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| Caribbean-Latin America | ||
| Could Hugo grab the Dutch West Indies? | ||
| 2007-03-11 | ||
The Royal Netherlands Navy is small, but has very good ships. This force carries a lengthy tradition going back centuries, a tradition that includes beating the British at sea many times. Their new De Zeven Provincien-class destroyers are good ships armed with SM-2MR and Evolved Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The eight Karel Doorman-class frigates are also very good vessels as well, armed with Sea Sparrows and Harpoons. There is also a landing platform dock amphibious vessel, the Rotterdam, with a second vessel, the Johan Van Witt, being built. The Royal Netherlands Air Force is also potent, but primarily designed for a war in Europe. It consists of 108 F-16As with a mid-life upgrade, making them very capable against aerial opponents. This is the bulk of their combat power. They have 30 AH-64D Longbow Apaches being delivered, and only three KDC-10F aerial refueling aircraft (comparable to the KC-10) for their entire force. This is a force that has a lot of teeth, but very little tail. In the event that Venezuela should seize Aruba, Curacao, and/or Bonaire, Chavez will have a lot of places in Venezuela for his Air Force to reach the Dutch islands. The nearest Dutch territory is St. Marteen, which is anywhere from 844 (to Bonaire) to 965 (to Aruba) kilometers from the combat zone. The F-16's range is 2642 kilometers, but that figure is misleading. Combat eats up fuel very rapidly (often due to the use of afterburners), and as a result, the potential combat zone, even with aerial refueling, is at the edge of the F-16's combat radius (usually a third of the aircraft's range – in this case, 880 kilometers). Drop tanks could extend the range, but that means giving up some payload. This is a situation much like what the Luftwaffe faced in 1940 in the Battle of Britain, only this time, it would be an inability to provide sustained air cover for naval vessels as opposed to the inability to properly escort strike aircraft. As Admiral Sir Thomas Phillips, commander of Force Z (HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse), found out in 1941, a naval force sailing under hostile skies has an exciting and short life. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 Sorry to spam your comments... According to GlobalSecurity.org those F-16s were being used for drug interdiction and were not armed. I suspect this has changed: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/curacao.htm |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-03-11 17:05 |
| #11 Ahh, here is some of the edge those Strategy Page folks might want to have mentioned, viz the "forward operating location" split between Beatrix International Airport and Hato International Airport. I suspect this tips the numbers somewhat in favor of the Dutch: http://www.ciponline.org/facts/fol.htm Aruba and Curaçao Defense Department and Customs Service aircraft have been operating at Curaçao’s Hato International Airport and Aruba’s Reina Beatrix International Airport since April 1999. The Curaçao section of this Caribbean FOL is to support two large, two medium and six small aircraft, with as many as 200 to 230 temporarily deployed operations and maintenance personnel. The Curaçao site is currently hosting Air National Guard F-16s, Navy P-3 and E-2 Airborne Early Warning planes, U.S. Air Force E-3 AWACS and other U.S. aircraft. The presence in Aruba will be smaller, with two medium and three small aircraft, about fifteen permanently assigned staff and twenty to twenty-five temporarily deployed operations and maintenance personnel.4 A U.S. Air Force “Site Activation Task Force” identified some of the improvements that would be required for the FOL’s long-term operation. These included upgrades and pavement improvements to ramps and taxiways and construction of maintenance and operations facilities. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-03-11 16:59 |
| #10 However, assistance from NATO allies, especially the United States and Britain, would give the Dutch an edge, and a clear shot at regaining their Caribbean islands. Ahh, yes. Yes, I can see how it might give the Dutch an edge. Yeeeesss... /holding hand under chin and nodding thoughtfully |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-03-11 16:26 |
| #9 Aruba has offshore banking, and lots of people with money own vacation property there. Curacao is (was?) a big transshipment point for petroleum, and I think they have refineries as well. Bonaire.... Bonaire has fantastic scuba diving, and of course there are the ruins of the old salt-production slave huts and the native thorny scrub.... Were I Mr. Chavez, I'd see the conquest Bonaire as low risk/high reward -- and really grow Venezuela's reputation as a scuba diver's heaven. But that's me. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-11 15:39 |
| #8 I'd guess the V navy's officer corps would pull the plugs on their ships, knowing that USN/AF aircraft would vaporize them and the embarked troops the moment the Vs entered international waters. |
| Posted by: mrp 2007-03-11 09:31 |
| #7 This is all idle conjecture. Even if Hugo is too damned stupid to know it, his generals know that seizing a piece of Dutch sovereign territory in the Caribbean would be the same as an attack on Rotterdam and would call the mutual defense provisions of NATO into force. He'd be looking at one or more U.S. carrier task forces steaming off his coast within 72 hours and any of his military stupid enough to attack them would be quickly dead. For him to seize Aruba or any other Dutch island is the fastest way I can think of to have him reach the Allende ending: committing "suicide" by shooting one's self 20+ times with an automatic weapon. |
| Posted by: Mac 2007-03-11 06:49 |
| #6 If Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez made a grab for the Dutch West Indies (specifically the islands of Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire), could the Dutch really do anything about it? It is common knowledge that Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire are suffering under a brutally oppressive, racist colonial Dutch regime which openly practices aparthied. If he makes a move on the islands, I suspect Hugo will do it with the full support of the UN and our donk friends in the beltway. Nothing would surprise me today's geo-political environment. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-03-11 04:05 |
| #5 JosephMendiola, the Dutch would be in a lot of trouble if they depend on the French and Germans to project power into the Western hemisphere. They simply do not have the air lift or sea lift to get even their relatively weak forces to the West, let alone be able to stage a counterattack. For that matter it is doubtful if the Brits could deal with Faulklands again. |
| Posted by: RWV 2007-03-11 03:43 |
| #4 Shouldn't he wait for a democratic president? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-03-11 01:08 |
| #3 LOL! It's just the sort of thing Huggie might try when the money is gone and the Mercals are out of chicken for 3 weeks. I would laugh and laugh, knowing that Hugs will f**c it up somehow. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-03-11 00:32 |
| #2 Thats what England, France, and Germany are for. i.e. Dutch handle Banking-Financing, [other] Euro(s) handle the firepower. OTOH, TAIPEITIMES > CHINA INVADING THE CARIBBEAN, vv ANTI-TAIWAN-OTHER CONTRACT, BIDDING WARS/COMPETITION. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-03-11 00:29 |
| #1 "Could Hugo grab the Dutch West Indies?" He could try.... (Not that I think the Dutch would be the ones doing anything about it.) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-03-11 00:08 |