours reverse course on
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: something as specific in major as a twenty percent toll
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: in every ship going through the strait and the US
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: taking over the strait and providing all the security so
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: those ships could transit.
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: Well, I'd say two things. I think the one thing
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: that all the Golf states, including like oh Man that
• 8:37
  Speaker 5: works a little closely with Iran, they are totally opposed
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: to Iran's claim of sovereignty over the strait and Iran's
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: claim that they will charge a fee, So the golf
• 8:47
  Speaker 5: is united kind of with us against that. So then
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: for the President to come out and say, actually, we're
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: going to protect it and we'll charge it even higher
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: fee was completely contradictory and kunter productive to everything we're
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: trying to do. I'd secondly say, Aaron, that kind of
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: that'd be a good problem to have if we were
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: able to guard the Straight and protect shipping. The issue
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: here is that Iran is using the kind of ancient
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: advantage of terrain and the modern advantage of drone warfare.
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: And these drones can be fired from a thousand kilometers
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: way even farther away and hit a slow moving tanker,
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: and that is what they're doing to hold the Straight hostage.
• 9:21
  Speaker 5: It is very hard to stop. I dealt with this
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: in the last White House in the Red Sea when
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: the Huthis and Iranian proxy group was targeting ships in
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: the Red Sea. We had to naval coalition. It's very
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: difficult to stop. So I'd like to know how we're
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: going to be the guardian of the Strait. I think
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: that would be great if we could do it, but
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: it's a very difficult equation. As General Kimmitt I think
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: knows extremely well.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: In General, Kimmitt, the Iranian army is also saying they're
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: going to respond. Okay, they've already claimed again I'm not
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: sure what this has been true, but they've obviously shown
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: an ability to do real damage to US bases, missile
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: interceptors and aircraft. They now say they struck a US
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: base in Jordan where faighteen fighter jets are stationed, and
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: that they're going to continue doing this until final victory
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: is achieved. General, you know, it can almost sound like
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: a tit for tat until suddenly people die. I mean,
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: how concerned are you tonight given where this is at
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: this moment, about the risks to the tens of thousands
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: of US troops that are in the Middle East.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Now, well, I think both Bret and I are concerned
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: about that significantly, because again, all we need is one
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: mistake made by an Air Defence artilleryman who misses a
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: missile coming in. I mean, we saw that in Ala
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Sad inside of a rock, where we luckily did not
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: lose a significant number of troops. But when you have
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: a large concentration of them as we do, and kuate
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: out of a data and you in Katar and some
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: of the other base auity that could certainly happen. Listen.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: I think it's important to go back to Brett's comment.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: It is clear that if the United States is the
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: unilateral protector of the Gulf of the Straight of Horror Movies,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: that will not work. The fact is we are belligerent
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: in this conflict and for us to try to control
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: it is a war situation. Either they have it or
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: we don't. But as we did with counter Piracy Coalition
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: and we did in the Tanker War and nineteen eighty
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: one to nineteen eighty eight, we use non belligerents in
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: that operation. This is a great opportunity for the British,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the French, the Germans to come in and run a
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: maritime escort operation through the Straight Horror Moonies. It tells
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the Iranians you have a choice. You can either let
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: these people take the commercial traffic through or you can
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: fire on them. And at this point you now have
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: a war with Germany, the United Kingdom in France. Now,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I think we all understand why the Allies have not
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: been rushing to our assistance in this, but there are
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: options other than a unilateral operation.
• 12:03
  Speaker 9: Brigeted by the US. We're on routes connected to the
• 12:06
  Speaker 9: city of bunder Abas, which is home to an Iranian
• 12:09
  Speaker 9: military naval base. As you well know, what does that
• 12:12
  Speaker 9: signal to you about the US strategy that's unfolding right now.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Two things.
• 12:18
  Speaker 6: Well, First, it is going to attempt to cut off,
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: to kill the assets that could be used to close
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: the straight and four moves. I've been to Bunderabas before
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: the revolution. Obviously it's a very important naval port for
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: the Iranians, and cutting it off has high military utility.
• 12:38
  Speaker 6: So point one, go after the places where the Iranians
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: have weapons systems that help them close the straight. Point
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: two in general, going after infrastructure like bridges, roads puts
• 12:52
  Speaker 6: economic pressure on Iran. I think that is part of
• 12:56
  Speaker 6: the administration's strategy here to get Iran back to the table.
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: In a phrase, what they're doing is escalate in order
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: to de escalate, meaning go after economic targets, military targets,
• 13:10
  Speaker 6: put pressure on more attacks with the hope that you
• 13:15
  Speaker 6: can then de escalate and the Iranians will come back
• 13:18
  Speaker 6: to the table. That's the strategy, and as you.
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: Know, Iran is now retaliating big time with attacks on
• 13:24
  Speaker 9: various US military assets across the Gulf region. The Iranian
• 13:29
  Speaker 9: military claims it targeted a US air base and cutter
• 13:32
  Speaker 9: and for the first time, a US base in Syria.
• 13:36
  Speaker 9: It also says it destroyed a long range radar system
• 13:39
  Speaker 9: in several US refuelling aircraft. If all of this is true, Edro,
• 13:43
  Speaker 9: how does this impact the US military's abilities in the region.
• 13:49
  Speaker 6: So far, we have sufficient combat power in order to
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: overcome the level of strikes you're seeing from Iran. And
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: let's be honest, you're about the numbers. Is launching dozens
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: and dozens of strikes a day at this point, far
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: less than during the initial wave, but one hundred two
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: hundred strikes a day. Iran is responding with ten, maybe
• 14:13
  Speaker 6: fifteen strikes, So over time, that's going to favor the
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: US military capacity to continue these strikes. However, it does
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: show the Iranians are increasing their ability to go after
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: their neighbors. That ought to concern is because if they
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: start going after Gulf oil and gas infrastructure, that'll have
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: big economic downside for the Western economies as well.
• 14:39
  Speaker 9: Yeah, so far, they're going after US military sites in
• 14:42
  Speaker 9: these friendly Arab Gulf nations like the United Arab Emirates, Cutter,
• 14:47
  Speaker 9: Kuwait Oman elsewhere in the region. These are all very
• 14:52
  Speaker 9: close friends, allies of the United States. The US has
• 14:55
  Speaker 9: major bases in the United Arab Emirates and then Cutter
• 14:58
  Speaker 9: at Camp Asilia, the l Dayed Airbase. I've been to
• 15:01
  Speaker 9: those facilities. They're really home to much of the US
• 15:05
  Speaker 9: military Central Command in that region. And the Iranians are
• 15:08
  Speaker 9: keep attacking those US sites. This is very significant, isn't it.
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: It is indeed, and I want to draw a line
• 15:16
  Speaker 6: under one other kind of troubling item that's surfacing, and
• 15:22
  Speaker 6: that is Iran starting to talk about closing not the
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: straight of war moves, which they've effectively done, but closing
• 15:29
  Speaker 6: what is called the Bob l Mandeb. It's at the
• 15:32
  Speaker 6: very bottom of the map you're showing at the bottom
• 15:35
  Speaker 6: of the Arabian Peninsula, the bottom of the Red Sea.
• 15:39
  Speaker 6: They've got the houthis there who have capability to attack
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: commercial shipping. If you close that choke point, that closes
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: effectively the Suez Canal right under the word Israel on
• 15:51
  Speaker 6: your map. That is a major global choke point, just
• 15:55
  Speaker 6: like the straight of war moves. If the Iranians can
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: push the hoothis into doing that. You've opened a new
• 16:02
  Speaker 6: front of western front, if you will, in this war.
• 16:05
  Speaker 6: So that is one to watch and one to be
• 16:07
  Speaker 6: concerned about in the weeks ahead.
• 16:10
  Speaker 9: In his address is primetime televised address last night, the
• 16:14
  Speaker 9: President said one sentence, one sentence, and it was a
• 16:17
  Speaker 9: total of about seven seconds. We checked related to the
• 16:20
  Speaker 9: war with Iran in his nearly twenty seven minutes speech overall.
• 16:25
  Speaker 9: When he first announced he was going to give it
• 16:27
  Speaker 9: a televised address, I thought it would be on the
• 16:29
  Speaker 9: war with Iran, but it wasn't. It was on election
• 16:32
  Speaker 9: so called election interference. Was that, in your view, a
• 16:35
  Speaker 9: missed opportunity for President Trump?
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: It was?
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: And the numbers are very clear on this. This war
• 16:43
  Speaker 6: is unpopular across the entire political spectrum. President Trump's own
• 16:49
  Speaker 6: popularity overall is as low as it's been throughout his
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: two terms of the presidency. And I think Americans just
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: don't have a sense of what's the exit strategy, what's
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: the endgame here? And when you start getting those questions
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: from the public, that's the time to do that nationally
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: televised address and reassure people and tell them you have
• 17:11
  Speaker 6: a plan and tell them what the next step is.
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: That's I'm with you, That's what I was hoping to
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: hear when I caught a snippet of a televised presidential address.
• 17:21
  Speaker 6: It's about elections. Those are important, but I think the
• 17:25
  Speaker 6: public would at this point like to hear what's the
• 17:29
  Speaker 6: next move in the Middle East.