Mini-submarines, underwater mines.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: DEFENSEINSIDER

* For the U.S. Navy, it would be an apocalyptic scenario: A critical chokepoint of global trade and oil tankers, the Strait of Hormuz, shut down by the suspected, or real, presence of sea mines. The Navy regards the protection of the world's commerce lifelines as a raison d'etre, and has spent decades developing mine detection and mine sweeping technology to deal with precisely such circumstances.

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Iran has in the past put the world on guard that it would close the Persian Gulf to shipping if it were attacked. The impact would be huge. Americans mostly would feel it at the gas pump, with oil prices soaring out of control.

Fears of Iran burying sea mines--often called the improvised explosive devices of naval warfare--in strait waters have fueled Navy's efforts to improve its countermeasures. But today's anti-mine systems may not be enough to defeat these stealthy weapons. Current technologies were optimized for operations in open oceans, and may not necessarily work in the Strait of Hormuz' murkier, more cluttered, relatively shallow waters, analysts contend.

Navy officials will not publicly discuss the precise capabilities of current anti-mine systems to keep the strait open despite such threats. The Navy for years has been concerned about "asymmetric" weapons that deny U.S. ships access to any area of the world, said Vice Adm. David J. "Jack" Dorsett, deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance, and a career intelligence officer. Today's surface ships have advanced systems to defend themselves from enemy missiles or incoming small boats, but concealed threats such as mines or mini-submarines are tougher to counter.

Strategists have speculated that if Iran's regime were to ever carry out such actions, that they would...