The Guardians of the Revolution have mentioned the presence of mines in the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic is still heavily disrupted. But the United States may need support to secure the area.
Is this the Achilles’ heel of the American army? The question of possible demining in the Strait of Hormuz arises, with Tehran already mentioning the laying of mines in this highly monitored waterway.
However, Washington does not have particularly developed capabilities in this area, especially in a contested environment like this maritime corridor. “It has not been a priority sector for them,” observes Sylvain Domergue, a geographer, teacher at Sciences Po, and author of Geopolitics of maritime spaces (Armand Colin).
A device never tested in real conditions
The symbol of this American limit is the arrival in the United States on March 11 of four mine hunters to be disarmed and made unusable. The decision was made before the start of the conflict in the Middle East. Stationed permanently in Bahrain for several years, these Avenger-class ships are equipped with a mine detection sonar and underwater drones capable of dealing with the danger of a mine. But these ships are now aging and ready to be scrapped.
The United States now only has four Avenger-class ships capable of mine clearance, located in Japan. Their relocation to the Strait of Hormuz “would take time and would not happen overnight.”
If an operation were to be triggered in the Strait of Hormuz, Washington will have to rely on lightweight frigates from the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program. “The United States made a technological transformation bet with much more versatile ships,” explains Sylvain Domergue to BFM Business, citing budgetary reasons. “The LCS is very versatile, it can patrol, send helicopters, drones, monitor but also engage in mine warfare if equipped with an MCM,” a mine countermeasure system including sonars, drones, and divers.
Problematically, “few LCS ships are equipped with it, and it has never been tested in real conditions. We don’t really know how fast it is,” warns Sylvain Daumergue.
The essential European aid?
The US military also has helicopters capable of rendering a mine harmless, such as the MH-60S or the MH-53E.
The US Navy is also increasingly relying on unmanned surface vehicles for mine warfare. Washington has nine of them in stock and has ordered 18 more drones. These figures are likely insufficient for the United States to secure the Strait of Hormuz alone.
“The US Navy will probably rely more on its allies and partners than we think,” predicts Alessio Patalano, a professor at King’s College London, to CNN.
Even James Stavridis, a retired US Navy admiral, alerts to “a critical situation in the Gulf requiring additional minesweepers, aircraft, and additional minesweeping-equipped ships.”
The world’s largest military budget could potentially be threatened by cheap Iranian mines, which were available in large numbers. Back in April 1988, a missile frigate, the USS Samuel B. Roberts, was severely damaged by an Iranian mine causing fires at several points on the ship.
But not enough to alarm Donald Trump. “So we have mine sweepers in place. We have very sophisticated underwater mine sweepers, the most recent and most efficient ones. But we also deploy more traditional mine sweepers,” listed the US president in an interview with Fox News on April 12.
In France, the issue of deploying resources in the Strait of Hormuz is not currently on the agenda. But “nothing is ruled out” regarding a potential French participation in demining the area, according to the Minister of the Armed Forces, Catherine Vautrin. In terms of mine clearance, Europe, with over 150 ships capable of addressing the threat, has significant resources. European countries “have chosen not to disarm their mine hunters,” explains Sylvain Domergue. This is a legacy of the consequences of World War II still maintained, especially by France. Last year, 853 explosive devices were neutralized by mine clearance divers, including several dozen mines.
