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AdamG
09-06-2013, 04:13 AM
Moderators Note

I have changed the thread title from 'Russian Fleet Movements' to 'Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity' to reflect the posts here referring to both air and naval activity. Note one theme is the apparent testing of NATO alertness (ends).


These completely, totally unrelated events deserve their own little thread.

September 3rd.


A Russian Navy task force is en route to the eastern Arctic, according to a report from RIA Novosti. The deployment is said to be part of the Russian government’s Arctic policy, which is designed “to uphold Russia’s status as a leading Arctic power, strengthen its security … and ensure national interests.” Led by the heavy nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, the task force, which includes the large amphibious assault ships Olenegorsky Gornyak and Kondopoga and a variety of support vessels, has left the Severomorsk base and entered the Barents Sea, RIA Novosti reports. The squadron will carry out various training missions in the vicinity of the Novossibirsk Islands. The deployment is said to be the Russian Navy’s second large-scale exercise in the Northern Sea Route in the past two years.http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2013/09/03/russian-navy-task-force-headed-to-eastern-arctic/



Not a single Canadian search-and-rescue aircraft is based in the Arctic. Helicopters and 45-year-old Hercules planes are deployed from Canada’s more southerly regions. An attempt to procure replacement planes began in 2002, but again, no construction contract has been signed.

Russia has 16 deep-water ports in the Arctic. Canada’s sole Arctic port is at Churchill, Man., nearly 2,000 kilometres south of the Northwest Passage. A plan to transform a disused wharf on Baffin Island into an all-year naval base, announced in 2007, has been delayed and curtailed.

The combination of melting ice and Russian state investment has led to a recent tenfold increase in shipping along the Northern Sea Route, with more than 40 large ships – mostly bulk carriers and oil tankers – sailing through last year.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/the-russian-arctic-is-open-for-business/article13696054/

September 4.


The Nastoichivy destroyer of the Russian Baltic Fleet and the Smetlivy escort ship of the Black Sea Fleet will join the Russian naval unit in the Mediterranean within the next few days, a Russian Navy Main Staff source told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.

"The Smetlivy escort ship will start its combat mission in the Mediterranean according to the operational command\'s plans within the next few days. There are plans that the Nastoichivy destroyer, the Baltic Fleet flagship, should join our ships as well," the source said.

The Smetlivy has a water displacement of 4,460 tonnes and is armed with the Kh-35 Uran anti-ship missiles, the AK-726 artillery system, the Volna anti-aircraft missile system (16 missiles), a 533-mm torpedo launcher (5 torpedoes), and two RBU-100 launchers.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry information, the Neustrashimy escort vessel and the Alexander Shabalin, Admiral Nevelskoi, and Peresvet landing ships are currently performing their missions in line with the operational headquarters' plans.

The Novocherkassk and Minsk landing ships belonging to Russia's Black Sea Fleet and Baltic Fleet should join the group on September 5-6. The SSV-21 Priazovye medium reconnaissance vessel, which left the port of Sevastopol on September 1, is performing a special General Staff mission.http://rbth.ru/news/2013/09/04/two_more_russian_naval_ships_to_join_mediterranean _unit_29492.html

Which is linked to -

May 15, 2013 Inna Soboleva, RBTH

Plans to reestablish a military presence in the Mediterranean aim to stabilize the military and political stability in the region.
http://rbth.ru/international/2013/05/15/russian_navy_plans_to_reestablish_mediterranean_pr esence_25999.html


And the best part -


“At the end of the year, most likely in early December, the Project 11435 heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser the Admiral Kuznetsov will set off on a long-distance sea voyage during which it will call at the Russian Federation Navy's logistical support centre located in the Syrian city of Tartus,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement,http://thediplomat.com/the-editor/2013/09/04/russias-aircraft-carrier-to-visit-syrian-naval-base/

AdamG
09-06-2013, 04:25 AM
On Monday, Russian Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev said Russia is planning to build a string of new naval bases in the Arctic. The bases are intended to be “key double-purpose sites” for warships “in remote areas of the Arctic Seas.” There’s no word on what those double purposes might be. Russia’s plans to create a “combined-arms force” for the Arctic is also still on track, according to Moscow-based news wire RIA Novosti.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/08/arctic/

davidbfpo
09-06-2013, 09:24 AM
Yesterday I spotted, but did not note a report that the Russian navy aircraft cruiser, Moskva, would deploy to the Mediterranean, along with two amphibious ships. The Moskva was already in the Atlantic. One suggestion was that the ships were suitable for a national evacuation operation (NEO). I cannot quickly find that report.

So a few days ago:
Russia has four warships in the eastern Mediterranean that for now are keeping "a respectful distance" from the five US Navy destroyers there, Dempsey revealed.

Link:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/03/syria-kerry-hagel-strikes-senate


Russian news agencies on Thursday quoted Sergei Ivanov as saying that Russia has been boosting its naval presence in the Mediterranean "primarily" in order to organize a possible evacuation of Russians from Syria.

Link:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/syria-putin-obama-g20-showdown

davidbfpo
09-06-2013, 05:10 PM
From the Russian press agency Interfax:
Large amphibious ships (BDK), Baltic and Black Sea fleets "Novocherkassk" and "Minsk" with intelligence ship "Azov", breaking the Dardanelles came out into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and headed for the Eastern Mediterranean, "Interfax" on Friday the Main Staff of the Navy.

According to him, landing craft began to move to designated areas of the Eastern Mediterranean, where they will perform the tasks of the operational plans of the Navy command in the group. Average intelligence ship will operate on a separate plan of the General Staff.

Link:www.interfax.ru/world/news.asp?id=327458

BayonetBrant
09-06-2013, 07:18 PM
list of Russians ships in the Med or almost there (near as we can tell, from OSINT sources)

http://grognews.blogspot.com/2013/09/russian-med-naval-presence.html

AdamG
09-07-2013, 02:07 PM
Interfax reported that another landing ship had left the Black Sea port of Sevastopol on Friday morning and was to pick up a "special cargo" in Novorossiysk before sailing toward the eastern Mediterranean. The state RIA Novosti news agency also said that the landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov would be headed toward Syria after picking up cargo in Novorossiysk, which it said would take several days.

http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/DA8KT3I00

Cue dramatic music (http://youtu.be/rfh4Mhp-a6U)



list of Russians ships in the Med or almost there (near as we can tell, from OSINT sources)

http://grognews.blogspot.com/2013/09/russian-med-naval-presence.html

Still have your boxed copy of HARPOON, or are you going digital for this OOB?

Random funfact:


Russia in January held its biggest naval maneuvers in the Mediterranean in more than two decades, followed by its largest-ever naval exercises with China in the Sea of Japan in July. In March, Putin ordered unplanned exercises in the Black Sea involving 36 warships and almost 7,000 personnel.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-04/russia-boosts-mediterranean-flotilla-as-u-s-weighs-syria-strike.html

AdamG
09-09-2013, 06:44 PM
This sounds like something off the Sy-Fy channel - Russians sending an ancient destroyer to the Med...

http://navalmatters.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/russia-moves-44-year-old-destroyer-to-syrian-waters/



More than ten ships and an unknown number of Russian submarines are now in Mediterranean waters, amassing a presence for first time since the dissolution of the fifth military fleet of the Soviet Union in 1992. -
See more at: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/europe/7281-the-largest-russian-fleet-in-mediterranean-waters-since-soviet-dissolution#sthash.53sdanq7.dpuf

Steve Blair
09-09-2013, 07:13 PM
http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/DA8KT3I00

Cue dramatic music (http://youtu.be/rfh4Mhp-a6U)




Still have your boxed copy of HARPOON, or are you going digital for this OOB?

Random funfact:


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-04/russia-boosts-mediterranean-flotilla-as-u-s-weighs-syria-strike.html

Boxed set of HARPOON? Check. All systems show green.

wm
09-09-2013, 07:28 PM
This sounds like something off the Sy-Fy channel - Russians sending an ancient destroyer to the Med...

Sounds like a good depository for a Chem weapons stockpile moved out of Syria in response to the Russian suggestion (BBC reported (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24022866#)) to Syria that it put its chem stockpile under international control followed by destruction of said stockpile. What would be easier than to scuttle that destroyer someplace over the Mariannas Trench after filling it up with Syrian VX, Sarin, and Mustard shells and the precursor chemicals on hand? One wonders whether the ship is big enough though.

AdamG
09-11-2013, 06:32 PM
Russia’s Moskva missile cruiser, dubbed a “carrier-killer” by NATO, has passed through the Straits of Gibraltar and is now heading toward the eastern Mediterranean to assume command of the Russian naval force there.

The Russian Navy said in a statement that the Moskva cruiser passed through the Straits of Gibraltar on September 10.

http://rt.com/news/russia-moskva-cruiser-mediterranean-720/

Steve Blair
09-11-2013, 07:16 PM
Ah, the old Slava-class makes its appearance. Looks like an interesting mix of ships, although nothing really surprising yet. It makes sense that they'd need something larger than a Udaloy-class destroyer to serve as flag. But with as many amphibious warfare ships as they're sending, this looks more like a task force geared toward evacuating personnel and assets as opposed to anything with a major offensive intent.

Tukhachevskii
09-12-2013, 11:01 AM
Is it just me or does anyone else think SWC has real potential as an OSINT site?

AdamG
12-09-2013, 11:49 PM
Is it just me or does anyone else think SWC has real potential as an OSINT site?

Inconceivable!



Earlier in October, Putin stated strongly that Russia would never “surrender” its Arctic area. Indeed, Temp airfield located on Kotelny Island, the largest of Russian islands in Novosiberian region, is being reactivated.

The airfield has been operational beginning in 1949 then, 20 years ago, its activity was suspended, and the infrastructures preserved for future use. Since then, Russian policy towards Arctic has become more aggressive and one of the elements of that policy is to reinstate the aforementioned airfield for Russian Air Force planes.

In 2012, a helicopter crash occured during a Russian specialists’ visit to the island. Nobody died, but the mishap halted the reactivation activities. This year people and equipment were delivered by sea. Back in September an expedition included 150 people, 40 machines and vehicles.

http://theaviationist.com/2013/12/08/russia-arctic-base/

So who plays Patrick MCGoohan's role? (http://youtu.be/IYptT5qFCUA)


MOSCOW, December 2 (RIA Novosti) – Russian naval forces are set to make the Arctic a priority region, boosting combat training and scouting lesser-known areas of the icy territory in 2014, a navy spokesman said Monday.

The Northern Fleet will conduct sailing and diving expeditions in the Arctic and develop a series of ice-class patrol ships to protect the country’s interest in the region, said Vadim Serga, a captain First Class and spokesman for the fleet’s Western Military District.

Russia has already begun deploying aerospace defense units and constructing an early missile warning radar system near the far northern town of Vorkuta. Completion of that system is planned for 2018.
http://en.ria.ru/russia/20131202/185208917/Arctic-Made-Priority-for-Russian-Navy-in-2014.html


...and from five hours ago, usual provocative Squadron operations are provocative.


Japan on Friday ordered its air force to track the movement of two Russian nuclear-capable planes that were flying close to Japanese airspace, RIA Novosti reported.

The pair of long-range Tupolev Tu-160 bombers were said by the Japanese military to have flown close to Japan's Hokkaido island and past Honshu island.

Though the bombers did not trespass into Japanese airspace, the island nation's jets were scrambled as a preventative measure, according to the Japanese military.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/global-security-newswire/japan-puts-jets-on-alert-to-monitor-nearby-russian-bombers-20131209

AdamG
12-30-2013, 09:40 PM
Naval analysts for some time have derided the status of the Russian Federation Navy (RFN), falling from its elevated Cold War status as an American near-equal, to an obsolescent non-operational force through the first decade of the 21st century. This less-than-graceful degradation has effectively ceased with a newly invigorated shipbuilding budget, the delivery of a number of warships and, most importantly, the redeployment of this once proud navy into the world’s oceans.

http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/russias-navy-new-red-storm-rising-9616

AdamG
01-08-2014, 09:38 PM
WARSAW — With the aim of modernizing and overhauling its fleet, the Russian Navy plans to acquire 40 new vessels in 2014, said Rear Adm. Viktor Bursuk, the Navy’s deputy commander.

The procured vessels will include a Borey-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, a Varshavyanka diesel-electric submarine and the search-and-rescue ship Igor Belousov, Bursuk told local news agency RIA Novosti.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140106/DEFREG01/301060017/Russia-s-Navy-Buy-40-New-Vessels

AdamG
01-20-2014, 04:23 PM
Russia and China have agreed to conduct a joint naval drill in the Mediterranean Sea, a Russian media report cites the Defense Ministry. The countries’ fleets are currently involved in an intl operation to escort the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile.

The Defense Ministry said on Sunday that group of Russian naval officers deployed onboard a heavy nuclear missile cruiser "Peter the Great" visited Chinese frigate Yancheng.

http://rt.com/news/russia-china-naval-drills-838/

AdamG
02-27-2014, 01:40 AM
Havana (AFP) - A Russian warship was docked in Havana Wednesday, without explanation from Communist Cuba or its state media.

The Viktor Leonov CCB-175 boat, measuring 91.5 meters (300 feet) long and 14.5 meters wide, was docked at the port of Havana's cruise ship area, near the Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

The Vishnya, or Meridian-class intelligence ship, which has a crew of around 200, went into service in the Black Sea in 1988 before it was transferred seven years later to the northern fleet, Russian media sources said.

Neither Cuban authorities nor state media have mentioned the ship's visit, unlike on previous tours by Russian warships.

https://news.yahoo.com/russian-spy-ship-docked-havana-224015753.html

AdamG
02-28-2014, 01:35 PM
There are several reasons to fear that if the crisis in Ukraine is not resolved diplomatically to Russia's satisfaction, Ukraine's neighbor will intervene - and some of the reasons also have to do with Syria.

Russia maintains an enormous military port in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol, home of Russia’s mighty Black Sea Fleet. Until 1954, the port was in Russian territory, but then it was transferred to Ukraine for administrative reasons. Apparently, the Soviet leadership believed that the Soviet Union was immortal and internal administrative borders would be politically meaningless.

It became a diplomatic problem with the breakup of the Soviet Union, but a solution was found: Since 1991, the Sevastopol port has been leased to Russia, comparable to the control the Americans have of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Russia has another port in its territory in Novorosisk, but it is a civilian port that cannot serve as a substitute for a military port.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/.premium-1.576212

AdamG
03-02-2014, 01:56 AM
Russia says it is negotiating with eight governments around the world for access to military facilities, to enable it to extend its long-range naval and strategic bomber capabilities. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday the military was engaged in talks with Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Algeria, Cyprus, the Seychelles, Vietnam and Singapore.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/russia-seeks-access-bases-eight-countries-its-ships-and-bombers#sthash.lIvH5v9d.4YriJ6H5.dpuf

AdamG
03-02-2014, 02:11 AM
Ukraine’s Navy flagship, the Hetman Sahaidachny frigate, has reportedly refused to follow orders from Kiev, and come over to Russia’s side and is returning home after taking part in NATO operation in the Gulf of Aden flying the Russian naval flag.

http://inserbia.info/news/2014/03/ukraines-navy-flagship-refuses-to-follow-orders-from-kiev-report/

jcustis
03-02-2014, 12:04 PM
Still have your boxed copy of HARPOON, or are you going digital for this OOB?

Wow, you certainly stepped into the wayback machine on that one! :D

davidbfpo
03-02-2014, 02:49 PM
Have the two USN vessels deployed into the Black Sea, ostensibly for contingencies related to the Winter Olympics, actually left?

AdamG
03-02-2014, 03:41 PM
Have the two USN vessels deployed into the Black Sea, ostensibly for contingencies related to the Winter Olympics, actually left?

Dunno, that's a Blue Counter. I was only tracking Red Counters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Russian_Navy_ships) in this thread.

http://www.wargamevault.com/images/4613/105358.jpg

For Custis and everyone else digging those GDW boxes out of the closet...
http://www.wargamevault.com/product/105358/Modern-Soviet-Cruisers

AdamG
03-02-2014, 03:52 PM
Construction on new facilities to accommodate the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet’s incoming Mistral-class helicopter carriers began in Vladivostok recently, according to the Russian publication RIA Novosti.

A Defence Ministry spokesman said that the the Uliss Bay naval base’s quay will be extended to 2,700 metres to accommodate the Mistrals, the ammunition loading area will be modernized, road and rail access to the base will be upgraded, and all electricity and communications systems will be replaced by October 2015, according to the report.

The first French-made Mistral, Vladivostok, is scheduled to be delivered to the Russian Navy in November this year, though the Pacific Fleet will not host the carriers before 2018, after acceptance trials are held.

http://blogs.ottawacitizen.com/2014/02/23/new-facilities-being-built-to-handle-russian-navys-new-mistral-class-ships/

AdamG
03-08-2014, 07:32 PM
NOVOOZERNOE, Ukraine (Reuters) - Lashed by the wind as it whips across Crimea's biggest lake, a third of Ukraine's warships have nowhere to go and nothing to do but rise and fall on its choppy waves.

Russian forces have blocked their only exit point to the Black Sea by sinking two ageing vessels there, and Russia's well-armed Moskva missile cruiser can be seen treading water a short distance off the coast, with menace.

With six more of Ukraine's two dozen warships similarly blockaded and Russian forces building up their strength ahead of a referendum that seems likely to result in Crimea becoming part of Russia, Ukraine is facing the humiliating loss of its navy.

http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-facing-loss-navy-russian-forces-crimea-dig-173539149.html

AdamG
03-22-2014, 08:53 PM
At the same time that Russia was denying having blockaded Ukrainian naval facilities in Crimea, little-noticed reports came out of Moscow saying that Vladimir Putin’s government had ongoing conversations with eight foreign countries with the objective of building overseas military facilities, including in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

“We need bases for refueling near the equator and in other places,” Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, was quoted as saying by news agency ITAR-Tass.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2014/03/04/russia-reportedly-eyeing-latin-america-as-part-overseas-military-base-expansion/

Can't criticize Putin. He was invited.


At a time when the Middle East, Afghanistan and China monopolize U.S. foreign-policy, Latin America hasn’t received much attention. Until today, that is, when Secretary of State John Kerry declared the expiration of the nearly 200-year old lodestar of U.S. diplomacy in the Americas.

“The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over,” Mr. Kerry said in a speech at the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C.

That prompted some tepid applause, which Mr. Kerry encouraged: “That’s worth applauding. That’s not a bad thing.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/11/18/kerry-makes-it-official-era-of-monroe-doctrine-is-over/

AdamG
03-27-2014, 05:27 PM
This article is from last September, setting up a base in the New Siberian Islands. I had to look up where those where
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Siberian_Islands

http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/content/russia-arctic/1751157.html


Russia to restore the Soviet military base in the Arctic, which was abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

This was announced by President Vladimir Putin .

This step is part of the transformation of the northern coast of Russia in the global shipping route and secure the vast energy resources of the region.

Base on the New Siberian Islands, has not been used for twenty years, but recently , Russia sent him to a group of four nuclear-powered icebreakers and 10 warships to signal the restoration of a permanent military presence in the Arctic .

Flotilla headed by the Russian nuclear cruiser "Peter the Great " was held on the Northern Sea Route from Europe to Asia through the Russian waters - from the Kara Gate to the Bering Strait .

" Our military is left there in 1993 , and yet it is a very important point in the Arctic Ocean . Mean and a new stage of development of the Northern Sea Route ", - Putin said at a meeting in the Ministry of Defence .

" We agreed that at this point we not only recreate a military base , but let me order airfield , make it possible to participate in teamwork MOE representatives , hydrologists , professionals who deal with climate, to ensure the safety and efficiency of operations in the North sea way , so that Russia could effectively control this part of its territory, " - said the Russian president more .

Russia is making big bets on the development of huge reserves of Arctic energy and busy shipping route is an integral part of this plan .

Climate warming has led to greater melting ice in the Arctic and the lengthening of the navigation period , which gives hope that the Northern Sea Route can be a shorter alternative to the southern routes .

However, experts point out that poor infrastructure , ice floes , narrow straits , shallow waters and harsh winters preclude the safe and profitable shipping in the region.

AdamG
03-30-2014, 10:09 PM
A somewhat breathless assessment -


Since taking 51 vessels from Ukraine without resistance, Russia now has more warships than America. The U.S. Navy has 283 active vessels, and Russia had 280 warships until last week, when it began taking over Ukrainian vessels stationed in Crimea.

The last of Ukrainian’s 17 military vessels stationed in Crimea not already taken by Russia, the minesweeper Cherkassy, was sabotaged by its crew Wednesday after several unsuccessful Russian capture attempts. Tuesday night, gunfire, explosions and smoke were seen and heard coming from the vessel during a Russian attempt. Ten Ukrainian vessels, not stationed in Crimea, still remain in the possession of Ukraine.

Russia has also gained navy officers. About 12,000 of Ukraine’s 15,450 navy personnel were stationed in Crimea when Russia invaded at the end of last month. Most of the officers have joined the Russian navy or resigned, according to representatives of the Russian government.

The 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade, based at the Balbek airbase, had 39 Mig-28 fighters, which were seized by Russia in the early days of their invasion. Three hundred surface-to-air missiles were seized at the Fiolent airbase, as well.

A representative of the Russian navy gave an interview Tuesday. According to Yuri Borisov, deputy defense minister for the Russian Navy, the Russian navy will have 40 more warships, including submarines and support vessels, set up for combat duty this year. Borisov stated the increase would make “resolution of the whole range of tasks that the Navy assumed [and] become more combat effective in any parts of oceans in the world,” as reported by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.

http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/russia-navy-larger-than-u-s-navy-now-with-addition-of-ukraine-navy-ships/

JMA
03-30-2014, 11:12 PM
A somewhat breathless assessment -

http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/russia-navy-larger-than-u-s-navy-now-with-addition-of-ukraine-navy-ships/

Yes, this adds to the list of Russian actions which the US and the EU find if not acceptable then tolerable. Quite disgraceful.

wm
03-31-2014, 12:05 AM
A somewhat breathless assessment -



http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/russia-navy-larger-than-u-s-navy-now-with-addition-of-ukraine-navy-ships/
The 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade, based at the Balbek airbase, had 39 Mig-28 fighters, which were seized by Russia in the early days of their invasion. Three hundred surface-to-air missiles were seized at the Fiolent airbase, as well.


OMG Mig-28s. I hope we can get Maverick and Cougar with their F-14 Tomcats back on active duty to take them out.

JMA
03-31-2014, 12:55 AM
OMG Mig-28s. I hope we can get Maverick and Cougar with their F-14 Tomcats back on active duty to take them out.

Infantile comment.

wm
03-31-2014, 02:23 AM
Infantile comment.

Are you sure it wasn't puerile, kindisch or kinderagtige?:p

At least my post commented somewhat humorously on the quality of the fact checking done by some of the sources cited here.

BTW, here's a link for you:The Hunting of the Snark (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173165) (he said with tongue firmly in cheek).

JMA
03-31-2014, 09:11 AM
Are you sure it wasn't puerile, kindisch or kinderagtige?:p

At least my post commented somewhat humorously on the quality of the fact checking done by some of the sources cited here.

BTW, here's a link for you:The Hunting of the Snark (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173165) (he said with tongue firmly in cheek).

Well OK then... a puerile sense of humour. Some people never grow up.

Instructors at any Officer School would typically observe for those who have that character flaw of laughing at expense of people rather than with them. Some fatally flawed individuals do however manage to sneak through though. This is a pity.

davidbfpo
03-31-2014, 10:25 AM
AdamG posted in part:
The 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade, based at the Balbek airbase, had 39 Mig-28 fighters, which were seized by Russia in the early days of their invasion. Three hundred surface-to-air missiles were seized at the Fiolent airbase, as well.

I read somewhere only four were in flying / operational condition.

davidbfpo
03-31-2014, 10:46 AM
I thought I'd posted these two news items from hitherto unknown news resource.


The paratroopers from the 98th Paratroopers Division in Ivanovo were dropped over the island of Kotelny on Friday in a show of strength in Arctic conditions.....As previously reported, the Russian Northern Fleet late 2013 took major efforts in the reopening of the Temp airfield at Kotelny....The Island of Kotelny in the period 1933-1993 housed a research station and military base.

Link:http://barentsobserver.com/en/security/2014/03/arctic-here-we-come-17-03

I am sure this is the island AdamG posted on three days ago.

OK, not Russia, but Norway's presence in the Barents Sea continues:http://barentsobserver.com/en/security/2014/03/norways-new-arctic-giant-spyship-17-03

Dayuhan
04-01-2014, 01:00 AM
Russia now has more warships than America

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b329/dayuhan/Colonel_Blimp_cartoon.png (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/dayuhan/media/Colonel_Blimp_cartoon.png.html)

AdamG
04-17-2014, 06:07 PM
(CNN) -- Just when you thought this divorce couldn't get any messier.

Weeks after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region, it plans to take custody of dolphins in the nation as well.

Not just any dolphins. These highly trained military mammals detect risks such as sea mines or enemy scuba divers trying to slip through. Sea mines are sophisticated weapons that can sink ships and other watercraft.

"The combat dolphin program in the Crimean city of Sevastopol will be preserved and redirected toward the interests of the Russian navy," state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Thursday.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/world/europe/crimea-dolphins-defect/

AdamG
04-17-2014, 06:20 PM
GADZHIYEVO (Murmansk region), April 16 (RIA Novosti) – The first Borey-class ballistic missile submarine could be put on combat duty this year after taking weaponry on board, a senior Russian Navy commander said Wednesday.

"Upon receiving new weapons on board this year, the Yury Dolgoruky submarine will be ready to perform its duties," said Rear Admiral Alexander Moiseev, commander of the submarine forces of the Northern Fleet.

The Yury Dolgoruky joined the Northern Fleet in January 2013 while the second Borey-class boat, the Alexander Nevsky, was commissioned by the Navy in December last year.

The third boat, the Vladimir Monomakh, is undergoing sea and state trials, and the fourth Borey-class submarine, the Knyaz Vladimir, has been under construction at the Sevmash shipyard in northern Russia since July 2012.

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140416/189245693/First-Borey-Class-Strategic-Sub-Ready-for-Combat-Patrols--.html


And now for another one of those Chehkovian moments...


The Russian Navy is expected to receive 40 new warships and auxiliary vessels this year, including a variety of surface ships of various classes in addition to the nuclear submarines. The Russian Defense Ministry is currently carrying out a massive rearmament for the navy and air force as part of a series of modernization efforts.

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140414/189213100/Russian-Navy-to-Begin-Sea-Trials-of-2-New-Nuclear-Subs-in-Summer.html

ganulv
04-18-2014, 01:10 PM
"The combat dolphin program in the Crimean city of Sevastopol will be preserved and redirected toward the interests of the Russian navy," state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Thursday.

If you see a dolphin an’ that, don’t go, “Oh, it’s friendly.” (http://youtu.be/e1EBqPZyo88)

Stan
04-18-2014, 04:23 PM
If you see a dolphin an’ that, don’t go, “Oh, it’s friendly.” (http://youtu.be/e1EBqPZyo88)

Hey Matt,

All jokes aside, our USN marine mammal program (http://www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Pacific/71500/Pages/default.aspx) at approx. $750,000 for a week is, in addition to being expensive, works.

An oceanographic survey while more precise, may not render the same results.

Have to see a team once to actually believe it.

ganulv
04-18-2014, 04:54 PM
Hey Matt,

All jokes aside, our USN marine mammal program (http://www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Pacific/71500/Pages/default.aspx) at approx. $750,000 for a week is, in addition to being expensive, works.

An oceanographic survey while more precise, may not render the same results.

Have to see a team once to actually believe it.

Oh, I don’t doubt it for a second. I just like the Gervais clip. :D

There must be something about the word “dolphin” that makes people tune out. I met a marine biologist once who told me he “conducts research on charismatic marine megafauna.” I asked him what that meant, and he said, “I work with dolphins. Usually people don’t want to admit they don’t know what ‘charismatic marine megafauna’ are, and they just shake their heads and look impressed. But if I tell them ‘dolphins’ straight away they don’t take me seriously.”

Stan
04-18-2014, 05:08 PM
Admittedly, had I not been part of the program for several years as a translator, I would not have had the slightest clue what megafauna meant :o

Happy Good Friday, and Easter too !

Regards, Stan


Oh, I don’t doubt it for a second. I just like the Gervais clip. :D

There must be something about the word “dolphin” that makes people tune out. I met a marine biologist once who told me he “conducts research on charismatic marine megafauna.” I asked him what that meant, and he said, “I work with dolphins. Usually people don’t want to admit they don’t know what ‘charismatic marine megafauna’ are, and they just shake their heads and look impressed. But if I tell them ‘dolphins’ straight away they don’t take me seriously.”

ganulv
04-18-2014, 05:24 PM
Happy Good Friday, and Easter too!

Thanks, and to you, too! During my stints in Latin America I got used to Good Friday being the holiday, so that’s a good thing to hear today.

Stan
04-18-2014, 08:46 PM
Thanks, and to you, too! During my stints in Latin America I got used to Good Friday being the holiday, so that’s a good thing to hear today.

Yep, all of Europe is off today. I may in fact be the only Roman Catholic in Estonia and working :D

AdamG
04-21-2014, 08:55 PM
The tense East-West standoff in Ukraine could reach a new level of escalation: underwater. According to a report from the Russian newspaper Izvestia, the United States Navy's marine mammal unit will be deployed to the Black Sea this summer, where American dolphins and sea lions could find themselves nose-to-nose with their Russian counterparts.

The paper reports that according to a statement by Tom LaPuzza, spokesman for the US Navy's marine mammals program, twenty dolphins and ten sea lions will be in the Black Sea for one-to-two weeks this summer, conducting NATO exercises in a body of water that is traditionally been dominated by the Russian navy.

http://news.yahoo.com/russian-american-military-dolphins-might-face-off-summer-141812435.html

AdamG
04-21-2014, 09:20 PM
ISTANBUL — A Russian warship passed Sunday through Turkey's Çanakkale (Dardanelles) strait, possibly to the Black sea. The navy ship, named 'PM 56,' was being accompanied by Turkish coast guard boats during its crossing.

The vessel was apparently heading towards the Marmara Sea, but no information has been acquired as to its final destination.
http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2014/04/20/russian-warship-passes-through-turkeys-strait

Note: 10 seconds of OSINT said that the PM56 is an Amur class floating workshop, homeported at Sevastopol.

See
http://wikimapia.org/20481303/PM-56-Amur-class-floating-workshop
and
http://warshipsonthebosphorus.blogspot.com/2013/05/pm-56-russianamur-class-repair-ship.html

Folks playing at home will find this blog of interest -
http://warshipsonthebosphorus.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2015-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=6


As well as
http://turkishnavy.net/


18 Apr 2014 6 Comments

Yesterday, on 17 April 2014, 3 Ropucha class landing ships have made a southbound passage trough Bosphorus. Either Mr. Assad is in dire need for Russian supplies and weapons or this is a diversion attempt from the Ukrainian crises.

and


The list of Russian warship movements in 2014:
Date Number Name Direction
02/01/14 016 Georgiy Pobedonosets Northbound
02/01/14 156 Yamal Northbound
18/01/14 016 Georgiy Pobedonosets Southbound
18/01/14 151 Azov Southbound
27/01/14 102 Kaliningrad Southbound
01/02/14 016 Georgiy Pobedonosets Northbound
01/02/14 151 Azov Northbound
07/02/14 810 Smetlivy Northbound
10/02/14 016 Georgiy Pobedonosets Southbound
10/02/14 151 Azov Southbound
20/02/14 150 Saratov Southbound
20/02/14 156 Yamal Southbound
26/02/14 102 Kaliningrad Northbound
26/02/14 127 Minsk Northbound
04/03/14 150 Saratov Northbound
04/03/14 156 Yamal Northbound
23/03/14 012 Olenegorskiy Gorniak Southbound
23/03/14 102 Kaliningrad Southbound
23/03/14 127 Minsk Southbound
03/04/14 012 Olenegorskiy Gorniak Northbound
03/04/14 102 Kaliningrad Southbound
10/04/14 150 Saratov Southbound
10/04/14 156 Yamal Southbound

I have archived the list of the Russian ship movements in 2013.

AdamG
04-25-2014, 05:30 PM
A Russian intelligence-gathering ship has been operating off the U.S. East Coast and near the Gulf of Mexico for the past month, the Pentagon said Thursday.

“We are aware that the Russian ships Viktor Leonov and Nikolay Chiker are currently operating in waters that are beyond U.S. territorial seas but near Cuba,” said Lt. Col. Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman. “We respect the freedom of all nations, as reflected in international law, to operate military vessels beyond the territorial seas of other nations.”

The Leonov is an intelligence gathering ship outfitted with high-tech electronic spying gear. The Chiker is an ocean-going naval tug that has been accompanying the spy ship on its mission.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/pentagon-russian-spy-ship-tug-operating-near-u-s/

For Memory Refresher, see
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showpost.php?p=152814&postcount=17

AdamG
04-25-2014, 05:35 PM
The Royal Navy has sent a Portsmouth-based warship to track a Russian naval vessel as it approached British waters, it has been revealed.

HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, tracked and met up with the Vice Admiral Kulakov, a large Russian destroyer, as it sailed past the UK.


http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/defence/portsmouth-warship-sent-to-shadow-russian-navy-destroyer-near-british-waters-1-6017646


Dragon deployed from Portsmouth last week to pre-position well north of Scotland in good time to respond to the Udaloy-Class destroyer’s deployment. She made contact with the Kulakov and is keeping an eye on the Russian ship’s transit south.

http://www.marinelink.com/news/military-revival-british367789.aspx

davidbfpo
04-25-2014, 06:08 PM
AdamG,

The occassional RN deployment to our northern waters to "meet & greet" a Russian vessel sometimes gets media coverage. We no longer have any maritime patrol aircraft, so a ship is sent.

IIRC last year and early this year a larger Russian vessel appeared and no RN warship was despatched until too late. It may even have anchored during a storm near UK territorial waters. The UK claims a twelve mile limit (except in a few places). Search Google on russian warship moray firth.

A lot of this activity is media hype, for many reasons, but to my knowledge none of the scrambled aircraft and ships actually respond to a Russian plane or ship actually in UK territorial waters.

AdamG
04-26-2014, 03:36 AM
AdamG,
A lot of this activity is media hype, for many reasons, but to my knowledge none of the scrambled aircraft and ships actually respond to a Russian plane or ship actually in UK territorial waters.

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/049/044/No-Country-for-Old-Men_Tommy-Lee-Jones_Josh-Brolin_Javier-Bardem_9.jpg


Dave,

I think most folks - particularly those with a passing familiarity of OSINT - hanging out here can read past the media hype, particularly when it comes to the sewage pumped out by the UK and American hacks.

Between the Russian intel trawler now of the coast of Georgia (USA), the game of peekaboo with the Tupolevs (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-27157504) and the incident you reference, we're seeing a pattern.

Of course they're testing Oceania's reaction responses and times, as well good training for their own crews.

With the Ukraine drama of late, Putin & his Kremlin buddies are just pressing home the message that they're a player on the stage - not so much to White Hall, the Pentagon & DC, but more to the rest of the world.

Enjoy that Peace Dividend.

Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue
They all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu
Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games
Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names

AdamG
04-26-2014, 03:48 AM
Read between the lines.


Karachi: Two Russian navy ships have arrived at Karachi port on a first-ever goodwill visit to Pakistan for a naval exercise, signalling warming of bilateral relations.

During their stay, various training activities and discussions on maritime security will be held between Pakistani and Russian naval officers.

The Russian ships will also conduct passage exercise with Pakistan Navy's vessels, state-media reported.

The Russian flotilla is being led by Rear Admiral Dmitrieve Vladimir Alexandrovich, according to a statement by the Pakistan Navy.

Pakistan and Russia have historically been on opposite sides since the Cold War, when Islamabad supported the anti-Soviet Mujahideen in neighbouring Afghanistan against invading Russian troops in the 1980s.

Russia has also been traditionally close to India and is a major defence supplier for the Indian military.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/russian-naval-ships-on-first-ever-visit-to-pakistan_925962.html

AdamG
05-05-2014, 08:35 PM
"Anti-Drug Drills". Alrighty then.


MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) – Two Russian navy ships, together with forces from Nicaragua and Honduras, have taken part in anti-narcotics naval exercises in the Caribbean, a spokesman for Russia’s Northern Fleet said Tuesday.

“The exercises focused on joint efforts to stop organized criminal groups and cut drug smuggling channels in territorial waters of Latin American states,” Northern Fleet spokesman Capt. 2nd Rank Yevgeny Kirillov said.

Russia sent a Vishnya-class intelligence ship, the Viktor Leonov, and the Nikolay Chiker support vessel to the exercises.

http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140429/189460592/Russian-Navy-Ships-Take-Part-in-Anti-Drug-Drills-in-Caribbean.html


Russia's navy has launched snap military exercises involving its fleet in the Caspian Sea, a news report said.

The drill will last seven days and involve about 10 naval vessels and 400 sailors, the Defence Ministry said, Interfax reported. The Caspian Sea is bordered by Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, and the region is crisscrossed by oil and natural gas pipelines.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-navy-holds-snap-military-drills-in-caspian-sea/498788.html



On Wednesday, China announced that it plans to hold joint naval drills with Russia in the East China Sea later this month.

“These drills are regular exercises held by China and Russia’s navies, and the purpose is to deepen practical cooperation between the two militaries, to raise the ability to jointly deal with maritime security threats,” China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement published on its website.

Voice of America reports that the joint naval drills will be held in late May off the coast of Shanghai. This is significantly north of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands that have been the source of ongoing tensions between Japan and China in recent years. Russia also has an ongoing territorial dispute with Japan over the Kuril Islands located even further north off the far eastern coast of Russia.

http://thediplomat.com/2014/05/china-russia-military-ties-deepen-with-naval-drill-in-east-china-sea/

Stan
05-05-2014, 09:01 PM
From the International Business Times (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/soviet-tu-95-bomber-aircraft-sale-ebay-1439453) comes the following...


A Soviet-era bomber aircraft "in very good condition" has been put up for sale on the internet auction site eBay, with a starting price of only $3m (£1.8m).

What a sweet deal indeed, with "just over 454 hours of the 5,000 hours it is capable of" you could own this thing with world renowned reputation of "one of the noisiest aircraft in the world, with the roar of its propellers reportedly detectable by the hydrophones of submerged submarines".

AdamG
05-06-2014, 01:33 AM
From the International Business Times (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/soviet-tu-95-bomber-aircraft-sale-ebay-1439453) comes the following...



What a sweet deal indeed, with "just over 454 hours of the 5,000 hours it is capable of" you could own this thing with world renowned reputation of "one of the noisiest aircraft in the world, with the roar of its propellers reportedly detectable by the hydrophones of submerged submarines".

Why does this sound like the beginning of an ARCHER episode?: the bad guys buy an ex-Soviet bomber off of ebay...

http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/b/bd/Archer_AK_2.jpg/600px-Archer_AK_2.jpg

AdamG
05-06-2014, 01:34 AM
Heh. Ya don't say?


WASHINGTON (AP) — The commander of U.S. air forces in the Pacific is reporting a significant increase in activities by Russian planes and ships in the region.

Gen. Herbert Carlisle linked that to the situation in the Ukraine. He said Russia was demonstrating its capabilities and gathering intelligence on U.S. military exercises.

Carlisle said there had been long-range Russian air patrols to the coast of California and a circumnavigation of the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam. He said a U.S. F-15 fighter jet intercepted a Russian strategic bomber that had flown to Guam.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-russian-planes-more-active-asia-pacific-201733886.html;_ylt=AwrBJR869GdTahwAWzvQtDMD

AdamG
05-08-2014, 04:47 PM
Sailors on board HMS Dragon are still keeping a watchful eye on Russian naval vessels, after a seven-strong task group has entered the English Channel.

The Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer has been monitoring the movements of the group, which is being led by the Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.



As well as the Kuznetsov, the task group includes: the Kirov-class nuclear-powered battle cruiser Pyotr Velikiy; tankers; Segey Osipov, Kama and Dubna; one ocean-going tug Altay and the landing support ship Minsk.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/defence/portsmouth-ship-hms-dragon-tracks-russian-navy-task-group-1-6047308

wm
05-09-2014, 01:56 PM
Interesting story on the Admiral Kuznetsov from War is Boring https://medium.com/war-is-boring/c4ed4afff987 I also understand that the ship was scheduled for major refit this year. Perhaps it is on the way to Sebastopol for that purpose. Any insight as to what aircraft may be on board?

AdamG
05-09-2014, 04:19 PM
Stopped by to post the following, oddly related to the Kuznetsov.

Wikipedia (FWIW) say the Kuznetsov has 41–52 aircraft.

Fixed Wing;
14 × Su-33 fighters (current)
28 × MiG-29K fighters
(planned after refit)
4 × Sukhoi Su-25UTG/UBP aircraft
Rotary Wing;
4 × Kamov Ka-27LD32 helicopters
11 × Kamov Ka-27PLO helicopters
2 × Kamov Ka-27S helicopters



Washington (AFP) - US officials voiced concern Thursday at the sale of French warships to Moscow as they mulled tougher sanctions on Russia for the political upheaval triggered by the Ukraine crisis.


The first of two Mistral warships is not due to be delivered to Russia until later this year, and France has so far resisted pressure to suspend the controversial $1.2 billion contract.

The Mistral is an advanced helicopter assault ship and France's 2011 agreement to sell them to Russia already triggered protests from the United States and other NATO allies.

The first, named the Vladivostok, is due to be delivered in October, while the second, "The Sebastopol" is to be delivered in 2015 and stationed with the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea -- annexed by Moscow in March.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-voices-concerns-sale-french-warships-russia-181201334.html

AdamG
05-13-2014, 04:26 PM
Time to update your OOBs, kids.


MOSCOW, May 13 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Black Sea Fleet will have a sophisticated network of naval and airbases in Crimea following the region’s reunification with Russia, the country's chief naval commander said Tuesday.

*
According to Chirkov, Russia will deploy warships not only in Sevastopol, but also in Feodosia and Donuzlav, while stationing combat aircraft near Yevpatoria and in Belbek.
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/731456


MOSCOW, May 13. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian Black Sea fleet will receive 30 new modern warships of various classes and support ships under a naval construction programme in the next six years, Admiral Viktor Chirkov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, said on Tuesday on the occasion of the 231st anniversary of creation of the Russian Black Sea fleet.

“This is not the case of any ungrounded naval buildup. These are the long-standing needs of the Russian Black Sea fleet which has not seen renovation for years,” the commander-in-chief told journalists.

The Black Sea Fleet will receive more than 86 billion rubles (around $2.3 billion) for its development by 2020, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu earlier said.

http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/731456

See also
http://defendingrussia.ru/upload/images/ckeditor/53172e02d13ff.jpg

AdamG
05-21-2014, 07:11 PM
"We have always been at war with Eurasia... EastAsia... EastAsia and Eurasia."


China and Russia started a week-long naval exercise in the politically sensitive East China Sea yesterday.

Chinese and Russian units taking part in the Joint Sea-2014 drill will be combined rather than operating separately during the exercise, the first time the Chinese navy has worked so closely with a foreign maritime force, according to Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie. "The mixed confrontation and drill means the exercises will operate more like a real battle," said Li. "It shows the two countries' strategic partnership has entered a high level of cooperation and coordination, even though both Beijing and Moscow insist they are not military allies."

Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said China and Russia had learned from the example of Western countries' joint naval drills, including Nato, where forces were mixed together. It indicated that trust between Beijing and Moscow was increasing.

The drill, in the northern part of the East China Sea, ends on Monday. Forces including 14 ships, two submarines, nine fixed-wing aircraft and six shipboard helicopters will take part, according to a report on the PLA Navy's website.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1516768/china-russia-start-joint-naval-exercise

AdamG
05-27-2014, 09:58 PM
On May 8, Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, passed through the Netherlands' exclusive economic zone. Although the Dutch Navy had spotted the Kuznetsov days earlier, it was unable to provide an escort for the Russian warship as it passed through their territorial waters, David Cenciotti wrote for Medium .

Just as it is common practice for NATO air forces to scramble and intercept intruding aircraft, non-NATO vessels are supposed to be escorted as they pass through a member state's territorial waters.

Ultimately, the Dutch Coast Guard resorted to deploying a Dornier-228 aircraft to shadow the Russians through the Netherlands' territory. But the aircraft lacks the equipment necessary for comprehensive electronic or photographic intelligence gathering.

Since 2002, the Dutch have retired their entire fleet of dedicated patrol aircraft. The Royal Netherlands Navy has also shrank due to years of military budget cuts.

This failure of the Dutch to escort a Russian ship through its own territory underscores a wider failing within Europe to maintain a state of military readiness. NATO members are meant to spend at least 2% of their GDP every year on defense spending, although only four member states reached that goal in 2013.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russias-air-craft-carrier-crossed-195206098.html

davidbfpo
05-28-2014, 09:09 AM
There is a big difference between what the article refers to as:
..the Admiral Kuznetsov, passed through the Netherlands' exclusive economic zone...as it passed through their territorial waters..

EEZ are not territorial waters, so this ship was in international waters and heading for the even more constricted English Channel.

AdamG
07-23-2014, 10:23 AM
SEVASTOPOL: Russia announced Wednesday (July 23) that it had begun expanding and modernising its Black Sea fleet based in Crimea with new ships and submarines, just months after annexing the peninsula from Ukraine.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/russia-starts-reinforcing/1278370.html

AdamG
08-10-2014, 04:46 AM
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian Northern Fleet's anti-submarine force has detected a foreign submarine in the country's boundary waters and "expelled" it, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed spokesman for the Russian Navy Main Staff.

A foreign submarine, presumed to be a U.S. Navy Virginia-class vessel, was detected by Northern Fleet forces on duty in the Barents Sea on Aug. 7, the spokesman said.

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-detects-expels-presumed-u-submarine-russian-news-155013008.html

AdamG
08-20-2014, 12:52 AM
Moscow (AFP) - Russia announced plans Tuesday to bolster its navy with more advanced weapons in response to NATO's vow to halt the Kremlin's push into Ukraine and feared expansion into eastern Europe. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told a general security meeting that he expected to hear a detailed report from Russia's navy commander about how this could be achieved efficiently over the coming six years.

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-vows-strengthen-navy-ward-off-nato-175736243.html

AdamG
09-09-2014, 01:15 AM
Two Russian strategic bombers conducted practice cruise missile attacks on the United States during a training mission last week that defense officials say appeared timed to the NATO summit in Wales.

The Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers were tracked flying a route across the northern Atlantic near Iceland, Greenland, and Canada’s northeast.

Analysis of the flight indicated the aircraft were conducting practice runs to a pre-determined “launch box”—an optimum point for firing nuclear-armed cruise missiles at U.S. targets, said defense officials familiar with intelligence reports

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russian-strategic-bombers-near-canada-practice-cruise-missile-strikes-on-us/

davidbfpo
09-09-2014, 10:54 AM
Adam and other readers,

Don't the USAF, USN and other allied military components also practice such missions? I am aware of ELINT probing, such as the recent incident in the Baltic.

AdamG
09-10-2014, 06:17 PM
No clue what NATO/USAF/USN does for fun, but the Russians picked up the old Soviet 'exercises' habit when they reestablished their fuel bankrolls.

The recent exercises (off California and the one above) seem to be outside of their usual boxes.

Meanwhile,


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia carried out a successful test of its new Bulava intercontinental nuclear missile on Wednesday and will perform two more test launches in October and November, the head of its naval forces said.
*
Naval Commander-in-Chief Admiral Viktor Chirkov said the test launch had been carried out from the White Sea and that the test missile had hit its target in Russia's far east.

"In October and November of this year, the naval fleet will carry out two more launches with two rocket cruisers equipped with ballistic missiles," Interfax quoted Chirkov as saying.

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-successfully-tests-nuclear-missile-two-more-tests-122134995.html

AdamG
09-22-2014, 12:47 AM
The Navy’s top Atlantic Submarine Force commander said Thursday that Russia and China’s ballistic missile submarine development will impact how the U.S deploys its fleet.

Navy Vice Adm. Michael Connor said global threats today are far more numerous and dispersed compared to the Cold War when the U.S. focused solely on Russia. Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has treated Russia more like a partner.

However, those goodwill feelings have changed since Russia has shown aggression in its recent conflict with Ukraine and instituted some tactics the U.S. hasn’t seen since the Cold War. Considering Russia’s significant nuclear arsenal, it has drawn the attention of the Navy’s nuclear submarine leaders.

“The Soviet Union devolved into Russia but they kept their nuclear capabilities. They are now re-growing those capabilities and others. As they re-grow, we find that modern Russia appears to have some aspirations both territory-wise and influence-wise that are reminiscent of the way they behaved when we had the Soviet Union,” Connor said.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/09/20/us-navy-issues-warnings-on-russia-chinas-submarine-fleets/

AdamG
09-23-2014, 02:35 PM
NOVOROSSIYSK Russia (Reuters) - Russia will increase its Black Sea fleet by 2020 with more than 80 new warships and will complete a second naval base for the fleet near the city of Novorossiysk by 2016, its commander said on Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/russia-add-80-warships-black-sea-fleet-fleet-120309252.html

AdamG
10-14-2014, 12:01 AM
Some folks question why the U.S. Navy would need such exotic weapons as the Phalanx and SeaRAM systems, or even electromagnetic rail guns. These Russian-made, radar-guided anti-ship missiles are two such reasons.

The P-270 Moskit and P-800 Oniks have caused so much consternation that the Navy has begun developing a helicopter-based electronic warfare system—the Advanced Offboard Electronic Warfare (AOEW)—to defend against the threat. Both are ramjet-propelled cruise missiles, both carry 550 to 710 pounds of high explosive in their warheads, and neither is one you want to see streaking towards your ship.

http://gizmodo.com/why-americas-navy-is-so-concerned-about-these-russian-m-1641323648?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_faceboo k&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

AdamG
10-17-2014, 01:18 AM
Starting from 2017, the Russian Air Force will base MiG-31 interceptor jets and tactical aircraft at a Russian Arctic airfield in the urban settlement of Tiksi in northernmost Sakha Republic, Commander Col. Gen. Viktor Bondarev said Wednesday.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/russia-is-deploying-its-fastest-interceptors-to-the-arc-1647183496/+pgeorge

AdamG
10-22-2014, 03:09 PM
Russia prepares for ice-cold war with show of military force in the Arctic
Vladimir Putin sends troops and jets to oil- and gas-rich region also coveted by Canada, United States, Norway and Denmark

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/21/russia-arctic-military-oil-gas-putin

AdamG
10-22-2014, 07:48 PM
In addition to the annexation of the tiny Yaya Island located in the desolate Laptev Sea, Russia is reactivating Cold War bases and deploying some 6,000 military personnel along the length of its arctic frontier. Additionally, Moscow has ordered a great increase of its federal border guards presence along its vast northern border.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/russia-annexes-and-deploys-forces-to-tiny-but-strategic-1649235569/+travis

AdamG
10-24-2014, 04:11 PM
U.S. national security officials are concerned about the pace and intensity of Russian submarine development, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert said Thursday.

"There are competitors that are pursuing us. We know about China. That is very well spelled out, but not as many people know what the Russians are up to. I can't go into detail, obviously, but they spend a lot of money. The Russians have been working on a sea-based strategic deterrence - and an SSN (attack submarine)," Greenert said at the Naval Submarine League's annual symposium in Falls Church, Va.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/10/23/cno-warns-advanced-russian-submarine-development/

davidbfpo
11-10-2014, 11:17 AM
I suppose it was only a matter of time for a report like this to appear, as NATO/EU and USA ponder whether there is a return to the 'Cold War' in the apparent increase in Russian air and sea exercises:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/10/close-military-encounters-russia-west-cold-war?

So this group of the once "great and good", the European Leadership Network, says:
Close military encounters between Russia and the west have jumped to cold war levels, with 40 dangerous or sensitive incidents recorded in the past eight months alone, according to a report published on Monday.

The report, Dangerous Brinkmanship by the European Leadership Network, logs a series of “highly disturbing” incidents since the Ukrainian crisis began earlier this year, including an alarming near-collision between a Russian reconnaissance plane and a passenger plane taking off from Denmark in March with 132 passengers on board.
The report (not read yet):http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/dangerous-brinkmanship-close-military-encounters-between-russia-and-the-west-in-2014_2101.html


In The Guardian comments was a reference to this incident, in April 2014 in the Black Sea:
Russian Sukhoi Su -24 with the newest jamming complex paralyzed in the Black Sea the most modern American combat management system "Aegis" installed on the destroyer "USS Donald Cook". Pavel Zolotarev, Deputy Director, Institute of USA and Canada, shares details about this version which is being actively discussed in the Russian media and by bloggers.
The article has a Russian author and in places appears to be propaganda:http://indian.ruvr.ru/2014_04_21/Russian-Su-24-scores-off-against-the-American-USS-Donald-Cook-5786/

Moderators Note

I have changed the thread title from 'Russian Fleet Movements' to 'Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity' to reflect the posts here referring to both air and naval activity. Note one theme is the apparent testing of NATO alertness (ends).

(http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/dangerous-brinkmanship-close-military-encounters-between-russia-and-the-west-in-2014_2101.html)

davidbfpo
11-12-2014, 02:07 PM
The Australian defence ministry is tracking a fleet of Russia warships sailing in international waters near its coast.

It is believed the vessels, currently in the Coral Sea near Papua New Guinea, could be heading to Brisbane for next week’s G20 summit, which Vladimir Putin will attend.


Russia’s Pacific flagship, the Varyag, is leading the contingent south, accompanied by destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov and one of the world’s most powerful tugs, the Fotiy Krylov. A supply tanker called Boris Butoma is accompanying them towards Australia’s east coast.


Link to UK coverage:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/russian-warships-heading-for-australia-as-putin-prepares-to-attend-brisbane-g20-summit-9855308.html


To Australian coverage:http://www.news.com.au/national/russian-warships-heading-to-australia/story-fncynjr2-1227120928528


Having a Russian naval flotilla at a G20 summit is hardly new. One assumes the voyage southwards was noted days before the press reporting.

davidbfpo
11-13-2014, 04:32 PM
From the BBC today:
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said there was a plan to provide long-range aviation maintenance for the flights....On Wednesday, Mr Shoigu said "long-range aviation units" would fly along the borders of the Russian Federation and over the waters of the Arctic Ocean. He added: "Under the prevailing circumstances we need to ensure a military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans, the waters of the Caribbean basin and the Gulf of Mexico.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30028371

Back to an old 'Cold War' deployment pattern then.

Bill Moore
11-14-2014, 01:06 AM
We'll have to remind the Russians of our Monroe Doctrine when they start patrolling the Gulf of Mexico:o

Saw the same information in "The Hill" today.

http://thehill.com/policy/international/224002-russian-bombers-to-patrol-gulf-of-mexico


Russian bombers to patrol Gulf of Mexico

Purpose of the patrols?

On to Russian military modernization

http://www.cfr.org/russian-federation/russian-military/p33758?cid=rss-analysisbriefbackgroundersexp-the_russian_military-111014


As part of defense reforms, most Russian ground forces are to be professionalized and reorganized into formations of a few thousand troops for low- and medium-intensity conflicts. But for the foreseeable future many will remain one-year conscripts with limited training (military service is compulsory for Russian men aged eighteen to twenty-seven). The Airborne Assault Forces, which comprises about thirty-five thousand troops and whose commander answers directly to Putin, is Russia's elite crisis-reaction force. A Special Operations Command, also a reserve of Putin, was created in 2013 to manage special operators outside Russian borders.

Moscow is intent on remilitarizing its Arctic territory and is restoring Soviet-era airfields and ports to help protect important hydrocarbon resources and shipping lanes. (Russia has the world's largest fleet of icebreakers, which are regularly required to navigate these waters.) In late 2013, Putin ordered the creation of a new strategic military command in the Russian Arctic.

What do they see as threats?

One listed (there are others in the study)


Moscow believes the so-called color revolutions—a series of popular uprisings in former Soviet satellites—were concerted attempts by the United States and its allies to erode Russian influence in the region. "Russian foreign policy appears to be based on a combination of fears of popular protest and opposition to U.S. world hegemony, both of which are seen as threatening the Putin regime," writes Dmitry Gorenburg, an expert on the Russian military at CNA, a Virginia-based research institution.

Outside of the Artic, little in the above to explain Russia's aggressive aerial and proposed Naval patrolling in the vicinity of the U.S.. One can discern it is a show of power, not unlike we used to do to each other not too many decades ago.

As for the Color Revolutions

http://www.ponarseurasia.org/sites/default/files/policy-memos-pdf/Pepm342_Gorenburg_Sept2014.pdf

Countering Color Revolutions


The speakers, which included top Russian military and diplomatic officials such as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, argued that color revolutions are a new form of warfare invented by Western governments seeking to remove independently-minded national governments in favor of ones controlled by the West. They argued that this was part of a global strategy to force foreign values on a range of nations around the world that refuse to accept U.S. hegemony and that Russia was a particular target of this strategy.

They may right that is a new form of old warfare. We do have a couple of noted authorities on how to promote and run non-violent revolutions who have even published books on it. Whether the U.S. supports this or not remains a question, but if our State Department does promote this type of activity, one would hope have Congressional oversight, so we prevent some idealist Georgetown graduate go rogue and promote instability in a country that may be contrary to our interests.

OUTLAW 09
11-14-2014, 11:49 AM
Another day another set of TUs off and flying. Think Putin is trying badly to out do the old Soviet Union days and yet he says "Cold War" is possible---currently we are in a Cold War 2.0 but do not want to admit it.


Latitude 67N SIGINT @uascan

RUAF strategic air forces (TU95) sw net up with voice traffic

One has to love the old Soviet AF--still using sw.

Must be a really great flying day for the Russian AF.


Very high activity on RUAF Priboj transport flight sw net

Okey. Busy day on the airwaves.

RUAF VHF comms consistent with SU27 fighters in Baltic Sea

AdamG
11-14-2014, 02:54 PM
OUTLAW 09, how about a translation of that in basic English?

I *think* I know what I just read.

davidbfpo
11-14-2014, 04:29 PM
AdamG,

If your question refers to Russian Air Force use of short wave radio there is this post that explains (historically):http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=21372

davidbfpo
11-30-2014, 09:09 PM
Taken from a German-authored story repeated on a Swiss blog:http://www.offiziere.ch/?p=18618

Partly speculative the author admits, in particular whether China would want to join in such an exercise.

davidbfpo
12-11-2014, 02:02 PM
The British government acknowledged today that a submarine periscope had been sighted in waters near a main U.K. base, (off west Scotland), touching off a massive NATO hunt (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/search-expands-submarine-lurking-swedens-capital-26339873) in November.....A pair of U.S. Navy P-3 Orions, as well as Canadian and French planes and two British warships, scoured the waters for days when the periscope was seen in November.Link:http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/12/britain-admits-to-hunt-for-suspected-russian-sub-in-uk-waters/
More detail:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11283926/Britain-forced-to-ask-Nato-to-track-Russian-submarine-in-Scottish-waters.html

Embarassing as the UK has no maritime patrol aircraft. Even more as the only 'main' UK base in western Scotland are the Trident SSBN facilities in the Clyde. Taken alongside the current higher level of Russian flights and probing it is to say the least interesting.

davidbfpo
12-20-2014, 02:20 PM
A useful collection, with a visual emphasis, on Russian actions in the Baltic 1999-2914 by the McCain Institute:http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/storymapjs/latest/embed/?url=https://919b027fe9eba9d842d6c4e47ae0201c37df297d.googledri ve.com/host/0B139yCjciEqIYkw3WVRac2FGR2M/draft.json

davidbfpo
12-20-2014, 03:52 PM
Russian strategic (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/20/russiain-tu-95-bear-h-bombers-buzz-us-pacific-isla/#)bombers conducted a third circumnavigation of the U.S. Pacific island of Guam last week as other bombers flew close to Alaska and Europe....Two Tu-95 Bear H bombers made the flight around Guam, a key U.S. military hub in the western Pacific, on Dec. 13. No U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow the bombers....Separately, two Canadian F-18s intercepted two Bear bombers that intruded into the Alaska ADIZ on Dec. 8
Link:http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/20/russiain-tu-95-bear-h-bombers-buzz-us-pacific-isla/#ixzz3MSBvhwVn

davidbfpo
01-09-2015, 11:46 AM
Oh dear, once again a suspected Russian submarine periscope appears near the transit route for the UK's nuclear missile submarines, based in the Firth of Clyde. This time a RN frigate was on station and needed two USN maritime patrol aircraft's help:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11334836/MoD-forced-to-ask-US-for-help-in-tracking-Russian-submarine.html

AdamG
01-13-2015, 02:16 AM
MOSCOW, January12 (Sputnik) — Browsing through military internet forums many were surprised to see in the Russian edition of Top Gear automobile magazine a snapshot of a super-secret Russian deep-diving sub.

The photo, covering a test run of a Mercedes-Benz GL 450 to Arkhangelsk, shows a deep-water nuclear-powered AS-12 Project 10830 submarine, better known as Losharik. The photo was taken from the White Sea shore where the car was undergoing an off-road test.

Experts say this is the first good quality image of Losharik, one of this country’s top secret subs.

http://sputniknews.com/military/20150112/1016805883.html

AdamG
01-14-2015, 12:42 AM
A detachment of about 800 servicemen from Russia’s Northern Fleet has been stationed in the Russian town of Alakurtti, Murmansk region, just 50km from the Finnish border, part of a large-scale expansion of Russian military facilities in the country’s northwest according to a press statement issued by the unit’s commanding admiral Vladimir Korolev on Tuesday.

The rest of the fleet are expected to be stationed there “soon” according to Korolev. The base will be one of the key strongholds in Russia’s northernmost territories, designed to strengthen the country’s defence capabilities from the west, and improve their territorial claims over areas in the Arctic.

At full force, Russia’s Northern Fleet consists of about 3,000 ground troops trained for combat in Arctic conditions, along with 39 ships and 45 submarines. Its arrival in Murmansk follows Russia’s decision last year to create a united command for all of its units designated with protecting Russia’s interests in the country’s northern regions.

http://www.newsweek.com/3000-russian-troops-stationed-near-finish-border-putin-makes-moves-arctic-299129

davidbfpo
02-19-2015, 08:46 PM
Earlier today the MoD issued a statement about two TU-95 Bear long-range recce / bombers being intercepted off Cornwall and that they were escorted away by the RAF.

BBC:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31530840
The Guardian's first report:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/19/raf-scrambles-jets-after-russian-bombers-spotted-near-cornwall-coast

Later The Guardian reported two witnesses familiar with aircraft spotted two aircraft spotted over North Cornwall, near an old RAF / USN base:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/19/russian-bomber-flew-inland-cornwall-uk-airspace-witness?

This could become interesting! Needless to say officially there were no Bears over Cornwall.;)

AdamG
02-20-2015, 08:06 PM
How to spot a Russian bomber
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-31537705

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQr1yOr3bfhNJVh2BfCxIfX6XYpP4yEV Nl0rKTPwv275dJaeaEH

Five Points to the BBC. Meanwhile,

Sue Bamford, from Bodmin, said she witnessed at least one of the bombers flying inland, over Cornwall, while she was having a driving lesson on Wednesday afternoon.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/19/russian-bomber-flew-inland-cornwall-uk-airspace-witness
nb: Per reports, I can only imagine the female witness looked something like this -
https://sweffling.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/michael-palin-as-middle-aged-woman.jpg

AdamG
03-16-2015, 11:05 PM
MOSCOW (Reuters) - More than 45,000 Russian troops as well as war planes and submarines started military exercises across much of the country on Monday in one of the Kremlin's biggest shows of force since its ties with the West plunged to Cold War-lows.

President Vladimir Putin called the Navy's Northern Fleet to full combat readiness in exercises in Russia's Arctic North apparently aimed at dwarfing military drills in neighboring Norway, a NATO member.

"New challenges and threats to military security require the armed forces to further boost their military capabilities. Special attention must be paid to newly created strategic formations in the north," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said, quoted by RIA news agency.

Shoigu said the order came from Putin, who has promised to spend more than 21 trillion rubles ($340 billion) by the end of the decade to overhaul Russia's fighting forces.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/putin-orders-northern-fleet-full-alert-exercises-ria-073059816.html

OUTLAW 09
03-18-2015, 12:48 PM
Lithuanian MoD says NATO QRA intercepted 11 RU aircraft in total, 2x An-26, 1x An-12, 8x Su-34/Su-27, all were flying dark

@Spy_Stations See following for info and frequency table. https://planesandstuff.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/bear-hunting/ …

AdamG
03-21-2015, 01:51 PM
Russia is developing a long-range cruise missile that poses a new threat to the United States, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command warned this week.

“Russia is progressing toward its goal of deploying long-range, conventionally-armed cruise missiles with ever increasing stand-off launch distances on its heavy bombers, submarines, and surface combatants, augmenting the Kremlin’s toolkit of flexible deterrent options short of the nuclear threshold,” Adm. William Gortney, Northcom chief who heads the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said Thursday.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/northcom-russian-cruise-missile-threat-to-u-s-grows/

AdamG
03-23-2015, 09:55 PM
I know, DailyWail but...
Revealed: Russia's new supersonic bomber can outrun Britain's best fighter jet... and Vladimir Putin could soon send them our way


Russian President Putin is about to unleash a new supersonic bomber
The Blackjack will be able to outrun the RAF's fastest fighter jets
Last month Russian Bear aircraft were spotted on sorties near Cornwall
But Blackjack is three times faster than the Bear and can fly four times further than the fighters that make up UK's Quick Reaction Alert squadrons
The Russian aircraft has a range of 7,600 miles without refuelling


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3005961/Russia-s-new-supersonic-bomber-outrun-Britain-s-best-fighter-jet.html#ixzz3VFSblLzB

AdamG
04-07-2015, 01:29 AM
The air is frigid and the wind is howling as Air Force Col. Frank Flores lifts a pair of foot-long binoculars and studies a hazy dot about 50 miles west across the Bering Strait.

"That's the mainland there," he shouts above the gusts.

It's Siberia, part of Russia, on the Asian mainland.

Named for an old mining camp, Tin City is a tiny Air Force installation atop an ice-shrouded coastal mountain 50 miles below the Arctic Circle, far from any road or even trees. The Pentagon took over the remote site decades ago and built a long-range radar station to help detect a surprise attack from the Soviet Union.

At least from this frozen perch, America's closest point to Vladimir Putin's Russia, the Cold War is turning warm again. U.S. F-22 fighter jets scrambled about 10 times last year — twice as often as in 2013 — to monitor and photograph Russian Tu-95 "Bear" bombers and MiG-31 fighter jets that flew over the Bering Sea without communicating with U.S. air controllers or turning on radio transponders, which emit identifying signals.

The Russian flights are in international airspace, and it's unclear whether they are testing U.S. defenses, patrolling the area or simply projecting a newly assertive Moscow's global power.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-alaska-russia-20150406-story.html#page=1

davidbfpo
04-11-2015, 03:13 PM
Via a Bill Gertz column:
A Russia Su-27 jet fighter flew dangerously close and nearly collided with a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft this week in the latest aerial provocation by Moscow, defense officials revealed to the Washington Free Beacon. The Su-27 conducted the close-in intercept of an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday,
Link:http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russian-fighter-jet-nearly-collides-with-u-s-spy-jet-over-europe/

I recall a Russian plane approached a RC-135 in late 2014, which to "escape" flew into Swedish airspace uninvited, probaly posted here.

davidbfpo
04-14-2015, 10:21 AM
Someone in Moscow appears to have a sense of humour:
Russian military inspectors are attending massive naval war games off the coast of Scotland it has been disclosed. The Ministry of Defence has been forced to accept a four-day visit of military experts from Moscow under a European arms control treaty.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11533792/Russian-inspectors-arrive-at-British-war-games-off-Scotland.html

AdamG
04-15-2015, 01:43 PM
London (AFP) - British fighter jets were scrambled on Wednesday in response to the sighting of two Russian military aircraft near UK airspace, hours after three Russian ships were monitored as they entered the English Channel.

"Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighter aircraft were launched today after Russian aircraft were identified flying close to UK airspace," said a Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman.

http://news.yahoo.com/three-russian-ships-english-channel-000348261.html


TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's air force said on Wednesday said jet fighter scrambles have reached a level not seen since the height of the Cold War three decades ago as Russian bombers probe its northern skies and Chinese combat aircraft intrude into its southern air space.

In the year ending March 31, Japanese fighters scrambled 944 times, 16 percent more than the same period the previous year, the country's Self Defence Force said.

http://news.yahoo.com/japan-jets-scramble-cold-war-levels-chinese-russian-084627854.html

AdamG
05-02-2015, 01:37 PM
Two Russian nuclear-capable bombers intruded into the U.S. air defense zone near Alaska last week in the latest saber rattling by Moscow, defense officials said.

The Tu-95 Bear H bombers flew into the Alaska zone on April 22. But unlike most earlier incursions, no U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow them, said defense officials familiar with the latest U.S.-Russian aerial encounter.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), declined to confirm the incursion. But he said no jets were dispatched last week to intercept intruding aircraft.

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-conducts-nuclear-bomber-flight-near-alaska/

davidbfpo
05-02-2015, 02:15 PM
AdamG,

The lack of a response could presumably be due to a number of factors, from this "armchair" I'd suggest the weather and that the incursion into the ADIZ was short lived. Plus there's nothing like adding being unpredictable.

IIRC the UK ADIZ stretches out into the North Sea at least 200 miles and abuts the Norwegian ADIZ.

AdamG
05-11-2015, 10:44 PM
In yet another sign of looming blowback from the past year of rising tensions between Moscow and the NATO states, a British fishing ship was almost capsized by a suspected Russian submarine at the end of April according to the New York Times.
The 80-ton trawler was fishing for prawns in international waters in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Britain when an object believed to be a submarine became entangled in the ship's nets. The ensuing moments played out like a Hollywood scene as the submarine began to tow the trawler backwards, The New York Times reports.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/suspected-russian-submarine-may-nearly-153700477.html

davidbfpo
05-21-2015, 03:38 PM
A confidence building measure:
Russia is allowed to make two routine reconnaissance flights over Britain each year under the 2002 Open Skies Treaty, which was designed to increase confidence and build bridges after the Cold War. Britain conducted a similar flight over Russia on Saturday and will take part in three others this year.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11618620/Russian-spy-plane-in-British-skies.html

AdamG
05-30-2015, 03:26 PM
Russian Navy Su-24 jets forced US Navy destroyer USS Ross to go into neutral waters in the Black Sea, a source in Crimea's security forces told RIA Novosti.

The US Navy ship was noticed heading directly toward Russian waters after leaving the Romanian port of Costanta. The incident comes on the same day as fugitive Georgian ex-leader Mikheil Saakashvili's appointment as governor of Ukraine's Black Sea-bordering Odessa region.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150530/1022751505.html#ixzz3bdUMujIH


Workers laying a cable beneath the Baltic Sea are on the front line in Lithuania's struggle for energy independence from Moscow.

Their adversary: the Russian Navy.

No shots have been fired, but construction crews laying the NordBalt cable linking Lithuania and Sweden have received unwelcome visits in the last month from Russian warships probing into the construction area in the Baltic state's exclusive economic zone.

Frustrated that its diplomatic protests have had no effect, NATO member Lithuania says it will consider legal action if the Russian moves don't stop.

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-bullying-undersea-baltic-cable/26996165.html

Bill Moore
05-30-2015, 03:39 PM
so far the only coverage is Russia news (propaganda), there are plenty of reports of the USS Ross doing an exercise in the Black Sea over the past few days. Could have happened, but wouldn't expect an official U.S. response for at least a few hours if it did.

AdamG
06-01-2015, 01:40 PM
Northern Fleet Commander Adm. Vladimir Korolev said that Russia’s Northern Fleet’s Coastal Forces will receive new Bastion anti-ship missile complexes in 2015.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150601/1022796421.html#ixzz3bokNXy7A


Russia's Black Sea fleet is expected to receive two new Project 21631 (Buyan-M) corvettes, Zelenodolsk Shipyard's CEO Renat Mistakhov told RIA Novosti.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20150526/1022568195.html#ixzz3bokw0saL

AdamG
06-01-2015, 02:18 PM
Something we missed in March. You play this game long enough, you can see the ring of chess pieces Moscow is setting up.



On March 11, veteran Reuters correspondent David Brunnstrom published an exclusive report that Russian Tu-95MS Bear nuclear-capable strategic bombers, conducting assertive reconnaissance patrols in the airspace near U.S. military bases in Guam, had been refueled by Russian Il-78 tanker aircraft staging out of the military airfield at Cam Ranh Bay on Vietnam’s central coast.

U.S. officials noted that Russian bomber flights near Guam were part of a global pattern of renewed assertiveness approved by President Vladimir Putin against the U.S. and NATO allies in response to raising tensions over Russian annexation of Crimea, destabilizing activities in Ukraine, and Western punitive sanctions.

It was also reported that the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi had raised official concerns with Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to an anonymous State Department official, “We have urged Vietnamese officials to ensure that Russia is not able to use its access to Cam Ranh Bay to conduct activities that could raise tensions in the region.”

http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/vietnams-cam-ranh-bay-caught-in-us-russia-crossfire/


The United States embassy in Hanoi has asked the Vietnamese government to stop permitting Russia to use a military base to refuel its airplanes. The U.S. says Russia has performed what it calls “provocative flights” around the U.S. territory in the Pacific. Officials have not received an answer from the Vietnamese government.

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/us-asks-vietnam-to-stop-russian-use-of-cam-ranh-bay/2677999.html

AdamG
06-01-2015, 03:24 PM
May 22, 2015 7:01 AM

China and Russia conducted joint naval exercises this week in the Mediterranean Sea — a sign, some security experts say, that the two countries are stepping up defense cooperation to offset U.S. military primacy.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a total of 10 warships from the Russian Navy and China’s People's Liberation Army Navy took part in the week-long exercises. The Chinese Defense Ministry said the joint exercises focused on navigation safety, at-sea replenishment, escort missions and live fire exercises.

http://www.voanews.com/content/are-chinese-russian-military-excercises-effort-to-offset-us-primacy/2782818.html


15:41 May 12, 2015 Interfax

Russian and Chinese naval ships are expected to sail out of the Novorossiysk port and head to the Mediterranean Sea to hold their Joint Sea-2015 maneuvers, on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported.

"The active phase of the exercises will take place in a certain district of the Mediterranean Sea from May 17 to May 21," the ministry's spokesman for the Navy Captain 1st Rank Igor Dygalo told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.

The unit of the Russian Navy and the People's Liberation Army Navy of China includes China's Linyi and the Weifang frigates and the Russian Black Sea Fleet's Samum amphibious ship, he said. They are expected to cross the Black Sea, sail through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles and catch up with other ships participating in the maneuvers in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.

- http://rbth.com/news/2015/05/12/russian_and_chinese_naval_ships_to_head_to_site_of _mediterranean_sea_dri_45923.html)


Antonov also said he was concerned about stability in the region, naming the US as the main destabilizing factor. He said that Washington's policies have been aimed against Russia and China: "We are concerned by US policies in the region, especially since every day it becomes increasingly focused on a systemic containment of Russia and China."

http://rt.com/news/263533-rusia-multinational-navy-drills/

AdamG
06-06-2015, 05:20 PM
Logistics is a bitch-kitty.


Moscow's breakup with Ukraine has forced the Russian navy to suspend construction of a variety of next-generation warships, throwing the future of Russia's naval rearmament campaign into question.

A major part of Russia's communist-era military shipbuilding industry is located in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, but Moscow's support for Ukrainian separatists over the past 18 months has prompted Kiev to curb defense industry trade between the two countries.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Tuesday the disruptions would paralyze Russia's navy construction program: "Due to the termination of supply [of gas turbines from Ukraine], we cannot complete the construction of surface vessels for the navy," he was quoted by news agency TASS as saying.
РЕКЛАМА

Russia's shipbuilding industry is working to substitute 186 types of components and equipment, "in particular gas turbine engines," Rogozin said. But until this process is completed, no new surface ship construction projects will be launched and current programs are suspended, he said, news agency RIA Novosti reported.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/ukraine-crisis-torpedoes-russias-naval-expansion/523012.html



A Russian naval flotilla docked at the Mediterranean port of Alexandria on Saturday for the first time since a Pacific Fleet missile cruiser visited Egypt in 2013.

The Moskva missile cruiser, the Samum missile hovercraft, an oil tanker and a sea-going tug are in Egypt as part of longstanding cooperation between the two countries’ navies, the press service said in a statement.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150606/1023018514.html#ixzz3cIsjQrVp

AdamG
06-06-2015, 05:22 PM
so far the only coverage is Russia news (propaganda), there are plenty of reports of the USS Ross doing an exercise in the Black Sea over the past few days. Could have happened, but wouldn't expect an official U.S. response for at least a few hours if it did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jno04lAG6D4&feature=youtu.be

Bill Moore
06-06-2015, 09:49 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jno04lAG6D4&feature=youtu.be

From the same link.


USS Ross (DDG 71) observes the overflight by a Russian SU 24 aircraft while both were operating in international waters and airspace. Ross continued on her mission after observing the aircraft return to base. At no time did Ross act aggressively nor did she deviate from her planned operations. The conduct of her crew has been and continues to be professional. Ross' Sailors observed that the SU 24 carried no weapons - wings were "clean."

A non-event other than in the imagination of Russian propagandists. Thanks for sharing.

AdamG
06-08-2015, 12:25 AM
Thanks for sharing.

Oh, you're most welcome.

Like it or not, the Russian propagandists are *winning*.

Washington needs to up their game.

OUTLAW 09
07-26-2015, 04:20 PM
Russian misfire of naval missile today- for Russian Naval Day---

Good video of the whole event, via @vtchakarova. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4RJ-mS0yAg …

Looks the whole missile assembly came apart during the failed SS-N-14 launch, boosters going their separate ways. pic.twitter.com/4tn93Ww0gH

OUTLAW 09
07-26-2015, 04:22 PM
Visiting Kaliningrad Putin confirms the adoption of new naval doctrine w/ more assertiveness in Atlantic & Arctic

http://goo.gl/5HQYn7

Russia forgets it signed UNSCR 1612 prohibiting use of child soldiers pic.twitter.com/QXBnVXxyuP http://www.un.org/press/en/2005/sc8458.doc.htm … https://twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/status/625095886297792512 …

OUTLAW 09
07-27-2015, 04:02 PM
http://www.cepa.org/content/militarization-black-sea

The Militarization of the Black Sea
Stephen Blank

July 20, 2015


By invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea, Russia shattered the belief that war in Europe was inconceivable. Consequently, the entire East European front from the Arctic to the Black Sea is now undergoing serious militarization. Although the invasion of Ukraine has understandably led NATO to concentrate on the Baltic States and Poland; NATO has not ignored the Black Sea and is sending forces to the Balkans and building bases there. Nevertheless, that has not allayed regional anxieties about Russian objectives and policies. And the reason for this anxiety is Russian policy.

Upon capturing Crimea, Moscow immediately seized all of Ukraine’s energy assets and began an ongoing and steady program of large-scale militarization. Moscow has deployed Iskander missiles in Crimea to threaten both the Balkans and South Caucasus regions. Russia has launched a long-term program to build combined land, sea, air, and air defense forces, whose purposes are to create an anti-access and area denial force (A2AD) against NATO and to conduct power projection into the Balkans as well as the Middle East. At the same time Moscow has shadowed NATO warships whenever they enter the Black Sea and is clearly sending a message that it insists that the Black Sea remain a closed Russian lake except for contingencies where Moscow seeks to project power abroad into the Mediterranean. To achieve that latter goal Russia has sought army bases in Serbia and a naval base at Bar in Montenegro on the Adriatic, and in Cyprus.

Concurrently, the war in Ukraine and Moscow’s recent veto of a UN resolution calling the Serbian massacre at Srebrenica in 1995 an act of genocide demonstrate that Moscow is still consistently playing the ethnic card throughout the Balkans and Black Sea area to prevent their stabilization as increasingly secure democratic zones. In this context, it is clear to see why the original objective of Putin’s campaign to create a New Russia (Novorossiya) entailed inciting ethnic uprisings and terrorism. By doing so, forces based in Crimea and the Donbass could seize those areas while forces based in Moldova marched the 80 kilometers to Odessa to seize that city and deprive Ukraine of its last port and the means of upholding its independence. And apart from inflaming pre-existing ethnic tensions or stoking new ones, Moscow has long utilized its connections with Russian and Balkan organized crime and key economic sectors like energy and the media to corrupt Balkan politicians, movements, and government institutions.

Meanwhile, Moscow continues to attempt to subordinate Balkan states with its energy program on a daily basis. The Black Sea pipeline now called Turk Stream would traverse formerly Ukrainian waters and ship 63 billion cubic meters (BCM) annually to Turkey, 47 BCM of which would then enter a pipeline ending at the Greek-Turkish border so that Russia could elude European Union jurisdiction. Moscow’s recent deal to build the next stage of this pipeline, would give Greece billions in tax receipts after the pipeline opens in 2019 and ensure Russian ownership so that the EU cannot interfere, expresses Moscow’s ambitions to fracture EU unity and subordinate Balkan states through their dependence upon energy imports. Similarly, hints from the new BRICS Bank that Greece could get debt relief show that Moscow is employing every instrument of power, whether economic or military, that it possesses to regain its influence in the Balkan and Black Sea areas, intimidate local governments into surrendering to its agenda, and undermine European integration.

Therefore, the EU and NATO cannot allow the Black Sea to become a closed Russian lake or let Russian threats, whether they occur in energy projects or in military force, go unanswered. Just as we need a coherent strategy for Ukraine we need an equally compelling multi-dimensional strategy for the Balkans. And as Greece shows, we need it now, not tomorrow or the day after.

OUTLAW 09
07-27-2015, 06:18 PM
Russian mini sub found sunk in Swedish waters by Ocean X------

Abandoned foreign midget submarine discovered in Swedish waters. http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/frammande-ubat-hittad-i-svenskt-vatten/ …

Divers report cyrillic leters on hull. Appears to be in good condition with minimal damage, 20 meters long

Some screengrabs from stream at http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/frammande-ubat-hittad-i-svenskt-vatten/ …

Ocean X found the sub not the Swedish Navy
oceanexplorer.se/
for a news release in english

Some say the crew might still be in the sub and dead.

OUTLAW 09
07-27-2015, 07:24 PM
Russian mini sub found sunk in Swedish waters by Ocean X------

Abandoned foreign midget submarine discovered in Swedish waters. http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/frammande-ubat-hittad-i-svenskt-vatten/ …

Divers report cyrillic leters on hull. Appears to be in good condition with minimal damage, 20 meters long

Some screengrabs from stream at http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/frammande-ubat-hittad-i-svenskt-vatten/ …

Ocean X found the sub not the Swedish Navy
oceanexplorer.se/
for a news release in english

Some say the crew might still be in the sub and dead.

Press release on the sunken "Russian Sub" in the Swedish territorial waters
by @OcanXteam pic.twitter.com/7SFNaYsaE6

27 July: A Russian mini-submarine has been discovered in Sweden's territorial waters not far from the Swedish coast http://www.oceanexplorer.se

Video: A mini-sub has been found in Swedish waters - the crew are presumed to have perished inside http://www.expressen.se/tv/nyheter/inrikes/de-hittade-ubatsvrak-pa-svenskt-vatten/ … via

Ocean X: "We fear that the crew has not been able to save themselves when the sub went down, submarine is intact"
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/report-russian-sub-found-near-swedens-coast/ …?

OUTLAW 09
07-28-2015, 09:24 AM
Press release on the sunken "Russian Sub" in the Swedish territorial waters
by @OcanXteam pic.twitter.com/7SFNaYsaE6

27 July: A Russian mini-submarine has been discovered in Sweden's territorial waters not far from the Swedish coast http://www.oceanexplorer.se

Video: A mini-sub has been found in Swedish waters - the crew are presumed to have perished inside http://www.expressen.se/tv/nyheter/inrikes/de-hittade-ubatsvrak-pa-svenskt-vatten/ … via

Ocean X: "We fear that the crew has not been able to save themselves when the sub went down, submarine is intact"
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/report-russian-sub-found-near-swedens-coast/ …?

AND now intelligence collection kicks in--it is being reported today that the discovered sunken sub "might" be a Russian sub from 1916 that supposedly was hit by a Swedish freighter and sunk in 1916---

BUT what is strange is the video does not depict a "standard sub form even from 1916" but rather one of a "typical research submersible" used by Russain intel gathering.

Secondly, the only released video does not depict a "1916 damaged sub meaning physically hit by a freighter" covered in over 100 years worth of silt as it was found in a fairly normal current areas which would have been carrying silt and there was no ocean "growth" on the metal parts in the video depicting over 100 years of being in the ocean.

Thirdly, the salvage crew had a long remote recon session a number of times but only a short video was played AND in their interview they openly stated and it was not contradicted "there was no apparent damage to the sub and it was intact and was approximately 20 meters long"--certainly not the standard length of a 1916 sub.

So how can a 1916 struck by a freighter and sunk Russian sub NOT have "no apparent damage and being intact". Beside in 1916 what was a Russian sub doing in Swedish territorial waters anyway?

AND they informed the Swedish Navy of the find last Wednesday and the information was leaked yesterday--if a "damaged 1916 sub" why the long wait to reveal it?

Fourthly, if in fact a Russian modern recon/spy sub and it is intact THEN the intel wealth of that sub is massive and extensive.

Am personally betting that they are using a cover story now to allow for the ship to be recovered and not have to answer to Russian demands to return the ship and potential dead crew. So the 1916 sub becomes the story and then we will hear there is no need to recover it and it will be left as a naval burial site and so marked in the Baltic maps much as other naval sinkings are being handled from WW2.

If it was truly announced that it is a recon/spy sub and publicly recovered then Russia could in fact legally demand it's return and the formal burial of the crew AND Russia under Putin would back those demands by an aggressive show of force to back up their demands as they have been doing for over a year in the entire Baltic Sea area.

OUTLAW 09
07-28-2015, 12:50 PM
AND now intelligence collection kicks in--it is being reported today that the discovered sunken sub "might" be a Russian sub from 1916 that supposedly was hit by a Swedish freighter and sunk in 1916---

BUT what is strange is the video does not depict a "standard sub form even from 1916" but rather one of a "typical research submersible" used by Russain intel gathering.

Secondly, the only released video does not depict a "1916 damaged sub meaning physically hit by a freighter" covered in over 100 years worth of silt as it was found in a fairly normal current areas which would have been carrying silt and there was no ocean "growth" on the metal parts in the video depicting over 100 years of being in the ocean.

Thirdly, the salvage crew had a long remote recon session a number of times but only a short video was played AND in their interview they openly stated and it was not contradicted "there was no apparent damage to the sub and it was intact and was approximately 20 meters long"--certainly not the standard length of a 1916 sub.

So how can a 1916 struck by a freighter and sunk Russian sub NOT have "no apparent damage and being intact". Beside in 1916 what was a Russian sub doing in Swedish territorial waters anyway?

AND they informed the Swedish Navy of the find last Wednesday and the information was leaked yesterday--if a "damaged 1916 sub" why the long wait to reveal it?

Fourthly, if in fact a Russian modern recon/spy sub and it is intact THEN the intel wealth of that sub is massive and extensive.

Am personally betting that they are using a cover story now to allow for the ship to be recovered and not have to answer to Russian demands to return the ship and potential dead crew. So the 1916 sub becomes the story and then we will hear there is no need to recover it and it will be left as a naval burial site and so marked in the Baltic maps much as other naval sinkings are being handled from WW2.

If it was truly announced that it is a recon/spy sub and publicly recovered then Russia could in fact legally demand it's return and the formal burial of the crew AND Russia under Putin would back those demands by an aggressive show of force to back up their demands as they have been doing for over a year in the entire Baltic Sea area.

A number of odd items about the so called 1916 Russian sub--she was evidently lost on a daily patrol meaning out in the morning back in the evening--so really a four hour jaunt in one direction at the speed in those days of 6 to 8knots.

Russian accounts do not reflect those patrols as being in Swedish waters basically an neutral country in 1916.

Secondly today the Swedish Navy had a combat patrol vessel anchored near the site.

This TASS press release from today is interesting as it appears that the Russians want it declared a mass burial site to be protected and not raised.

If I were the Russian GRU I would be dying to get divers onto the wreck.

1. this area was one of the areas recently intensively searched in 2014 by the Swedish Navy

2. a "so called Russian ocean research/recovery ship" was parked in the Baltic for a number of days during that search phase for a number of days and then left for Kaliningrad.

3. notice the Ocean X did not want to deny or confirm the 1916 sub theory



MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Russian search and rescue workers will offer any conceivable assistance to their Scandinavian counterparts in gathering information that might provide clues to the fate of a submarine wreck just discovered off Sweden, the head of the expedition Respects to Great Victory’s Ships, Konstantin Bogdanov, told TASS on Tuesday.

Earlier, Sweden’s divers from the Ocean X-team said they had spotted the wreck of a foreign submarine bearing Cyrillic letters on the hull. Scandinavian experts are still uncertain about the date when the submarine was lost. Some speculate that the sub in question is Russia’s The Som, which sank in 1916.

"According to the photos available it looks pretty much like The Som submarine, which sank in 1916 following a collision with a surface ship, but further inquiries are still to confirm that. At this point there is no information about the depth of the sea in the area where the submarine was found. The depth permitting, it might be possible to obtain clearer images and declare the site as a mass grave," Bogdanov said.

He speculated it might be possible to arrange for a joint ceremony to dispatch ships to the sight and hold a funeral service there.

"That’s a question of good will and of cooperation by the two countries. If the issue on the agenda is to commemorate people who perished nearly one hundred years ago, there is no politics involved. We are prepared for a joint expedition and will soon try to contact the Swedish side," Bogdanov said.

He recalled that Russian divers had a certain record of such joint expeditions in cooperation with partners in Bulgaria, Estonia, and Finland. In cooperation with Bulgaria Russian specialists identified the Russian destroyer The Lieutenant Pushchin, which sank during World War I. A while later a memorial service was conducted on the site and divers attached a memorial plaque with the names of all crew to the ship’s hull.

The Som-class mini-submarines (replicas of the US submarine Fulton) was a series of Russian submarines build in 1904-1906. The first one, which lent its name to the whole series, was built in the United States in 1901 and handed over to Russia. According to witnesses in May 1916 The Som sank after collision with a Swedish ship.

OUTLAW 09
07-28-2015, 02:53 PM
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/new-russian-naval-doctrine-enshrines-confrontation-with-nato/526277.html

New Russian Naval Doctrine Enshrines Confrontation With NATO

By Matthew Bodner

Jul. 27 2015 21:19


While the new doctrine is ambitious, Russia may find it difficult to enact.

President Vladimir Putin on Sunday approved amendments to Russia’s naval doctrine that prioritize the development of Russian positions in strategic seas around the world, according to the Kremlin website.

The updated doctrine takes advantage of a huge injection of funds into Russia's naval strength to shift the emphasis of Russian naval operations toward so-called blue water operations — deployments of naval force far beyond Russian coastal waters into the world’s oceans, with a focus on the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

By focusing on the Atlantic, the amended doctrine asserts the Russian navy’s role as a countering force to what military planners in Moscow see as an encroaching NATO military alliance on Russian borders and interests.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry, presented the updated doctrine to Putin on Sunday and cited two reasons for the update: “above all, the changing international situation; and, of course, strengthening Russia’s position as a sea power,” according to remarks posted on the Kremlin website.

President Putin praised the revised doctrine, calling it a vital strategic document “to provide our country with an integral, consistent naval policy that will protect Russia’s interests.”

Retired Russian Navy Commander Maxim Shepovalenko, a military expert at the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), a Moscow-based defense think tank, said the doctrine indicates Russia was preparing for prolonged confrontation with the West.

“Its updated version [signifies] a long-term standoff with the U.S. and its NATO and major non-NATO allies,” he said.

Atlantic Pivot

Speaking aboard a new Russian navy frigate during Navy Day celebrations in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, Rogozin said the decision to expand Russian naval activity in the Atlantic Ocean was a response to heightened tensions with NATO since the start of the Ukraine crisis.

That crisis, which began after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last year, led a revitalized NATO to relocate equipment and stage war games close to Russian borders.

“We emphasize the Atlantic because NATO has been developing actively of late and coming closer to our borders, and Russia is of course responding to these developments,” Rogozin said, according to the Kremlin website.

According to Shepovalenko, this change in emphasis abandons the balanced global posture held by the Russian navy in recent years in favor of a biased one that is “assertive in the West [Atlantic Ocean] and in the North, and cooperative in the East and the South,” he said. The updated doctrine has provisions for greater coordination with the Chinese and Indian navies, he added.

To effectively project force into the Atlantic would require Russia to push ahead with the militarization of the Arctic, Rogozin said. Russian military planners see the Arctic as a key access point for Russia’s northern fleet to enter the Atlantic unimpeded by NATO.

Russia’s Baltic and Black Sea forces are separated from the Atlantic by NATO countries and fleets. The ships of the Baltic Fleet, based in Kaliningrad, must pass by Germany and Denmark through the Kattegat Sea, while the Black Sea Fleet, based in Crimea, has to navigate the Turkish Bosphorus.

This heightens the Arctic’s strategic importance, because control over it would give Russia’s Northern Fleet — the largest of all four major Russian fleets — “free and unhindered access to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,” Rogozin told Putin.

Rogozin also said the naval doctrine was important to aid Moscow's economic aims in the Arctic, which has huge oil and gas reserves and is a potential future shipping route.

Limited Assets


While the new doctrine is ambitious, Russia may find it difficult to enact.

Russian ships already have a presence in the Atlantic Ocean, and it is hard to imagine how their strength could be elevated. Ships like the Northern Fleet flagship — the Soviet-built Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier — patrol the Atlantic accompanied by the handful of Russian naval vessels capable of blue water operations far from Russian shores, such as the Black Sea Fleet’s Moskva heavy cruiser. Not much more is available.

Though an effective blue-water force during the Cold War, Russia’s naval inventory can no longer support long-range oceangoing operations and in recent years has mostly functioned as a coastal defense force.

“Of Russia’s over 215 surface ships, only a quarter of them are capable of blue-water operations, while the remaining are primarily meant for littoral [close to home] operations,” Shepovalenko said.

New ships such as large destroyers designed for oceangoing deployments are not yet under construction, and are not expected until the mid- to late-2020s.

Russia’s navy is expecting almost 100 ships by 2020, but the majority of them are small vessels like frigates, corvettes and patrol boats.

This means that Russia will struggle to fulfill its new doctrine until it begins building bigger ships, and no change in shipbuilding plans has been announced.

“New missions require new ships, and no new ships equals no new missions,” Shepovalenko said.

Black Sea Reversal


The new doctrine also aims to reverse the decline of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Headquartered in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet was one of Russia’s most withered when Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014.

A basing agreement with Kiev prevented Moscow from adding new ships to the force, but freed from that constraint the Defense Ministry last year deployed over 10 new ships to the Black Sea Fleet and is planning to use it as the foundation of a permanent Mediterranean flotilla, Rogozin said.

Taken as a whole, the updated naval doctrine has a strong focus on reversing the navy’s gradual decline in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union, when lack of funds saw many ships tied up in port, rusting away for years, and Russia’s ability to pursue strategic objectives on the high sees eroded.

To achieve this, the doctrine goes beyond naming areas of strategic interest for the Russian navy, and adds all-new sections on shipbuilding and social support for sailors.

Rogozin said that Russia over the last 10-15 years has developed a domestic shipbuilding industry that “in terms of naval shipbuilding is doing work on a scale comparable to what was happening during the Soviet period.”

According to Putin, the addition of shipbuilding provisions to Russian naval doctrine “is a big event for our future navy, and for developing our shipbuilding industry, because the main customer — the navy in this case, and the Defense Ministry — formulate their future needs, and the industry must carry out these tasks.”

Putin also said that for the first time the doctrine includes provisions for improving the health care given to Russian sailors.

“People need to know that from now on, our strategic documents for developing our country’s fleet and navy will address the social aspect too, and will give people what they expect from their service,” Putin said.

OUTLAW 09
07-28-2015, 02:55 PM
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/new-russian-naval-doctrine-enshrines-confrontation-with-nato/526277.html

New Russian Naval Doctrine Enshrines Confrontation With NATO

By Matthew Bodner

Jul. 27 2015 21:19

During the height of the Cold War the Soviet Navy never was a "blue water fleet" and now it is still not regardless of the tones coming from Putin.

NOT when they depend on gas turbine engines from the Ukraine that have been stopped.

OUTLAW 09
07-28-2015, 03:14 PM
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/new-russian-naval-doctrine-enshrines-confrontation-with-nato/526277.html

New Russian Naval Doctrine Enshrines Confrontation With NATO

By Matthew Bodner

Jul. 27 2015 21:19

But first they have to pay for the new Navy-----

Russia's ruble is tanking today..
Over 60 to a US$
And almost 95 to GBP pic.twitter.com/UfIGogBaGs

AND the price of Brent oil is tanking as well----

OUTLAW 09
07-28-2015, 03:15 PM
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/new-russian-naval-doctrine-enshrines-confrontation-with-nato/526277.html

New Russian Naval Doctrine Enshrines Confrontation With NATO

By Matthew Bodner

Jul. 27 2015 21:19

After boosting Russia defense spending, announcing many new missiles, Putin blames it all on US withdrawal from ABM Treaty... which Bush administration announced in 2001. Putin did not object then. Now seems to resurrect issue as an excuse. Hardly plausible.

Notice Russian says nothing about their blatant violation of the INF and the threatened withdrawing from the INF over being accussed of their violation.

OUTLAW 09
07-28-2015, 05:34 PM
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/new-russian-naval-doctrine-enshrines-confrontation-with-nato/526277.html

New Russian Naval Doctrine Enshrines Confrontation With NATO

By Matthew Bodner

Jul. 27 2015 21:19

Putin fails to see he needs money for his militay visions---

Russia is in trouble as Gazprom, producing 10% of GDP, collapsed by 19% last year
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11759391/Oil-and-gas-crunch-pushes-Russia-closer-to-fiscal-crisis.html … pic.twitter.com/VmxJASyqp7

Of Russia’s over 215 surface ships, only a quarter of them are capable of blue-water operations"

Rogozin: To effectively project force into Atlantic, requires Russia to push ahead with militarization of Arctic http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/new-russian-naval-doctrine-enshrines-confrontation-with-nato/526277.html …

davidbfpo
07-29-2015, 10:05 AM
Eight recent posts by Outlaw 09 on Russian naval doctrine and operations have been moved here. A post on activity in Kalingrad remain in teh Ukraine thread, as tri-service matters. Three posts have been copied here.

AdamG
09-04-2015, 08:17 PM
Netcall Netcall.


A Russian intelligence ship, capable of cutting undersea communications cables and other sensors, has been spotted by the U.S. military off the coast of Kings Bay, Ga., home to the U.S. Navy’s East Coast ballistic missile submarine fleet.

U.S. military satellites have been tracking the Russian spy ship since it was spotted in the north Atlantic last month and slowly began transiting toward its next destination -- Cuba. A senior military official said the ship is now about 300 miles off the coast of the U.S., as it heads toward the island.

Another senior defense official told Fox News that while the Pentagon is tracking the Russian intel ship, the Russian ship “remains in international waters.”

When asked if the U.S. had similar spy ships off the coast of Russia, he answered, “Of course we do, what do you think all those ‘oceanographic ships’ are doing, studying whales?”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/09/03/russian-spy-ship-spotted-near-us-sub-base/

AdamG
09-09-2015, 04:41 AM
On 3 September 2015 two Ropucha class large landing ship of Russian Navy made their southbound passage through Bosphorus.
Their passage would not be remarkable if one of the ships had cargo stored on her forecastle.

http://turkishnavy.net/2015/09/05/russian-warship-korolev-passed-through-istanbul-with-cargo-on-her-deck/

AdamG
09-10-2015, 01:30 PM
Reuters confirmed Wednesday what The Daily Beast first reported last week—not only have Russian troops been deployed to Syria but they are indeed taking part in active combat operations, although against which of the manifold enemies of the Assad regime remains unclear.

U.S. government sources told the news agency that two tank landing ships, aircraft and naval infantry forces have arrived in Syria in the past 24 hours, with the largest buildup occurring in Latakia, the northwest coastal province—ancestral home of the Assad family—which Islamist rebels have been fiercely contesting of late. Russia, Reuters confirmed, is constructing a new airfield in Latakia, which would represents its second military installation in Syria after its decades-old naval supply base in Tartus, also its only warm-water port since the end of the Soviet Union.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/10/putin-sends-his-dirty-war-forces-to-syria.html

AdamG
09-10-2015, 01:36 PM
Counterpoint -


Russia's busy fleet schedule masks an underlying seagoing weakness. Moscow's warships are old and unreliable. Yet the government is finding it increasingly difficult to replace them with equally large and powerful new vessels.

Russia is a geriatric maritime giant surrounded by much more energetic rivals.

http://theweek.com/articles/572496/russias-navy-falling-apart

davidbfpo
09-20-2015, 04:18 PM
Don't you just love "leaks"? No, I don't.

The headine in the Sunday Express:
How close we came to Armageddon: Russian bombers began to arm nuclear bomb near UK airspace

(Sub-title) PILOTS in one of the two Russian supersonic bombers intercepted near UK skies last week had started the countdown to arm a nuclear bomb, sources revealed last night.
Link:http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/606505/Armageddon-Russian-bombers-arm-nuclear-bomb-UK-airspace

The article's credibility is reduced IMHO by showing a TU-95 'Bear' when the story refers to a TU-160 'Blackjack'.

Plus starting a countdown does not mean a nuclear weapon was aboard and ready to be dropped. In this new not-so Cold War why would Russain aircraft deploy with 'live' working nuclear weapons? Ah, the USAF has a few times, but in recen times by accident or incompetence.

AdamG
09-29-2015, 11:29 AM
The Russian military build up continues as six Su-34 Fullback attack planes arrive in Syria.


Six Sukhoi Su-34 aircraft have eventually arrived at Latakia to join the Russian contingent already there.

Images allegedly shot around the al-Assad International Airport clearly show one Russian Fullback about to land at the airbase in western Syria where 28 Russian aircraft have arrived last week.

http://theaviationist.com/2015/09/29/su-34-have-arrived-in-syria/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

AdamG
10-01-2015, 07:15 PM
BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria to join a major ground offensive in support of President Bashar al-Assad's government, Lebanese sources said on Thursday, a further sign of the rapid internationalization of a civil war in which every major country in the region has a stake.

Russian warplanes, in a second day of strikes, bombed a camp run by rebels trained by the CIA, the group's commander said, putting Moscow and Washington on opposing sides in a Middle East conflict for the first time since the Cold War.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0RV41O20151001

Bill Moore
10-02-2015, 06:05 AM
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0RV41O20151001

This war was internationalized within the first year. A number of Muslim and Western states have been involved since the beginning at various levels, with each supporting their surrogates in different ways. Iran has been fighting there with conventional and their Hezbollah surrogate forces taking heavy casualties for years. Russian forces involved in direct combat (via airpower) is new, but their interests in Syria is not new. Their role is not overly surprising, since they have been given a green light to behave anyway they please. Our lack of a strategy supported by credible deterrence is sapping our strategic globally, not just in the Middle East.

AdamG
10-07-2015, 04:24 AM
A large deployment of ships that Russia sent to the eastern Mediterranean under the guise of naval exercises at the end of September are actually being used to provide an aerial defense zone for Russian jets, Sam LaGrone reports for USNI News.

The "Black Sea-based Russian surface action group" in the eastern Mediterranean are based along Syria's coast by the Bassel al-Assad Airport and the Tartous naval facility, which is home to a Russian port.

The ships are intended to provide aerial defense for the Russian aircraft that Moscow is currently using to carry out airstrikes against Syrian rebels throughout the country.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russian-navy-created-facto-aerial-152600867.html

AdamG
10-07-2015, 10:53 AM
WASHINGTON: “We are observing the manifestation of a more aggressive, more capable Russian navy,” the US Navy’s top commander in Europe said today. And if that fleet is Putin’s seagoing hammer, missile bases ashore are his land-based anvil. Complementing Russian naval modernization, Adm. Mark Ferguson said, we have seen “the construction of an arc of steel from the Arctic to the Mediterranean”: land bases from the far north to Kaliningrad on the Baltic, Crimea on the Black Sea, and now Syria, whose batteries of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles threaten NATO forces far out to sea.

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/10/russia-builds-arc-of-steel-adm-ferguson/

AdamG
10-07-2015, 02:57 PM
Russia says it has launched rocket strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria from its warships in the Caspian Sea - about 1,500km (930 miles) away.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said four warships fired 26 sea-based cruise missiles on 11 targets, destroying them.
Meanwhile, Syrian ground troops have launched an offensive under Russian air cover, Syrian officials say.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34465425


Four warships of the Caspian fleet were involved in the missile attacks, the Gepard-class frigate Dagestan and the Buyan-M-class corvettes Grad Sviyazhsk, Uglich and Veliky Ustyug . They fired cruise missiles from the Kalibr NK (Klub) VLS launchers. The missiles used are capable of hitting a target within 3 meters at a range of up to 2,500 km.

https://www.rt.com/news/317864-russian-warships-missiles-launch/

AdamG
10-08-2015, 04:35 PM
Happy Funtime Launch Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv3QNyxeXKk

AdamG
10-09-2015, 12:02 AM
Washington (CNN)A number of cruise missiles launched from a Russian ship and aimed at targets in Syria have crashed in Iran, two U.S. officials told CNN Thursday.

Monitoring by U.S. military and intelligence assets has concluded that at least four missiles crashed as they flew over Iran.

The U.S. believes, based on intelligence reports of damage assessments, that some buildings were damaged and civilians may have been hurt.

http://us.cnn.com/2015/10/08/politics/russian-missiles-syria-landed-iran/index.html

AdamG
10-09-2015, 01:00 PM
On Oct. 7, Russian warships in the Caspian Sea fired 26 high-tech cruise missiles at rebel targets in Syria—a staggering 1,000 miles away.

The missiles in question, which the Pentagon calls SS-N-30s, were mostly unknown to the outside world before the Oct. 7 raid. Even close watchers of the Russian military were surprised to see them. The missile attack was also highly visible. In many ways, it was an announcement to the world, and America in particular, that the once-dilapidated Russian navy is back in action—and that Putin’s missileers are now among the planet’s most advanced.*

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/09/russia-s-new-mega-missile-stuns-the-globe.html?source=TDB&via=FB_Page


In a story that should have most certainly been Duffel Blog but is actually real-life, a Russian weather forecaster proclaimed the skies over Syria were perfect “flying weather” for Russian jets bombing rebel positions, The Guardian reported.

“Experts say the timing for [the airstrikes] was chosen very well in terms of weather,” Ekaterina Grigorova said in her report for Rossiya 24 on Sunday, according to The Washington Post.

http://www.wearethemighty.com/intel/russian-forecaster-bombing-syria

* Unless Boris the Missileer fails to clear the old targeting cache.
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showpost.php?p=174602&postcount=138

AdamG
10-26-2015, 04:35 AM
Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/world/europe/russian-presence-near-undersea-cables-concerns-us.html?_r=1

AdamG
10-28-2015, 09:28 PM
MOSCOW – Russia said Monday its navy is holding drills off the coast of Crimea to practice thwarting an attack on the Black Sea peninsula it annexed from Ukraine last year.

*

The drill will include the navy’s guided missile hovercraft Samum and several smaller ships, as well as Su-24 bombers, he said, and will finish by launching a cruise missile strike.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/26/world/russian-navy-holds-drill-repel-strikes-crimea/#.VjE8DberTIV



The Russian Navy plans to create special military units that would play the role of potential enemy forces during naval exercises, Russian Navy Rear Admiral Viktor Kochemazov said, according to TV Channel Zvezda.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20151025/1029095501/russian-navy-training-units-mimic-enemy.html#ixzz3ptsvwxUS

AdamG
11-10-2015, 02:17 AM
Moscow's military force in Syria has grown to about 4,000 personnel, but this and more than a month of Russian air strikes have not led to pro-government forces making significant territorial gains, U.S. security officials and independent experts said.

Moscow, which has maintained a military presence in Syria for decades as an ally of the ruling Assad family, had an estimated 2,000 personnel in the country when it began air strikes on Sept. 30. The Russian force has since roughly doubled and the number of bases it is using has grown, U.S. security officials said.

The Russians have suffered combat casualties, including deaths, said three U.S. security officials familiar with U.S. intelligence reporting, adding that they did not know the exact numbers.
Read more at Reuters:www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/05/us-mideast-crisis-russia-syria-idUSKCN0ST2G020151105#OeP533LYRhPYkFSv.99 (http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/05/us-mideast-crisis-russia-syria-idUSKCN0ST2G020151105#OeP533LYRhPYkFSv.99)

AdamG
11-13-2015, 07:14 PM
Is Russia working on a massive dirty bomb?


On November 10, 2015 President Putin held a regular meeting with his generals in Sochi to discuss development of the Russian strategic forces. The president used the occasion to complain again about U.S. missile defense plans and to warn that Russia will do whatever it takes to preserve the strategic balance.

Details follow


UPDATE 11/12/15: The story generated quite a buzz, which is probably what the authors of this whole thing counted on. The consensus that is emerging from a number of discussions is that the "leak" was intentional. Moreover, a colleague who follow these things quite closely made a strong case that the "drone" on the slide is probably just an enlarged (and modified) image of a "regular" torpedo (such as UGST). This would explain the unusually large "combat module" and a number of other inconsistencies. However, the rest of the slide seems real - the submarines, the Zvezdochka ship, etc. Indeed, it is quite possible that the project is real as well - the Soviet Union did work on an underwater vehicle like this in the 1980s (here is an interesting story, although I would take it with a pinch of salt). Specifically, some work has been done on the vehicle's nuclear reactor. The project was abandoned, of course, but these things rarely die. In fact, NITI in Sosnovy Bor is building a new facility to test liquid metal-cooled naval reactors. It is probably not related to this drone, but who knows.

Still, the whole thing strikes me as crazy regardless of whether the project is real or not. If it is real, I find it quite appalling that the ideas of this kind ever reach the level of a discussion with the president. If it is an attempt of high-level trolling, it's even worse - if people in the Kremlin believe it was a clever way of sending some kind of a signal, they probably lost all their marbles.

[Navy] [November 11, 2015] [#]

http://russianforces.org/blog/2015/11/is_russia_working_on_a_massive.shtml

AdamG
12-12-2015, 08:11 PM
The Russian Armed Forces could soon receive the first preproduction prototypes of the next-generation S-500 air defense system, defense expert Igor Korotchenko asserted. Russia is paying particular attention to developing aerospace defense systems, he noted. “We heard figures indicating that the Russian Aerospace Forces will soon receive more S-400 systems. The S-500 will soon finish state tests and enter service,” Korotchenko said following the board meeting of the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday.

http://endtimeheadlines.org/2015/12/russian-army-could-soon-receive-newest-s-500-air-defense-system-range-of-370-miles/

AdamG
12-12-2015, 08:15 PM
St. Andrew's flags were raised on two new missile ships in Sevastopol, as they became the part of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, Saturday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6OBU9HErrA

AdamG
12-12-2015, 08:17 PM
The Russian Navy has operated more and further afield in the last year than it has in decades, but the current high operational tempo maybe difficult for the Russian’s to sustain over the long term.

According to a report from the TASS wire service, there are about 70 Russian ships operating around the world, quoting Russian Rear Adm. Viktor Kochemazov – the head of the navy’s training warfare said this week.

The Russian Navy is “now present almost everywhere,” he said.

“Some 70 warships of the Russian Navy are practically constantly present in the world ocean to designate and fulfill the tasks set by the command.”

http://news.usni.org/2015/12/09/latest-russian-navy-operational-surge-could-be-unsustainable

AdamG
12-14-2015, 12:49 AM
A Russian destroyer has fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the latest clash between the two countries in the Aegean Sea, officials have said.

The Russian Defence Ministry told reporters it had summoned the Turkish military attache over the incident, which according to Russian media reports involved a Turkish fishing vessel.

According to the Interfax news agency, the destroyer Smetlivy fired shots after the Turkish vessel ignored repeated warnings it was on a collision course for the warship. It said the boat sharply changed its course after shots were fired, at its closest passing within 540m of the Russian ship.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russian-warship-fires-warning-shots-at-turkish-vessel-in-aegean-sea-clash-a6771341.html

Azor
12-14-2015, 06:09 AM
Time for Turkey to close the Dardanelles...

AdamG
12-25-2015, 07:54 PM
Russia has bolstered its military and asserted itself on
the world stage with a forcefulness not seen since the
Cold War, ratcheting up tensions with the West. Here
is what Russia has been doing to reclaim its influence.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/24/world/asia/russia-arming.html?_r=1

OUTLAW 09
02-17-2016, 05:38 PM
BREAKING: RAF Typhoons scrambled to intercept Russian "Blackjack" Tu-160 Bombers heading towards British airspace
http://forces.tv/37486149

RAF Waddington Info @EGXWinfo
All information on the current QRA targeting Russian bears on @EGXCinfo & article being updated Live at
http://www.egxwinfogroup.co.uk/?p=243

Humor is seen in this........
The @RoyalAirForce intercepted Russians without borders.
pic.twitter.com/Knl4Ot74wV

davidbfpo
02-17-2016, 08:26 PM
Cited in part:
BREAKING: RAF Typhoons scrambled to intercept Russian "Blackjack" Tu-160 Bombers heading towards British airspace http://forces.tv/37486149

RAF Waddington Info @EGXWinfo
All information on the current QRA targeting Russian bears on @EGXCinfo & article being updated Live at
http://www.egxwinfogroup.co.uk/?p=243

These flights are a regular event, they have never publicly entered actual UK air space (which is 12 miles from the land). They do enter the UK Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), which extends much further than actual UK air space and officialdom states an intercept is needed to ensure the safety of other aircraft - Russian planes do not fly with a transponder turned on.

Not that UK / US / NATO aircraft ever fly on similar missions towards Russia.

OUTLAW 09
02-18-2016, 08:58 AM
Cited in part:

These flights are a regular event, they have never publicly entered actual UK air space (which is 12 miles from the land). They do enter the UK Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), which extends much further than actual UK air space and officialdom states an intercept is needed to ensure the safety of other aircraft - Russian planes do not fly with a transponder turned on.

Not that UK / US / NATO aircraft ever fly on similar missions towards Russia.

What is interesting is again they flew with transponders off and the UK was pre-warned by NATO Baltic Air Defense units...UK did not notice it on their own until shortly prior to entering UK ADIZ as the UK scramble made it after they had crossed into the ADIZ not prior to it.

Actually social media picked up on their air traffic even before the NATO Baltic Air patrols announced it.

AdamG
02-20-2016, 04:27 PM
Russian corvettes equipped with Kalibr cruise missile capable of penetrating complex air defenses and hitting targets at a supersonic speed at a distance of some 2,000km will be permanently deployed in the Mediterranean, a Russian Navy admiral said. https://www.rt.com/news/333057-kalibr-missile-corvette-mediterranean/

OUTLAW 09
02-27-2016, 07:05 PM
#Russian submarine activity around #GIUK GAP a growing concern for @NATO forces
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/26/breedlove-us-must-rebuild-forces-in-europe-to-confront-russia.html …
pic.twitter.com/2ruWBbESkd

(Earlier today in separate post) Report confirmed of new sighting of periscope from non-Swedish submarine in outer Stockholm archipelago last year. http://mobil.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/okant-ubatsperiskop-siktades-vid-ovning/

AdamG
03-19-2016, 03:33 AM
One year old alibi - have a flashback to the 1980s.


Russia has deployed a fleet of spy trawlers off the British coast to intercept military communications, one of Britain’s most senior retired commanders said yesterday.

Lord West of Spithead said Russian espionage had soared to a ‘worrying’ level as president Vladimir Putin ordered more acts of ‘provocation’.

Equipped with hi-tech surveillance, the converted fishing boats have been seen in the international waters of the North Sea by Nato aircraft.

Lord West, a former First Sea Lord, said the Cold War tactic was designed to gain intelligence on Britain’s nuclear missiles and warships.

He said: ‘It was quite a tense business during the Cold War and now it is winding up again and it is very worrying. They seem to have... increased espionage, which raises tension.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2999697/Putin-fleet-spy-trawlers-British-coast-intercept-military-communications-says-former-senior-commander.html

davidbfpo
03-19-2016, 11:28 AM
AdamG,

Not that the West, via NATO, conduct such eavesdropping missions off Russian territory. It is rare to see any reporting on that. I can recall a USAF RC-135 Rivet (ELINT) plane being "chased" into Swedish airspace in 2015 IIRC and the Norwegians have a vessel full-time deployed in the Barents Sea (there are posts on both on the Forum).

OUTLAW 09
04-13-2016, 04:20 PM
Russia jets make 'simulated attack' passes near U.S. destroyer: U.S.
http://reut.rs/22ulOB7

U.S. Def.official: Russian fighter jets flew very closely over USS Donald Cook in international waters in Baltic Sea

Russian SU-24 jets were not armed but flew so close to U.S. destroyer they created a 'wake in the water'
http://liveuamap.com/en/2016/13-april-russian-su24-jets-were-not-armed-but-flew-so-close …

OUTLAW 09
04-13-2016, 07:13 PM
.@US_EUCOM posts third video of Su-24 flyby of USS Donald Cook
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=vkkCZwiENh8 …

MORE buzzing videos......

https://youtu.be/e-pLgvJULOM
https://youtu.be/5deRj1umjM0
https://youtu.be/y8D48itR2cg
https://youtu.be/vkkCZwiENh8
https://twitter.com/jus10j/status/720325413248110592 …

US Mission to NATO
✔ ‎@USNATO .@US_EUCOM: We have deep concerns about unsafe & unprofessional Russian flight maneuvers that could result in a miscalculation or accident

OUTLAW 09
04-13-2016, 07:28 PM
“Russia has a peaceful foreign policy, and this is no exaggeration."
- V. Putin, 13.10.2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=vkkCZwiENh8&app=desktop …

This is what Russian aggression in the Baltic Sea looks like
http://read.bi/1XvXopJ

1972 Incidents at Sea Agreement: "not simulating attacks at, launching objects toward, or illuminating the bridges of the other partys ships"

Russia buzzes #US ship w/in 30ft. in Baltic. Indicates Putin does not feel restrained by #Obama's force posture. http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/04/13/russian-su-24-attack-aircraft-us-navy-destroyer-donald-cook-baltic-sea/82979184/ …

Last Cold War made clear that with crazy fly-bys & related dangerous cat+mouse games, it's only a matter of time before somebody gets killed

Putin's so paranoid he put his personal bodyguard in charge of new National Guard inside Russia. Outside–buzzing US https://twitter.com/christopherjm/status/720335801192685568 …

OUTLAW 09
04-13-2016, 07:54 PM
The #Russia|n Su-24 appears to be unmarked, no insignia,.

OUTLAW 09
04-13-2016, 07:58 PM
Russia n special forces instructors landed on demilitarized #Svalbard, #Norway considers as breach of sovereignty. http://thebarentsobserver.com/2016/04/chechen-special-forces-instructors-landed-svalbard#.Vw6h6wAiS82.twitter …

Swedish Air Space Shut Down by Cyber-Attacks, Officials Blame Russia
http://news.softpedia.com/news/swedish-air-space-shut-down-by-cyber-attacks-officials-blame-russia-502919.shtml …

AdamG
04-13-2016, 08:04 PM
Russian attack planes buzzed the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook during joint exercises in the Baltic Sea this week in what defense officials on Wednesday described as "aggressive" and "unsafe flight maneuvers."

Two Russian SU-24 jets made "numerous, close-range and low-altitude passes" on the U.S. ship Tuesday as a helicopter was refueling on the deck, according to a statement from U.S. European Command.

The Cook, which was holding a joint exercise with Poland, a NATO ally, "encountered multiple, aggressive flight maneuvers by Russian aircraft that were performed within close proximity of the ship," the statement said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/04/13/reports-russian-war-planes-buzz-us-destroyer/82977844/

AdamG
04-13-2016, 08:09 PM
Alibi Fires.


The Russian Navy will receive six advanced Project 22160 patrol ships equipped with an integrated bridge system by 2019, the Kronstadt Technologies company's military-technical head said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Project 22160 ships are intended for patrolling, search-and-rescue operations, anti-piracy and anti-smuggling activities, environmental monitoring, as well as coastal defense and escort service. They have a range of 6,000 nautical miles and are armed with a single 57mm cannon, heavy machine guns, air defense system and missile launchers.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20160411/1037817705/russia-advanced-patrol-ships.html#ixzz45jsoHicW



The Russian navy is in the middle of an ambitious shipbuilding program that includes a new guided-missile corvette and two new classes of guided-missile frigates. It has already stationed the first two of a planned six new ultra-quiet diesel Kilo-class submarines in the Black Sea, one of which fired land-attack cruise missiles at Syrian rebel targets from the Eastern Mediterranean last year.

*


A 2015 Office of Naval Intelligence report said the emphasis on missiles in Russia’s new shipbuilding — in particular the Kalibr cruise missile being installed on all new submarines, corvettes, frigates and larger surface ships — is altering security in the region.
http://www.stripes.com/news/russian-missiles-prompt-navy-to-look-at-ships-close-in-defenses-1.403477



MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Russia this year will deploy coastal missile systems and drones of a new generation in the Kuril islands, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday.

"Military units in the Kuril islands are being rearmed in keeping with the original schedule. This year coastal missile systems Bal and Bastion and new generation drones Eleron-3 will be deployed there," Shoigu told the Defense Ministry’s board meeting.



Earlier, Shoigu announced that the Defense Ministry planned to put the finishing touches to military infrastructures in the Kuril islands later this year. Last year air defense units armed with short range air defense systems Tor-M2U went operational in in the Kurils.
http://www.stripes.com/news/russian-missiles-prompt-navy-to-look-at-ships-close-in-defenses-1.403477

Perfidious Madrid?


Eleven members of the European Parliament have complained to the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, about the Russian navy’s frequent use of the Spanish north African enclave of Ceuta.Russian warships and submarines regularly stop in Ceuta for fuel, prompting concern that Spain may have breached EU sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
*
Since 2011, over 50 Russian warships have stopped in Ceuta, one of two Spanish cities located on the African mainland, to resupply and give their crews a rest. The vessels have included submarines, frigates, destroyers, amphibious assault ships and auxiliary vessels.
http://chronicle.gi/2016/03/meps-put-russian-navy-under-scrutiny-in-ceuta/

AdamG
04-13-2016, 08:15 PM
The submarines of the modified Project 636 are more combat-efficient compared with the previous versions. The Russian Black Sea Fleet is expected to receive such submarines. The lead submarine Novorossiysk was transferred to the Russian Navy in August 2014 and the second submarine Rostov-on-Don became operational on December 30, 2014.

The third submarine of this series, the Stary Oskol, has been on combat duty in the Russian Navy since July 2015. The submarine Krasnodar, the fifth in the series, was transferred to the Navy on November 5, 2015. The sixth submarine of this Project is expected to be floated out in May this year.

The submarine Rostov-on-Don delivered a strike with Kalibr cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea against the facilities of the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia) on the territory of the Syrian province of Raqqa in December last year.

http://tass.ru/en/defense/863360

Worth reading in it's entirety


The turn of 2015-2016 was marked by huge number of announcements made by Russian defense industrialists and naval commanders about advanced marine weapons. Mil.Today has collected all information about how the Russian Navy would look in the 21st century.
http://mil.today/2016/Weapons13/

OUTLAW 09
04-14-2016, 05:15 AM
It's not just ships them Russian cowboy pilots like to buzz. Planes, too. Picture taken from a Swedish 'spy plane'

OUTLAW 09
04-14-2016, 05:21 AM
The #Russia|n Su-24 appears to be unmarked, no insignia,.

This is actually extremely interesting and I rechecked the various videos....this was a "deliberate provocation" and they were flying with no markings.....which is typical for wartime/combat operations as we first saw in Syria and then when confronted about the lack of markings the RuAF then added them back on and fly even in Syria with aircraft markings.

The key markings missing are the individual aircraft number and tail nationality markings.

Previous RuAF "intercepts" in the Baltic in 2014/2015 all had the standard RuAF markings.

OUTLAW 09
04-14-2016, 08:29 AM
TASS 
‏@tassagency_en
USS Donald Cook was about 70 km from Russian Navy sea base when warplanes passed it
http://tass.ru/en/defense/869555 …

Russian MoD stated they were in full international norms compliance BUT failed to indicate they violated a 1972 Sea Agreement.

AFP news agency
✔ ‎@AFP #UPDATE Russia says jets observed 'all safety measures' in US warship flyby
http://u.afp.com/Z2Zz

OUTLAW 09
04-14-2016, 09:34 AM
All RU mainstream media, including state-run ones, massively report the SU-24 hazing, as if it's a good thing.

OUTLAW 09
04-14-2016, 11:57 AM
Breaking: Russian jets flew 'simulated attack profiles' near U.S. destroyer in international waters off Russia - U.S. Defense official

Six more photos of the Russian Su-24s and Ka-27 buzzing USS Donald Cook
http://dlvr.it/L3CGVy

There has been no previous mention of a Ka-27 in the mix.....one of the 24s did have RuAF markings......the other no markings.

OUTLAW 09
04-15-2016, 07:00 PM
Lithuanian Border Guard Reports 3 Russian Helicopters Crossing Border; Joint Staff Unable to Confirm
http://www.interpretermag.com/russia-update-april-15-2016/#13338 …

Same day that USS Donald Cook was harassed
https://twitter.com/Interpreter_Mag/status/721047233018347521 …

OUTLAW 09
04-16-2016, 06:21 PM
Russian soldiers to be swapped for Savchenko as long as she is alive - lawyer - read on -
http://uatoday.tv http://uatoday.tv/politics/russian-soldiers-to-be-swapped-for-alive-savchenko-only-lawyer-632220.html …

Dead bodies of 38 Russian soldiers transported to Russia, – Defense Ministry
http://en.censor.net.ua/n384691

Militants fire at Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint, – Tuka
http://en.censor.net.ua/n384693

ATO updates: Firefight takes place in the vicinity of Novotroitske and Dokuchaevsk
http://uacrisis.org/42156-andrij-lisenko-198 …

Russian provocations in Baltic meant to discredit NATO, show US will not react and allies can't rely on article 5 http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/putin-trying-to-take-down-nato-without-firing-a-shot/ …

OUTLAW 09
04-16-2016, 08:11 PM
Russian non linear warfare is now definitely going "hot"........


Russian Jet Threatened U.S. Recon Aircraft

Barrel rolls over plane in latest Baltic Sea provocation


BY: Bill Gertz
April 16, 2016 3:25 pm


A Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft on Thursday in the latest military provocation by Moscow over the Baltic Sea, the U.S. European Command said Saturday.

“On April 14, a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft flying a routine route in international airspace over the Baltic Sea was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 in an unsafe and unprofessional manner,” said Navy Capt. Danny Hernandez.

“This intercept comes shortly after the unsafe Russian encounters with USS Donald Cook,” he added. “There have been repeated incidents over the last year where Russian military aircraft have come close enough to other air and sea traffic to raise serious safety concerns, and we are very concerned with any such behavior.”

Hernandez said the U.S. aircraft, a militarized Boeing 707 jet, was operating in international airspace “and at no time crossed into Russian territory.”

“This unsafe and unprofessional air intercept has the potential to cause serious harm and injury to all aircrews involved,” he said. “More importantly, the unsafe and unprofessional actions of a single pilot have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries.”

According to Hernandez, the Su-27 carried out “erratic and aggressive maneuvers” by approaching the RC-135 at a high rate of speed from the side.

The Russian jet “then proceeded to perform an aggressive maneuver that posed a threat to the safety of the U.S. aircrew in the RC-135U,” the spokesman said.

“More specifically, the SU-27 closed within 50 feet of the wing-tip of the RC-135 and conducted a barrel roll starting from the left side of the aircraft, going over the top of the aircraft and ended up to the right of the aircraft,” he said.

The U.S. government is protesting all the incidents this week to the Russian government through diplomatic channels, he said.

The RC-135U, an electronic intelligence-gathering aircraft, is normally operated by five air crew and up to 16 electronic warfare officers and six or more regional specialists.

The dangerous aerial incident came two days after a simulated Russian aerial assault against the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea. Washington called the simulated assault a military provocation, and said it nearly caused an international shootout.

Two Russian fighter-bombers, identified as Su-24s, made close passes over the Cook, including one jet that came within 30 feet of the warship.

A Navy officer said the buzzing was the most reckless flyover of a U.S. warship by either a Russian or Chinese warplane since the Cold War. “I’ve been in a lot of those situations and I’ve never seen any plane come that close,” the officer said.

The aerial harassment appears to be part of a Russian military campaign of intimidation against the United States and NATO.

Moscow has adopted hostile military policies toward the United States over U.S. deployment of missile defenses in Europe, which Moscow says threaten its missile forces. The Russians also have been upset by Western sanctions against its military annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.

Strategically, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has been seeking to regain control and influence over what Moscow calls the “near abroad”—former Soviet republics and Eastern Bloc nations along the periphery of Russia’s borders in Eastern Europe.

The policy has led to military aggression against the Republic of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, where Russian troops took over the Crimean peninsula and are continuing to fuel separatist activity in eastern Ukraine.

In response, the United States and NATO are bolstering U.S. and allied military forces in Eastern Europe, with a specific emphasis of increasing military forces and troops near the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, as well as in Poland.

The recent Russian military provocations coincide with military activities by Moscow in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which remains a major subject of U.S. monitoring. Russia in the past has threatened to deploy nuclear-capable Iskander short-range missiles in the enclave on the Baltic Coast between Poland and Latvia.

Earlier this week, Brian McKeon, principal undersecretary of defense for policy, told a House subcommittee hearing that Russia has prevented U.S. and allied flights over Kaliningrad that are allowed under the Open Skies Treaty.

Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon strategic forces analyst who specializes in Russian affairs, said the recent incidents over the Baltic Sea, including the simulated attack of a U.S. warship, are fundamentally different from past Russian provocations.

“It is a major escalation of Russian aggressiveness although it fits into a pattern of Russian activity that goes back years,” Schneider said. “The Russian Defense Ministry reaction was blatantly dishonest.”

Schneider said the likely U.S. response to these provocations are what former Pentagon official Richard Perle once dubbed “demarche-mellows,” or very weak, pro forma protests.

“If so, incidents like this will probably continue to escalate,” Schneider said.

Thursday’s aerial encounter involving the RC-135 was at least the second time this year that Russian jets have conducted a dangerous intercept of a reconnaissance aircraft.

On Jan. 25, a Russian Su-27 came within 20 feet of an RC-135 over the Black Sea in what Navy Capt. Daniel Hernandez said was an “unsafe and unprofessional” action.

Unlike Thursday’s encounter, the Russian jet in January did not do a barrel roll, but instead made an aggressive, high-speed banking turn away from the intelligence aircraft.

The maneuver disturbed the pilot’s control of the RC-135.

The dangerous Su-24 overflight of the Cook on April 12 came a day after two other Russian Su-24s flew over the ship 20 times, including a dangerous pass as an allied helicopter was being refueled, causing a delay in flight operations until the Su-24s left the area.

The same day, a Russian Ka-27 Helix helicopter flew around the Cook, which had finished a port visit to Poland and had a Polish helicopter on board.

“The Russian aircraft flew in a simulated attack profile and failed to respond to repeated safety advisories in both English and Russian,” the European Command said in a statement.

The Pentagon released video of the encounter showing the close pass, which created a wake in the water.

Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday criticized the Russian military provocation, though he declined to say what steps the United States would take in response.

The State Department lodged formal protests with Russia.

“We condemn this kind of behavior. It is reckless. It is provocative. It is dangerous. And under the rules of engagement that could have been a shoot-down,” Kerry told CNN and the Miami Herald.

“People need to understand that this is serious business and the United States is not going to be intimidated on the high seas. … We are communicating to the Russians how dangerous this is and our hope is that this will never be repeated,” Kerry said.

The Cook is equipped with anti-aircraft defenses including the Close-In Weapons System, an automated air defense gun that can destroy aircraft with 25-millimeter rounds. The weapon was not readied because the ship was operating under the U.S.-Russian agreement not to illuminate each other’s aircraft.

“We have deep concerns about the unsafe and unprofessional Russian flight maneuvers,” the European command said in a statement.

“These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries, and could result in a miscalculation or accident that could cause serious injury or death.”

Kerry on Friday discussed the Cook incident with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a State Department spokesman said.

Moscow sought to play down the incident involving the Cook. Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told the state-run Interfax news agency that the Russian pilots acted within safety guidelines.

The incidents violated the bilateral U.S.-Russian agreement designed to prevent incidents at sea. The accord prohibits conducting simulated attacks and also limits the use of automated anti-aircraft guns.

Other incidents in recent months included a near collision between a Russian fighter and an RC-135 over the Black Sea on May 30, and on April 7, 2015, a Su-27 flew within 20 feet of an RC-135 over the Baltic Sea.

Additionally, last October, two Russian Tu-142 bombers made low passes near the aircraft carrier USS Reagan as it sailed in the Sea of Japan near the Korean peninsula. And on July 4, 2015, two Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers approached within 40 miles of the California coast and radioed a “happy birthday” message to intercepting U.S. pilots.

The July 4 provocation occurred the same day President Obama held a telephone call with Putin.

Russia also has sent Tu-95 bombers to circle the Pacific island of Guam several times. The island is a major military hub and central to the U.S. military’s pivot to Asia.


RC-135 is a slow-moving, unarmed SIGINT collector. Russian Air Force wants an "incident." They'll eventually get 1.

OUTLAW 09
04-17-2016, 01:43 PM
Минобороны России
✔ ‎@mod_russia Rus MoD comments on alleged dangerous approach of Su-27 to US reconnaissance aircraft over Baltic Sea
http://bit.ly/1ST5Ew8

OUTLAW 09
04-17-2016, 07:07 PM
The parallel universes of News reporting - World vs #Putin`s.You got to love #Russia`s creativity!

Reference the Russian SU27 barrel rolling event..........

AdamG
07-02-2016, 03:15 PM
A Russian warship carried out aggressive and erratic maneuvers close to a U.S. Navy ship in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the second such Cold War-style incident there in a matter of weeks, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

The U.S. European Command said the Russian frigate, Yaroslav Mudry, came unnecessarily close to the guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto on June 30 and maneuvered in its wake.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-accuses-russian-warship-of-aggressive-maneuvers-near-us-navy-ship/ar-AAhTxmj?li=AA4Zpp&ocid=spartandhp

AdamG
07-06-2016, 03:08 PM
While Pentagon and U.S. Navy officials have been sounding the alarm about a resurgent Russian Navy, the Defense Department’s concerns might be somewhat overblown. Though analysts vary in their opinions, the current Russian submarine fleet is less than one-fifth of the size of the once mighty Soviet armada and perhaps as little as half of Moscow’s undersea force is operational at any one time. Nonetheless, the Russian fleet has recovered from its worst post-Cold War lows when its submarine activity came to a virtual standstill.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-submarine-force-back-how-worried-should-america-be-16858

AdamG
07-06-2016, 03:10 PM
The US Navy could have wanted to send Moscow a signal when USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer, performed a dangerous maneuver in the Mediterranean, but the Russian ships in the region hardly viewed the incident as a major threat because they are focused on their main mission, defense analyst Ilya Kramnik asserted.

The Russian Navy is primarily tasked with making sure that the so-called Syrian express, a supply line for Moscow's anti-Daesh campaign in the Arab country, is working, he explained. In other words, it is meant to protect Russian ships going in and out of Syria from a potential terrorist attack.


http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160630/1042243475/russia-us-gravely.html

AdamG
07-07-2016, 07:12 PM
On June 29, the Russian Defense Ministry announced it was purging the entire senior and mid-level command of the Baltic Fleet. It was a dramatic move that suggested deep structural problems within the fleet command. In total, 50 officers were dismissed from their post, including the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Viktor Kravchuk, and his chief of staff, Vice Admiral Sergei Popov.

Not since Stalin's purges had so many officers been ousted at once.


http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/chaos-consumes-russias-baltic-fleet/574408.html

AdamG
07-12-2016, 10:01 PM
The United States on Wednesday accused Russia of deliberately displaying the wrong naval signals and interfering with a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea, in the latest salvo about a June incident that both countries blame on each other.


On Wednesday, Hernandez said the Russian ship raised the “ball-diamond-ball" signal on its mast when it was two nautical miles away from the USS Gravely, a U.S. destroyer operating in the Mediterranean with the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.

That combination of simple geometric shapes is used to indicate that a ship's ability to maneuver is restricted.

Russia identified its ship as the Russian Navy frigate Yaroslav Mudry.

Hernandez said the Russian ship maneuvered to get closer to the Gravely, changing course and speed as the U.S. ship did, which he said showed it was not in fact restricted in its ability to maneuver, and was thus intentionally displaying a false international signal.


http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-navy-idUSKCN0ZG01L

AdamG
07-28-2016, 05:31 PM
The Russian Navy is preparing a contract with the nation’s largest shipbuilder for eight new nuclear-powered missile cruisers.

According to local media, United Shipbuilding Corporation Deputy President Igor Ponomarev says the contract is currently under review. The construction of the first vessel is expected to commence in early 2018.

The new missile cruisers will be designed by the Severnoye Design Bureau in St. Petersburg and are expected to have a deadweight of 17,500 tons, a length of 200 meters (650 feet0 and to be equipped with more than 200 missiles including a version of the S-500, the newest and most lethal Russian missile system.

These weapons are expected to make the vessels comparable with U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyers

http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/russian-navy-plans-eight-new-missile-cruisers


MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Navy will receive the Admiral Gorshkov, the lead ship of its class and the first Project 22350 frigate, on November 22, the Russian Navy's former First Deputy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Igor Kasatonov said.

http://sputniknews.com/russia/20160728/1043700926/russia-navy-admiral-gorshkov.html



Russia’s Severnoye Design Bureau has started working on the Project 23560 Leader-class destroyer that will combine the features of a destroyer, large antisubmarine warship and guided missile cruiser.


The Leader will be a universal ship, triple-hatted as a destroyer, large ASW ship and guided missile cruiser while being smaller than Project 1144 ships and carrying far more weaponry,” news publication The Defence Talk reported Valeriy Polovinki, advisor to the director general of the Krylov State Research Center that worked out the destroyer’s preliminary design military,
http://sputniknews.com/military/20160723/1043533409/russia-nuclear-battleship.html

AdamG
08-26-2016, 03:34 PM
The Russian defense industry has constructed six Varshavyanka diesel-electric submarines from the 636.3 project for the Black Sea Fleet. These submarines are equipped with the new winged Caliber-PL missiles, which can strike targets up to 1,500 miles away.

*

According to Kasatonov, defense industry enterprises will build six equivalent submarines for the Pacific Ocean Fleet. "The industry is also building a series of strategic missile submarine cruisers from the 955 Borei project," he said. The navy has received three of these submarines and will obtain another five by 2020.



The Russian Defense Ministry's main resources are now being invested in the modernization of submarine bases in the Far East, in the city of Vilyuchinsk in the Kamchatka Region (4,150 miles east of Moscow) and in Novorossiysk on the Black Sea coast (940 miles south of Moscow). Four subs from the 995 Borei project are destined for the Kamchatka base and four will be sent to the North Fleet docks.

Three Varshavyanka 636.6 diesel subs with the Caliber winged missiles are on alert in Novorossiysk and within three years, after the construction of all the navy infrastructure is complete, the base will receive the other three subs from the series.

Russian experts say that the new program has taken into account the mistakes that the USSR made in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when large Krechet aircraft carriers from the 1143 project were introduced to the navy. The fleet received the vessels but there was no infrastructure to service them and they were forced to remain in the docks on a permanent basis, producing electricity with their diesel engines and burning up their resources, something that resulted in them being written off prematurely. Now an entire series of coastal infrastructure is being created for each ship and submarine.
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2016/08/24/Russia-investing-in-new-ships-naval-bases-to-project-its-power/8551472060557/

AdamG
08-28-2016, 07:17 PM
Caveat for all Russian / non-independently sourced information in this thread, read this http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?p=192827#post192827

AdamG
09-08-2016, 02:57 PM
The Pentagon says a Russian fighter plane flew within about 10ft (3m) of one of its reconnaissance aircraft operating over the Black Sea.

US officials described the intercept by the SU-27 jet on Wednesday as "dangerous and unprofessional".

Russia's defence ministry said the US plane had been approaching Russian territory and the SU-27 pilots had adhered to international rules.

Russia is currently carrying out military exercises in the Black Sea.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37303247

AdamG
09-08-2016, 02:58 PM
This week, Russia’s Pacific Fleet will dispatch a number of surface warships to the South China Sea to participate in the annual Sino-Russian naval exercise, dubbed Joint Sea 2016, held from September 11 to 19, TASS news agency reports.

“At the beginning of September, a detachment consisting of the big anti-submarine ships Admiral Tributs and Admiral Vinogradov, the big amphibious ship Peresvet, the sea towboat Alatau, and the tanker Pechenga will head for Zhanjiang in China,” the chief press officer of the Eastern Military District for the Pacific Fleet, Captain Second Rank Vladimir Matveyev said.

The Admiral Tributs and Admiral Vinogradov are both 6,930-ton Project 1155 Udaloy I-class anti-submarine warfare destroyers originally built for the Soviet Navy. The destroyers also have anti-ship capabilities and carry the P-270 Moskit supersonic ramjet powered anti-ship missile (NATO reporting name: SS-N-22 Sunburn).

http://thediplomat.com/2016/08/russia-to-send-anti-submarine-warfare-destroyers-to-south-china-sea/

OUTLAW 09
09-19-2016, 08:17 AM
Very rare photo of unreported Cold War Russian midget sub in #Baltic
http://www.hisutton.com/Carmon-1E%20midget%20sub.html#

OUTLAW 09
09-22-2016, 07:45 PM
Spy Sub - Project 10831 Losharik
http://www.hisutton.com/Spy%20Sub%20-%20Project%2010831%20Losharik.html#
… another great piece by @CovertShores

AdamG
09-30-2016, 03:03 PM
From September 23rd, aircraft carrier to appear on playing board mid-October.


“Currently, the Russian naval group in the eastern Mediterranean includes at least six warships and three or four support vessels from all fleets. To increase the combat capabilities of the group, [we] plan to include the cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov into its ranks,”#Shoigu said.
The minister added that the deployment is part of the Russian naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, renewed in 2013, which ensures the country’s interests and helps#“to maintain peace.”
According to a source cited by Interfax, the Admiral Kuznetsov will join the country’s naval unit in mid-October, with the mission expected to last between four and five months.“Currently, the Russian naval group in the eastern Mediterranean includes at least six warships and three or four support vessels from all fleets. To increase the combat capabilities of the group, [we] plan to include the cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov into its ranks,”#Shoigu said.
The minister added that the deployment is part of the Russian naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, renewed in 2013, which ensures the country’s interests and helps#“to maintain peace.”
According to a source cited by Interfax, the Admiral Kuznetsov will join the country’s naval unit in mid-October, with the mission expected to last between four and five months.



According to Interfax, the vessel, which has recently undergone maintenance, will carry state-of-the-art MIG-29KR and MIG-29KUBR jets, as well as SU-33 fighters. In addition, it’s reported that the onboard squadron will include KA-52K assault helicopters.
“The KA-52 helicopters are already undergoing tests. The pilots report on very positive impressions,”#the director of the Russian Helicopters company told Interfax.
The Admiral Kuznetsov is currently Russia’s only aircraft carrier, and was commissioned in 1990. It is capable of harboring over 50 aircraft. The vessel is also armed with ‘Granit’ anti-ship cruise missiles and as well as#‘Blade’#and#‘Chestnut’#gun systems.

https://www.rt.com/news/360178-russia-carrier-syria-kuznetsov/

See also https://sputniknews.com/military/20160923/1045646118/russian-navy-new-developments.html

davidbfpo
10-05-2016, 03:28 PM
Two Russian Blackjack bombers were intercepted by fighter jets from four European countries as they flew from the direction of Norway to northern Spain and back, it has emerged (happened 22nd September)....Spanish media say it is the furthest south such an operation has had to take place.Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37562499?

http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/B588/production/_91527464_russian_bombers_map_624.png

AdamG
10-06-2016, 12:16 PM
The two guided missile fast attack craft left from the port of Sevastopol on October 4 and are currently sailing through the Black Sea in order to join up with the Russian fleet.
The Serpukhov and the Zeleny Dol already participated in Russia’s Syria operation in the Mediterranean in the middle of August, when they fired three Kalibr cruise missiles at Al-Nusra Front terrorists before returning to Crimea in September.
The US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is wary of the Kalibr missile, which “is profoundly changing its ability to deter, threaten or destroy adversary targets,” the report published in December said.

https://www.rt.com/news/361699-syria-russia-navy-missiles/


Tangential plot twist. (https://youtu.be/w_d7wa0cxDU)


WASHINGTON — In a sharp deterioration of relations, the U.S. on Monday suspended diplomatic contacts with Russia over Syria, while Moscow halted cooperation on a joint program for disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.
The U.S. move followed a threat last week from Secretary of State John Kerry after new Russian and Syrian attacks on the city of Aleppo. The State Department said Russia had not lived up to the terms of an agreement last month to restore the cease-fire and ensure sustained deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged cities.
"This is not a decision that was taken lightly," State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. "Unfortunately, Russia failed to live up to its own commitments ... and was also either unwilling or unable to ensure Syrian regime adherence to the arrangements to which Moscow agreed."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/syria-peace-talks/united-states-suspends-contact-russia-syria-n658741

AdamG
10-14-2016, 05:32 PM
From September 23rd, aircraft carrier to appear on playing board mid-October.

Someone's a tad tardy.


Russia's only aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov , is nearing the end of a work-up period outside the port of Murmansk before heading for the eastern Mediterranean, reportedly to begin air operations against targets in Syria.
The first combat deployment of Kuznetsov was announced by Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu on 21 September, when he said the 55,000-ton carrier would be escorted by six warships and three or four support vessels.
UK naval sources say they expect Kuznetsov's departure to be "imminent".
"We and our NATO allies have been watching her work-up closely and we think they have got her pilots qualified and safe to fly off the ship," a senior naval officer told IHS Jane's on 13 October, adding, "She has been going in and out of port over the past week or so to get everyone spun up. That seems to be done now."
http://www.janes.com/article/64643/russian-carrier-works-up-for-syria-deployment


Russia plans to expand its supply base in the Syrian port city of Tartus into a permanent naval base, Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov said on Monday, according to state news agency TASS.
"In Syria, we will have a permanent naval base in Tartus. The corresponding documents have been drafted. Currently they are in the process of inter-departmental coordination," said Pankov, during a meeting of Russia's Federation Council's international affairs committee.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/10/middleeast/russia-navy-base-tartus-syria/

Dishonesty
10-15-2016, 04:40 PM
Carrier Battle Group Admiral Kuznetsov was deployed Oct15,2016 in 1530
Escort:
CGN Pyotr Velikiy
DD VAdm Kulakov&DD Severomorsk(both Udaloy class)
AO Sergey Osipov

Air Group
https://twitter.com/RSS_40/status/787043264843112448

Dishonesty
10-22-2016, 12:49 PM
Story Soviets Carrier Admiral Gorshkov-Vikramaditya

From Journal of the Australian Naval Institute No150

Perhaps more significantly, when
the Russians sold her, the carrier had
no usable powerplant, due to a fire
in her boilers. Replacing or repairing
the boilers was a major job, given the
amount of ship structure between
them and the flight deck. When
Vikramaditya ran her first sea trials
last year, when she was to have been
delivered, her engines suddenly cut
out when she reached 30 knots. It
turned out that seven of her eight
boilers had failed because the fire
(insulating) bricks in them had melted

AdamG
10-27-2016, 09:29 AM
BRUSSELS — Russia canceled a request to refuel a flotilla of its Syria-bound warships at a Spanish port Wednesday, according to Russian state-run media and other news reports. The move came#among mounting criticism leveled at Madrid from NATO’s secretary general and Britain’s defense minister.
The Russian battle group, containing cruisers, submarine hunting warships and Russia’s lone aircraft carrier — the Admiral#Kuznetsov — were set to refuel in#Ceuta, a port situated in north Africa near the Strait of Gibraltar, before heading to the Mediterranean Sea. While Spain has allowed Russian ships to use its refueling facilities in the past, the small armada’s likely mission — bolstering Russia’s strikes in Syria — has drawn widespread condemnation, forcing Spain into an uncomfortable position with its allies.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-warships-to-bypass-spanish-refueling-port-as-nato-pledges-to-bolster-its-defenses/ar-AAjrkqN?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp

Dishonesty
10-28-2016, 11:31 PM
1)A group of warships including Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, is reportedly refuelling at sea off North Africa en route to Syria

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37791523

2)Malta refuses to allow Russia's aircraft carrier to refuel :"Malta will not be party to the obscenities being committed in Aleppo

https://twitter.com/EU_today/status/792017278560862209?lang=cs

3)Last known position Kuznetsov oiler Osipov

https://www.vesselfinder.com/?mmsi=273546000

4)Real surprise:The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed suggestions from NATO that a Russian battle group in the Mediterranean would join the bombardment of Syria's Aleppo as absurd, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday
Russia cannot be understood with the mind alone...

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-nato-idUKKCN12R0RN

AdamG
10-29-2016, 05:20 AM
Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, has set sail for Syria. The vessel is leaving a long and unhealthy trail of smoke in its wake.
Moscow's symbol of power projection is old and in danger of breaking down as it make its way from the North Sea to the Mediterranean. The Russians have also discovered that this smoldering boat and her naval task force are unwelcome, as port after port along its route refuses entry now that human rights organizations and governments worldwide have accused the Russian government of war crimes.


Kuztnetsov is a notoriously unreliable ship. She was built by the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and languished in Russian service after the Cold War. In 2009, a problem with the electrical system led to a fire that killed a crewman. The ship's propulsion system has never worked properly and breaks down so frequently that it, like many other large Russian Navy ships, always travels with an oceangoing tug. The ship broke down in early 2012 off the coast of Spain.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a23584/admiral-kuznetsov-sad-smoky-voyage/

AdamG
10-31-2016, 06:58 AM
Three Russian submarines armed with cruise missiles have reportedly joined a naval battleforce heading towards Syria.

The Royal Navy and Nato have been tracking the two Akula-class submarines and a diesel-powered Kilo-class sub as they travelled to join the fleet of Russian ships headed by the Soviet-era aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.
“The Russians now have submarines in the Med,” a senior naval source told#The Sunday Times.

It is feared the submarines may be armed with Kalibr cruise missiles and could be used to support the final assault on the besieged city of Aleppo.#

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/russia-syria-submarines-admiral-kuznetzov-aircraft-carrier-vladimir-putin-a7387451.html

AdamG
11-07-2016, 01:56 PM
A Russian sailor’s online selfie may have just given away the position of one of the world’s most powerful battlecruisers, according to journalist#Hans de Vreij’s analysis.


http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/06/sailors-selfie-gives-away-position-of-one-of-russias-best-ships/#ixzz4PKasnAiY

OUTLAW 09
11-07-2016, 05:26 PM
A Russian fighter pilot flipped the finger in the Baltic skies: "Maybe he watched too much Top Gun." More here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-warplanes-keep-buzzing-the-baltics-heres-how-nato-scrambles/2016/11/06/15c1ea6e-9df4-11e6-b552-b1f85e484086_story.html

Flipping the bird in wrong airspace /w no transponders, in full armament is the only right thing to do!

NATO jets have scrambled to intercept planes about 600 times this year, mostly in intl. airspace
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/natosource/russia-has-violated-nato-air-space-at-least-five-times-this-year …

RuAF has crossed five times into direct NATO airspace......

Baltic air policing: #Russia's "fighter aircraft are almost always armed to the teeth" says #Germany's LtCol Jacob

OUTLAW 09
11-08-2016, 08:11 AM
Kuznetsov task force will reach the waters off Syria later on Tuesday. The GCHQ / NSA listening posts on Cyprus have front row seats

OUTLAW 09
11-08-2016, 07:08 PM
Per Interfax from today.....
PLANES FR RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER, NAVAL SHIPS ARMED WITH PRECISION WEAPONS PREPARING TO STRIKE MILITANTS ON ALEPPO AREA - RUS MOD SOURCE

OUTLAW 09
11-08-2016, 08:25 PM
Russia has a 'pipe dream' of replacing the US as the world's dominant naval power
http://read.bi/2fY7Qe7

OUTLAW 09
11-14-2016, 04:23 PM
US officials: Mig-29 jet crashes near #Russia's #Kuznetzov aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean during #Syria op
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/11/14/russian-fighter-jet-crashes-near-its-aircraft-carrier-in-mediterranean-us-officials-say.html?platform=hootsuite …

Flying from the Kuznetsov with no catapults, therefore limited fuel and weapons, is very tricky ...

Russian MOD denies low visibility a factor in reported #AdmiralKuznetsov MiG-29 #crash near #Syria

OUTLAW 09
11-14-2016, 04:42 PM
US officials: Mig-29 jet crashes near #Russia's #Kuznetzov aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean during #Syria op
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/11/14/russian-fighter-jet-crashes-near-its-aircraft-carrier-in-mediterranean-us-officials-say.html?platform=hootsuite …

Flying from the Kuznetsov with no catapults, therefore limited fuel and weapons, is very tricky ...

Russian MOD denies low visibility a factor in reported #AdmiralKuznetsov MiG-29 #crash near #Syria

Crash details follow......


As reported by Combat Aircraft a Russian Navy Mig-29KUBR embarked aboard Adm. Kuznetsov aircraft carrier has crashed on Nov. 13.

The aircraft is one of the four naval Fulcrums operated by the 100th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment.

According to our sources, the incident occurred around 14.30Z and involved a two-seater Fulcrum in a formation of three Mig-29s operating from the carrier in the eastern Mediterranean Sea off Syria: whilst one of the remaining aircraft recovered aboard the Kuznetsov the third one diverted for unknown reasons to Syria.

Footage allegedly showing Mig-29s in the skies over Aleppo had happered earlier on the same day.

The pilot of the doomed aircraft ejected safely and was rescued by a helicopter while the Russian Navy radioed all the nearby vessels to remain 5NM away from the crash point.

Needless to say the incident unfolded while several NATO aircraft and warships closely monitored the operations aboard Russia’s only carrier.

OUTLAW 09
11-14-2016, 05:20 PM
US officials: Mig-29 jet crashes near #Russia's #Kuznetzov aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean during #Syria op
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/11/14/russian-fighter-jet-crashes-near-its-aircraft-carrier-in-mediterranean-us-officials-say.html?platform=hootsuite …

Flying from the Kuznetsov with no catapults, therefore limited fuel and weapons, is very tricky ...

Russian MOD denies low visibility a factor in reported #AdmiralKuznetsov MiG-29 #crash near #Syria

It's not that difficult to spot the Admiral Kuznetsov battle group from space -
http://alert5.com/2016/11/14/its-not-that-difficult-to-spot-the-admiral-kuznetsov-battle-group-from-space/ …

OUTLAW 09
11-14-2016, 07:11 PM
THIS is from a well known proRussian commenter living outside Russia.....

Yury Barmin @yurybarmin
Russian navy proving to be a lousy instrument of power projection is a huge blow to geopolitical ambitions. Heads will roll in Moscow


Yury Barmin @yurybarmin
A MiG-29 jet crashes into sea in the Mediterranean. This whole Kuznetsov affair has been a total disaster so far

OUTLAW 09
11-15-2016, 05:37 PM
Air Force Freak @AlRFORCEFREAK
#RUAF strategic air HF voice net noted active

OUTLAW 09
11-16-2016, 05:29 PM
FAB-500 M54 unguided bombs appears to be #Russia weapon of choice for initial #Syria strikes from #AdmiralKuznetsov

OUTLAW 09
11-17-2016, 05:03 PM
Russia says it just flew some strategic bombers 11,000 km via North Sea & Atlantic to fire missiles at Syria. Stunt not seen for a while.

OUTLAW 09
11-18-2016, 01:25 PM
Johan Norberg says he's looking at Russian preparation for large-scale armed warfare—not "hybrid warfare." "The whole country."

Can Russia carry out large scale offensive operations right now....yes it can and with little to no prep time needed as it has been exercising exactly that for now three solid years.....

OUTLAW 09
11-19-2016, 01:56 PM
Ah...a so called superpower being treated like a terrorist which actually they are...

Russian Army official mouthpiece fumes in rabid rage over #Switzerland fighters escorting #Kremlin flight.
https://twitter.com/Zradko_TAK/status/799969333518680064#

OUTLAW 09
11-20-2016, 10:06 AM
The Russian AF seems these days to have a serious problem in their ability to simply turn on their transponders...none in the Baltics..none in the areas area Ukraine and certainly none in Syria...and none in the Black Sea.....

Russia furious after Swiss fighter jets buzz governmental plane:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russia-demands-explanation-switzerland-fighter-jets-buzzed-government-plane-a7426981.html

… quite rich from Russia. Good for you Switzerland

Maybe the Swiss checked the #Russian government plane because it partly blocked transponder data. According to @flightradar24 it did.

Russia demands answers on why Swiss jets flanked APEC plane
Surely, what's good for the goose is good for Russians?
http://news.sky.com/story/russia-demands-answers-on-why-swiss-jets-flanked-apec-plane-10663030#

OUTLAW 09
11-24-2016, 08:45 AM
Reference the crashed MiG from the Russian ACC....

Rumours – lost MiG-29KR f/ #Kuznetsov was piloted by Col Igor Matkovsky, one of top 3 carrier-based pilots in RU.
http://www.vz.ru/news/2016/11/23/845437.html#

He as a Russian AF Hero had over 200 carrier landings and he basically ran out of fuel because the ACC Commander did not divert him to a land AF and they could not get the arresting mechanism fixed in time...

Have a hunch that radio chatter between the plane and controller on Kuznetsov was pretty heated.

Absolutely makes sense, falls into context. Even aces can't pull miracles the dire state #Russian Navy actually is in.

A massive single point of failure in the Russian Command and Control that has never been fixed in all their modernization efforts....Commanders are simply afraid to make a serious/critical decisions as they are afraid it will kill their careers and then off to Siberia...

EXAMPLE...on the Army side all Russian Commanders down to Company Commanders physically sign the operational orders as to what they do.....thus they are held then legally responsible if their portion of the op fails...and changes to the op orders requires all new signatures....

AdamG
12-01-2016, 02:47 PM
Vessels from Russia's Black Sea Fleet have taken up position near the disputed Crimean peninsula - which was illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014 - to help strengthen the air defences.
The aggressive land grab plunged Ukraine-Russia and east-west relations to their lowest point in years and threatened a new Cold War
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/738604/Russian-warships-Crimea-Ukraine-missile-testing

davidbfpo
12-02-2016, 06:33 PM
A RUSI article dissects why this plane crashed, killing it's very experienced pilot and the apparent "cover up". It concludes:
The Russian media’s current attempt to attribute the loss of the MiG-29 solely to the deck crew’s incompetence appears to be a face-saving measure aimed at diverting criticism away from the flaws in the Russian weapons systems being aggressively marketed on international markets.
Link:https://rusi.org/commentary/russian-mig-29-crash-more-meets-eye

AdamG
01-07-2017, 09:14 PM
Russia is recalling the Russian carrier Admiral Kuznetsov from the Eastern Mediterranean and sending the ship back to its homeport in northern Russia. The strike group consisting of the carrier, guided missile cruiser Peter the Great, two Udaloy-class guided missile destroyers and auxiliaries will begin the voyage to Severomorsk.
https://news.usni.org/2017/01/06/russia-pulling-carrier-admiral-kuznetsov-mediterranean

Azor
01-07-2017, 11:23 PM
The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab has confirmed that two Buyan-class missile corvettes of the Black Sea Fleet that were officially destined to join the flotilla off Syria have remained at Kaliningrad.

Given that the Baltic Fleet has been the most neglected, this may represent a "sea change", given the emphasis that the Kremlin has placed on the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. It is especially worrying, given that NATO has been pondering how to ensure conventional deterrence in the Baltic region.

https://medium.com/@DFRLab/wintering-in-the-baltic-not-the-mediterranean-russias-kalibr-ships-e30841e0963f#.8bdxqiknb

Currently, no one can say which fleet these corvettes belong to...

Azor
01-07-2017, 11:26 PM
Ah...a so called superpower being treated like a terrorist which actually they are...

Russian Army official mouthpiece fumes in rabid rage over #Switzerland fighters escorting #Kremlin flight.
https://twitter.com/Zradko_TAK/status/799969333518680064#


I understand that the Swiss Air Force can only scramble 2 F-18s given its lack of readiness...

OUTLAW 09
01-21-2017, 01:18 PM
Reference the smoking and polluting Russian aircraft carrier heading home now.....

Russia's colorful diplomats in the U.K., ever fond of mocking any & all critics, say "ship of shame" is an "unfair label" for A. Kuznetsov.

OUTLAW 09
01-25-2017, 10:57 AM
UK residents will be able to spot the smoke depending on wind direction....

The Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, is expected to pass through the Straits of Dover around lunchtime today.

Two tugs in the convoy....

NOTICE Russian media is not covering the return at all...

OUTLAW 09
01-26-2017, 09:48 AM
AND she is still smoking her way back to homeport....

Russia says British military staging 'show' with Channel escort....:D
http://reut.rs/2ji6eZR

Show...not really just a routine NATO exercise using Russian ships as the exercise target.....just a routine NATO recce op....

AdamG
01-30-2017, 08:35 PM
MURMANSK, Russia (Reuters) - The nuclear icebreaker Lenin, the pride and joy of the Soviet Union's Arctic great game, lies at perpetual anchor in the frigid water here. A relic of the Cold War, it is now a museum.
But nearly three decades after the Lenin was taken out of service to be turned into a visitor attraction, Russia is again on the march in the Arctic and building new nuclear icebreakers.
It is part of a push to firm Moscow's hand in the High North as it vies for dominance with traditional rivals Canada, the United States, and Norway as well as newcomer China.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/putins-russia-biggest-arctic-military-push-since-soviet-102944933.html

AdamG
02-15-2017, 05:40 AM
The Russian ship was in international waters, 70 miles off the coast of Delaware and heading north at 10 knots, according to one official. The U.S. territory line is 12 nautical miles.
It was not immediately clear where the ship is headed
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/14/russian-spy-ship-off-east-coast-us-officials-say.html

davidbfpo
02-15-2017, 09:58 AM
Is this Fox News report really news? How many such Russian ships are offshore from the USA today and has there been an increase?

Via my Twitter feed for the last two days there has been a detailed report, with mapping, on a USAF RC-135 Joint Rivet heading east over the Baltic Sea and no doubt staying in international airspace. Would Fox report that?

davidbfpo
02-15-2017, 05:37 PM
From a Twitter thread started by Fox News, so maybe inaccurate, but one thread had a map display:
Russian spy ship now located 30 miles south of Groton, CT home to a US Navy submarine base. Russian ship "loitering," US officialNow in these times of peace and harmony there is no requirement to gather information on each others nuclear submarines.

OUTLAW 09
02-16-2017, 11:35 AM
Rus Su-24 jets were armed with FAB-250 bombs when buzzed near USS Porter
SU-24 fighter jets flying low & fast above destroyer USS Porter in the Black Sea on February 10, DOD said they were"unsafe & unprofessional"
http://liveuamap.com/en/2017/16-feb
ruary-russian-su24-jets-were-armed-with-fab250-bombs#
pic.twitter.com/TlWiveh0hs

Let's see...Russia violates the INF...Russia buzzes US warships.....Russian is hacking and conducting influence operations against the US....Russia is attacking heavily Ukraine ...Russia stations spy ship 30nm off US coast......AND the Trump WH response.....

ZERO....

AdamG
02-17-2017, 07:07 PM
Russia remains a threatening adversary of the U.S., but the country's recent aggressive military actions aren't signs of an imminent conflict, U.S. officials told NBC News
Traditional media and social media have been atwitter with reports of a Russian spy ship off Connecticut, the "buzzing" of a U.S. ship by Russian fighters and reports of new cruise missile deployments by Russia.
But U.S. military and intelligence officials said concerns about these incidents are, in the words of one, "highly overstated."
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ignore-spy-ship-coast-russians-aren-t-coming-n722036?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_ma

AdamG
03-15-2017, 01:19 AM
Viktor Ozerov — the head of#the Russian Federation Council’s defense committee – said planning work was underway to start the expansion of the Russian logistics hub in Tartus, Syria into a full-fledged naval base capable of supporting 11 ships.

https://news.usni.org/2017/03/13/russia-reported-start-syrian-naval-base-expansion-spring

AdamG
04-10-2017, 08:42 AM
Navy Admiral Michelle Howard, who heads NATO's Allied Joint Force Command in Naples and commands U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa, said Russia had clearly stepped up its naval actions in recent years although the size of its navy was smaller now than during the Cold War era.

*

Howard cited a wide range of activities, including Russia's deployment of its Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier to the Mediterranean, increased patrols in the north Atlantic and Arctic region, significant out-of-area submarine deployments, and submarine movement in the Black Sea.


https://ca.news.yahoo.com/russian-naval-activity-europe-exceeds-cold-war-levels-145438979.html

AdamG
04-19-2017, 02:56 PM
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Franz_Josef_Land_location-en.svg/260px-Franz_Josef_Land_location-en.svg.png

Fear the Russian Reindeers.

Russia unveils its new Arctic military base housing nuclear-ready warplanes and REINDEER-powered special forces as it seeks to claim the region's huge oil and gas reserves

Russia has unveiled five-storey military base on Alexander Land in the Arctic Ocean's Franz Josef Archipelago
The top-secret polar complex, painted in Russia's red, white and blue, can house warplanes and 150 troops
Comes as Russia looks to lay claim to region's enormous oil and gas reserves thought to be worth £23trillion


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4421072/Russia-unveils-new-Arctic-military-base.html#ixzz4ehvfQxhA

Azor
04-19-2017, 10:51 PM
Fear the Russian Reindeers.

Russia unveils its new Arctic military base housing nuclear-ready warplanes and REINDEER-powered special forces as it seeks to claim the region's huge oil and gas reserves


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4421072/Russia-unveils-new-Arctic-military-base.html#ixzz4ehvfQxhA

A bit of overhype from The Daily Mail on the "nuclear capable aircraft" part, no?

AdamG
04-27-2017, 06:15 PM
Last Updated Apr 27, 2017 8:53 AM EDT
MOSCOW -- A Russian naval reconnaissance ship sunk in the Black Sea Thursday after colliding with a freighter near the Turkish coast.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the collision occurred about 25 miles northwest of the Bosphorus Strait and left a hole in the hull of the Liman. The ministry statement, carried by Russian news agencies, said none of the crew members was hurt.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-spy-ship-naval-reconnaissance-vessel-collision-black-sea/

AdamG
04-27-2017, 06:17 PM
overhype from The Daily Mail

Redundant descriptor and subject in the same sentence, when it comes to the Daily Wail.

AdamG
06-26-2017, 03:35 AM
A TINY stretch of Arctic water has become a hotbed of military activity amid fears it could become the next flashpoint in a global conflict between the US and Russia.
Locals on the tiny Norwegian island of Vardo have seen an increase in military action through the upgrade of a critical radar system, Globus III, due to be completed by 2020.
The windswept outpost is just 30 kilometres from Russia’s Kola Peninsula, from where a fleet of nuclear armed submarines operates, in a bid to strengthen Russian presence in the Arctic region.
Norwegian author Bard Wormdal, who wrote The Satellite War, about the close and secretive military and intelligence alliance between Norway and the US, said there has been significant uptick in activity recently from both sides.

http://www.news.com.au/world/europe/arctic-outpost-becomes-hotbed-of-russian-military-activity/news-story/25108f508fd511205cac25f6d6371e70

AdamG
07-31-2017, 07:29 AM
Saint Petersburg (AFP) - President Vladimir Putin on Sunday oversaw a pomp-filled display of Russia's naval might as the Kremlin paraded its sea power from the Baltic Sea to the shores of Syria.
Some 50 warships and submarines were on show along the Neva River and in the Gulf of Finland off the country's second city of Saint Petersburg after Putin ordered the navy to hold its first ever parade on such a grand scale.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/putin-shows-off-russias-naval-might-major-parade-085242851.html

AdamG
09-22-2017, 01:28 AM
September 14 2017

Vladimir Putin’s warships destroyed “control centers, communication hubs, militant weapons and ammunition warehouses in ISIS-controlled areas in southeast Deir ez-Zor”.
Russia has been waging war against ISIS in support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
ISIS are facing military defeat in the Middle East as they are pushed out of their final strongholds in Syria.
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/644862/Russia-ISIS-Vladimir-Putin-Syria-Submarines-Missiles-Mediterranean-Sea-Jihadi-Deir-ez-Zor



A Russian Navy ship with a fishy past is currently sailing around the eastern Mediterranean. Described as an oceanographic research ship, outside observers believe the Yantar is actually a spy ship using mini-submersibles to conduct cloak and dagger work on the bottom of the sea.
The Yantar is a Russian Navy ship that joined the fleet in 2015. Officially described as a "special purpose ship" or "oceanographic vessel," the ship is operated by the Russian Navy's Main Directorate of Underwater Research, which is thought to control Russia's undersea espionage efforts.

Yantar is designed to act as a mothership to mini-submarines, with hangars for storing manned and unmanned submersibles and cranes for lowering them into the water. While that's useful for legitimate scientific research, the reality is that the ship is often spotted lingering above the undersea cables that carry data across the ocean floor, linking entire countries and even continents in the global telecommunications network

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a28276/yantar-spy-ship-eastern-mediterranean/

AdamG
11-07-2017, 03:42 AM
Russia is in the process of setting up a new naval base in the Pacific Ocean, on an island chain disputed with Japan for decades, a senior Russian senator has said.

“The decision has been made,” Senator Franz Klintsevich, deputy chairman of the Defense and Security Committee, told the Interfax news agency on Thursday, speaking about a new naval port on the Kuril islands. “It is in the realization stages,” he added, noting that what lay ahead now were “organizational matters” about the constitution of the base.

The Kuril islands are a chain of islets, stretching between eastern Russia and northern Japan, across the Sea of Okhotsk. Klintsevich did not say on which island the base will stand—a significant matter, considering Japan and Russia have been locked in a dispute over four of the islands since World War II.

The four southernmost islands in the chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan, are under Russia’s control, seized by the Red Army in the closing stages of World War II combat. Its native Ainu population faced a swift deportation campaign and despite Japanese objections, Russia has kept control of the territories off the coast of Hokkaido.


http://www.newsweek.com/russian-navy-build-pacific-base-island-chain-contested-japan-says-senator-693642

AdamG
11-26-2017, 03:19 AM
Indicator


Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that his country’s biggest enterprises must show that they can step up arms production and important services on short notice to be war-ready.
“The economic ability to increase the production of defense products and services quickly is a vital element of military security,” Putin told military leaders and senior officials in the defense industrial complex on Wednesday. “All strategic and simply large companies, regardless of the type of ownership, must be able to do this.”


www.newsweek.com/putin-says-russias-defense-companies-must-adapt-war-economy-720802

AdamG
12-16-2017, 06:33 PM
The Russian navy’s maneuvers in the Pacific Ocean far exceeded what Moscow had planned for 2017, almost quadrupling the time originally allocated to drills, patrols and other activities, amid peaking tension over neighbor North Korea’s nuclear program.
Russian military vessels spent over 9,000 days on water in the past 11 months, Pacific Fleet spokesman Nikolay Voskresenskiy told state news agency Itar-Tass on Monday. This exceeded last year’s sailing time and was roughly “four times” the planned length of deployment Moscow had for its Pacific ships, Voskresenskiy said

http://www.newsweek.com/russian-forces-pacific-waters-spike-amid-north-korea-tensions-734961

AdamG
12-16-2017, 06:39 PM
Britain’s military has prioritised the protection of undersea cables from Russia because if they are cut or disrupted there would be an immediate and “potentially catastrophic” hit to the economy, the chief of defence staff has said.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach said the vulnerability of communication lines under the sea poses a “new risk to our way of life” as Russia modernises its navy and perfects unconventional and information warfare.
Conservative MP Rishi Sunak warned earlier this month that a successful attack on the UK’s network of undersea communications cables could deal a “crippling blow” to the country’s security and economy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/russia-attack-uk-cables-underwater-sea-protection-a8111536.html

Track the Yantar's shenanigans from your easy chair.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:1215053/mmsi:273546520/imo:0/vessel:YANTAR

Details on the Yantar
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russian-navy-ship-yantar-can-sever-internet-cables-2kzrxpq9q

Historical perspective
http://www.bryensblog.com/sea-cables-real-threat/

Does your Admiral need a desktop model?
Have to do a briefing slide for Monday?
Have some plans.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/ino-production-assets/mate/assets/image_assets/attachments/000/001/172/full_page/lpm88.jpg?1462345384

davidbfpo
12-16-2017, 07:46 PM
This reporting was probably stimulated by the publication two weeks ago by a Policy Exchange (PX) 48 pgs. report 'Undersea Cables: Indispensable, insecure' by a Conservative MP, Rishi Sunak (PX is a right wing think tank).
Link:https://policyexchange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Undersea-Cables.pdf

When you read the paper the biggest current threat is not Russian sabotage (or Chinese in the South China Sea), but fishing trawlers damaging the cables 100-150 times per year.

For the US military there is an issue, the reliance on cables to pass the very high data load for drone operations; cables severed in the Mediterranean in 2008 drastically reduced deployments.

There are only a very small number of "choke points" at sea and on land, which make the system vulnerable. Notably this one:
The location is the single cross‑connect for all cable traffic between Africa, Europe, and Asia. 80% of all European to Middle Eastern connectivity passes through this one building.

Which is in Alexandria, Egypt.

Two BBC reports, one "beating the drum" for this old problem, which has a small map of the cables routes:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-42365191 and a historical piece on WW1 cutting of cables:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42367551

AdamG
12-24-2017, 12:11 AM
Russian submarines are prowling around vital undersea cables. It’s making NATO nervous.


BRUSSELS — Russian submarines have dramatically stepped up activity around undersea data cables in the North Atlantic, part of a more aggressive naval posture that has driven NATO to revive a Cold War-era command, according to senior military officials.
The apparent Russian focus on the cables, which provide Internet and other communications connections to North America and Europe, could give the Kremlin the power to sever or tap into vital data lines, the officials said. Russian submarine activity has increased to levels unseen since the Cold War, they said, sparking hunts in recent months for the elusive watercraft.

NATO has responded with plans to reestablish a command post, shuttered after the Cold War, to help secure the North Atlantic. NATO allies are also rushing to boost anti-submarine warfare capabilities and to develop advanced submarine-detecting planes.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-submarines-are-prowling-around-vital-undersea-cables-its-making-nato-nervous/2017/12/22/d4c1f3da-e5d0-11e7-927a-e72eac1e73b6_story.html?utm_term=.0ffdc699d07a

AdamG
12-24-2017, 12:14 AM
The Russian Navy might receive the Zirkon hypersonic anti-ship missile during the Kremlin’s state armament program (GPV) for 2018-2027. If the new weapon materializes, Russian Navy’s Project 20385 and 20386 corvettes and Project 23350 and 23350M frigates would be among the first to receive the new missiles according to a report from the Russian TASS news agency.


Michael Kofman, a research scientist specializing in Russian military affairs at the Center for Naval Analyses, said that the Zirkon is currently in testing, and funding will likely be allocated to the missile in the state armament plan.
“Tsirkon [7] is one of the prospective hypersonic missiles currently in development and testing,” Kofman said. “The Russian navy intends to upgrade existing launch systems, such as 3S14 VLS [vertical launch system], to use it, which now fires P-800 [8] and Kalibr-NK. Undoubtedly funding will be allocated for this project in the first five years of the upcoming state armament program.”
One of the reasons that Russia is developing the Zircon is because the Kremlin knows that it will eventually need a next-generation weapon. “Although Oniks and Kalibr are already capable anti-ship missiles, much of this tech is from late 1980s designs,” Kofman said. “Russia is now investing in the next generation, hence the strong push towards hypersonic weapons.”
https://scout.com/military/warrior/Article/Russia-Could-Soon-Arm-Its-Navy-with-Hypersonic-Missiles-112652400

Source: TASS http://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/4823798

davidbfpo
12-30-2017, 11:51 AM
A somewhat surprising headline:
Australian air force put on alert after Russian long-range bombers headed south

Surprising as this is 'old news' as it was a five day visit in early December to Indonesia (actually their half of New Guinea) of two Russian TU-95M Bears, long range maritime recce / strike and ELINT.
Link:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/30/australian-military-alert-russia-bombers-indonesia-exercises?

Given the sometimes close relationship between Australian and Indonesian military one would expect the Australians were well aware of the visit and what would happen. Indonesia may of course just be demonstrating it too can have friend from afar and Indonesia has sveral types of Russian combat aircraft. Note there is no detail of any flights towards Australia.

The Russians called it a 'navigational exercise' and there are several videos of the visit available.

AdamG
01-15-2018, 03:34 AM
Russia is in possession of an underwater nuclear drone capable of carrying a 100-megaton nuclear warhead, a recently leaked draft of the Pentagon's Nuclear Posture Review confirmed.
The weapon, referred to in the document as an “AUV,” or autonomous underwater vehicle, is featured in a chart that lays out Russia's multiple nuclear delivery vehicles.
Pentagon officials warn in the posture review that Russia has actively diversified its nuclear capabilities, a strategic advantage it has over the United States:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-has-underwater-nuclear-drones-leaked-pentagon-documents-reveal/ar-AAuFOuP?li=AA4Zpp&ocid=spartandhp

Good to see you guys in the Kremlin stay up late watching old Stanley Kubrick movies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mUCLHzWiJo)

AdamG
01-20-2018, 12:43 AM
Russian Helicopters has successfully completed the transfer of a batch of shipborne anti-submarine Ka-27M helicopters to the Russian Navy.
The serial upgrade of the Ka-27Ms is being carried out within the framework of a government defence contract at the company’s helicopter manufacturing factory, Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise.
The first aircraft from the batch of transferred helicopters has already been sent to its permanent stationing site at the Baltic Fleet.
Several of the remaining Ka-27M helicopters are scheduled to be flown to the Pacific and Northern Fleets.

https://www.naval-technology.com/news/russian-helicopters-delivers-ka-27m-helicopters-russian-navy/

AdamG
01-20-2018, 04:53 AM
The Russian spy ship first spotted near American waters last year is making its way back in the direction of the U.S., Fox News confirmed on Thursday.
The Victor Leonov is still in the Caribbean, according to officials, but heading north off the coast of Florida, home to a U.S. Navy base located in North Florida, east of Jacksonville.
The ship could be off the Florida coast by Friday if the ship maintains present course and speed, according to officials.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/18/russian-spy-ship-spotted-off-us-coast-year-ago-returns-to-region.html

AdamG
01-22-2018, 10:58 PM
CBS Local — The Russian government is reportedly developing a city-killing torpedo, called Kanyon, that would allegedly leave a country’s coastline uninhabitable for decades. The terrifying news, which sounds more likely to come from a “James Bond” film, was actually leaked from the Pentagon’s report on nuclear weapons posturing.
The “doomsday torpedo” has been on the U.S. military’s radar for several years and was first revealed publicly by the Washington Free Beacon in 2015. Kanyon, an autonomous underwater vehicle carrying a lethal 100-megaton thermonuclear weapon, is reportedly being designed by the Russians to attack coastal areas, major cities, naval bases, and other sea ports.
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/01/22/russia-doomsday-torpedo-pentagon/

AdamG
01-30-2018, 01:07 AM
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin says modernized strategic bombers will boost the nation's military power.
Speaking on a visit to an aircraft-making plant in Kazan Thursday, Putin said the revamped version of the Soviet-designed Tu-160 bomber features new engines and avionics that would significantly enhance its capability.
The Russian leader attended the signing of a 160-billion-ruble (about $2.9-billion) contract that will see the delivery of 10 such planes to the Russian air force.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/25/putin-hails-upgraded-russian-strategic-bomber.html

AdamG
02-06-2018, 02:28 AM
Russia’s Northern Fleet kicked off the year by sending ships from its Kola flotilla on their first artillery fire drill of 2018. The missile frigate Iceberg and the anti-submarine corvette Yunga sailed into Barents waters, simulating a response to a cruise missile from a hypothetical enemy, a statement by the Russian defense ministry said on Wednesday. During the course of the drill, the two ships also practiced responding to an air attack, returning fire with anti-aircraft missiles.

www.newsweek.com/russian-navy-launches-arctic-missile-defense-drill-artillery-fire-796875

AdamG
02-06-2018, 02:29 AM
Ivan Gren [large amphibious assault ship] has had a long and troubled history. The vessel was first laid down in December 2004 and launched in May 2012. Its sea trials began in June 2016 and the ship will not be ready for delivery until at least late February.
“Gren is a typical example of a badly managed naval project which exist in many navies,” Vasily Kashin, a senior fellow at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at Moscow's Higher School of Economics told The National Interest. “The design started 1998, almost 20 years ago. The problem was that the Navy changed the requirements so many times that the project ran into huge delays and the result was disliked by everyone. So as a result the Navy decided to build just two such ships (Ivan Gren and Pyotr Morgunov to be launched this year).”

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/russias-new-helicopters-are-preparing-war-should-the-baltics-24357