Word: exocet
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...gulf fiasco is only the latest ill-fated attempt by the Reagan Administration to assert U.S. interests by deploying troops on largely symbolic missions. The crew of the Stark was on a poorly defined mission when it was struck by wayward Iraqi Exocet missiles last May. In 1983 Marines deployed in Beirut turned out to be sitting ducks in an ill-protected barracks; 241 Americans were killed by a truck bomb. Despite the valor of those who fought in Grenada in 1983, the mission was beset by examples of military ineptitude and interservice rivalries. In Libya three years later, after...
...retaliate. Another threat is the Chinese-made Silkworm missiles that Iran is deploying along the Strait of Hormuz. They have a range of about 50 miles, enough to cover the entire strait, and carry a 1,000-lb. warhead, three times as heavy as the warhead of the Exocet that hit the Stark...
...David Rogers, head of the U.S. delegation, said he was "certain we have the information to piece together what happened." He refused to confirm reports, however, that they had not spoken with the pilot who evidently mistook the Stark for an Iranian tanker and blasted the frigate with two Exocet missiles...
After the Sheffield sinking, U.S. Navy brass insisted that newly developed defensive systems would protect the rapidly growing American fleet from the sea skimmers. The Stark disaster has not changed that view. Former Navy Secretary John Lehman points out that although the Sheffield was destroyed by a single Exocet, the Stark, with a more durable superstructure and redundant protective systems, was hit by two missiles and still "sailed home under its own steam." Moreover, since the U.S. frigate was blindsided by a supposedly friendly plane, its defensive systems were never tested. "This is basically a weird exception," says Michael MccGwire...
...close range and has difficulty tracking sea-skimming missiles amid the radar "clutter" caused by waves. Even under manual operation, the Stark's Phalanx system should have detected the incoming missiles, but the ship's only warning came just seconds before impact when a lookout spotted the first Exocet. To counter such problems, Israel is developing the Barak, an antimissile missile that is launched vertically into the air and then dives down to knock out a sea skimmer as far as several miles away; the U.S. has contributed $10 million toward the project...