Feb 21, 2022: The U.S Navy has announced the launch of a new joint fleet of unmanned drones in the Middle East with allies to patrol large areas of volatile waters following rising tensions with Iran.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the 5th Fleet, said the 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submarine, would dramatically increase the U.S Navy’s surveillance capabilities, allowing it to expand its the surveillance capacities of the US Navy, allowing it to keep a close eye on waters critical to the flow of global oil and shipping.
In recent years, trade at sea has been targeted following the termination of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
“By using unmanned systems, we can just simply see more. They’re high reliability and remove the human factor,” Cooper said on the sidelines of a defence exhibition in Abu Dhabi, adding the systems are “the only way to cover on whatever gaps that we have today”.
Bahrain’s 5th Fleet includes the important Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Gulf through which 20% of all the global oilsupply passes. The canal stretches as far as the Red Sea near the Suez Canal, Egypt’s waterway connects the Middle East with the Mediterranean, and stretches from Yemen to the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb.
In recent years, the high seas have seen a spate of attacks and surges, following former U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of a nuclear deal with Iran and re-impose destructive sanctions.
“It’s been well established that Iran is number one in the primary regional threat we are addressing,” Cooper said. “There’s the ballistic missile, cruise missile and UAV [drone] component, both in their capability and their mass proliferation, as well as well as the proxy forces.”
As Yemen’s seven-year civil war continues, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have flown bomb-laden drones into Saudi waters, damaging ships and oil installations. Recent tensions between Iranian and US naval vessels continue in the waters of the Middle East. The conflict has highlighted the danger of armed conflict between nations.
In particular, Cooper said, the United States has not seen such an event in the last few months, as diplomats in Vienna are trying to restore the broken nuclear deal.
Iran’s common threat has prompted a rapid restructuring of politics in the Middle East. In 2020, the UAE and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel over U.S mediation agreements. These warm relations have also grown in the form of military diplomacy. Israel participated for the first time earlier this month in a major US-led naval exercise in the region, publicly participating with other Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, with which it has no ties.
Cooper said Israel could potentially join the Navy’s unmanned drone task force in the region.
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