Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity

[davidbfpo]

Citing AdamG in part:

The Russian Navy has commissioned the long-delayed Admiral Gorshkov, lead ship of the Admiral Gorshkov-class (Project 22350) of guided missile frigates, on July 28 during a ceremony at the Severnaya Verf shipyards in St. Petersburg, a day before the service’s traditional grand naval parade.

The new warship is expected to be deployed with the Russian Navy Northern Fleet’s 43rd Missile Ship Division. The 5,400-ton Admiral Gorshkov is the largest surface combatant to be built by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

So after twenty-seven years the Russian navy is having a new ship built; yes the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991. That is a long time for shipyards to be without building new ships, even allowing for overhauls etc one must wonder how many of the work force are still there.

As for Russia's POSEIDON Torpedo, yes it is an interesting write up, but I note this in fact is an old project that gained a new lease of life. The rationale is not that clear to me; does Russia fear its SSBNs are vulnerable when they leave the "protected areas", hence the need for a stand off weapon system? Curious to recall forty years ago the Royal Navy started to experiment with a sealed steam-driven propulsion system (within the traditional sized torpedo).

[AdamG]

Russian warships have passed through the English Channel as Putin's troop's continue to put pressure on the Royal Navy. Russian state media revealed that Russian missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov and anti-submarine destroyer Severomorsk have sailed past Britain on their way to the Atlantic. The report indicated the warships were part of a group heading to the ocean to begin operations following a naval parade for Putin held in Saint Petersburg.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...the-royal-navy

[AdamG]

The 5,400-ton Admiral Gorshkov is the largest surface combatant to be built by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

=/=

So after twenty-seven years the Russian navy is having a new ship built; yes the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991. That is a long time for shipyards to be without building new ships, even allowing for overhauls etc one must wonder how many of the work force are still there.

The Russians have built many ships since 1991. The Admiral Gorshkov is the largest one.

[AdamG]

NATO confirmed a large scale Russian navy buildup in the Mediterranean Sea off Syria on Tuesday. “The Russian Navy has dispatched substantial naval forces to the Mediterranean, including several ships equipped with modern cruise missiles,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu confirmed to Haaretz in a statement.

Russian media on Tuesday called the deployment Moscow's largest naval buildup since it entered the Syrian conflict in 2015. The reinforcement comes as Russia's ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is believed to be considering an assault on the last big rebel-held enclave, Idlib in the north

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-...rise-1.6429071

As tensions between the U.S. and Moscow in Syria continued to spiral, Russian newspaper Izvestiya reported Tuesday that Russia had sent an unprecedented grouping of 10 ships, mostly armed with Kalibr cruise missiles, and two submarines to the eastern Mediterranean—with more naval assets on the way—in response to an apparent U.S. military buildup in the region.

Russia's Kommersant further reported that Moscow had mobilized two Tor-M2 surface-to-air missile defense systems in Syria and that the country's air defenses had been placed on high alert in anticipation of a potential U.S. assault, which the Russian Defense Ministry has said would come after a "false flag" chemical weapons attack staged by West-backed militants.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-send...ts-say-1093185

In full for those of you who don't want to visit TASS

MOSCOW, August 29. /TASS/. A group of warships of the Northern Fleet led by the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov accomplishing missions as part of the Russian Navy’s Mediterranean task force has held planned anti-sabotage drills during its anchorage, Fleet spokesman Captain 1st Rank Vadim Serga said on Wednesday.

"The personnel on watch for anti-submarine and anti-sabotage defense of the cruiser Marshal Ustinov and the large anti-submarine warfare ship Severomorsk fired grenade launchers to prevent an attack by a group of a notional enemy’s underwater sabotage forces and weapons on the warships and vessels," the spokesman said.

The naval personnel also repelled a simulated terrorists’ attack using fast-speed boats and hit small-size naval targets from large-caliber machine-guns. During the anchorage, the warships’ crews also practiced ship damage control, held anti-wreck checks and replenished water and fuel stocks from the tanker Dubna.

Since the start of the long-distance voyage, the warships have covered about 8,000 nautical miles. The Marshal Ustinov and the Severomorsk left the Northern Fleet’s main naval base on July 5, 2018. They took part in Russia’s Main Naval Parade off Kronshtadt and in Baltic Sea maneuvers jointly with the warships of the Russian Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, and also made a business call at the port of the capital of Algeria.

http://tass.com/defense/1019084

[davidbfpo]

Professor Paul Rogers has a short commentary on the current, hyped joint Vostok 2018 exercise. Here is a passage:

Russia has strong assets. It has maintained substantial nuclear forces, undertaken military adventures in Crimea (2014) and Syria (2015), prioritised special forces, and developed the practice of "hybrid warfare". In its own terms this is a considerable record, but it does not equate to a transformation that brings Russia's capabilities to parity with the west's. The funds have simply not been available. A prime example is the decline of the Pacific fleet, once powerful but now also ageing and with a tempo of activity to match.

He concludes:

But the evidence also suggests that the western branch of the worldwide military-industrial complex tends to exaggerate the Russian threat in the interest of new orders and big profits. When alarmism about Russia is routine, that must be kept in mind. But so too is the certainty that the Russian branch of this complex, if perhaps on a smaller scale and over a longer period, will be playing the same game.

Link:https://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-r...-behind-smoke?

[AdamG]

Moscow (CNN)Syria antiaircraft fire downed a Russian military plane after an Israeli attack on Syrian positions, killing 15 people on board, Moscow said.

Russian state media said Syrian missiles shot the maritime patrol aircraft down amid an attack by Israeli jets in the Latakia region of northwest Syria.
Moscow blamed Israel for putting its aircraft in the line of fire and said it had only a minute's notice of the strike.
"As a result of the irresponsible actions of the Israeli military, 15 Russian servicemen were killed, which is absolutely not in keeping with the spirit of Russian-Israeli partnership," said Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, spokesperson for the Russian military, according to RIA-Novosti.
In a rare acknowledgment of its military activity in the region, Israel expressed "sorrow" for the loss of Russian life, but blamed the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/17/polit...ane/index.html

[AdamG]

Marketing campaign -

The Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) successfully test-fired a Kh-35U anti-ship missile (ASM) from its Su-34 long-range strike aircraft at a naval test range of the Pacific fleet, according to the country’s Ministry of Defense.
*
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Kh-35U anti-ship missile is designed to destroy surface ships displacing up to 5,000 tonnes and surface targets. The missile has a range of about 250 kilometers.

https://defence-blog.com/news/russia...nt-drills.html

[AdamG]

(CNN)America's most senior naval officer in Europe, Adm. James Foggo, said Friday that he was "concerned" about some of Russia's newer and more advanced fleet of submarines.

"Russia is not 10 feet tall but they do have assets that keep me vigilant, concerned. One of them is in the undersea domain," Foggo, the commander of US Naval Forces Europe, told reporters at the Pentagon.

While Foggo said Russia's surface fleet, including its aging aircraft carrier, posed little threat -- saying Moscow did "not have a robust capital ship capability" -- he did express concerns about Russian advancements in its development of submarines and cruise missiles.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/05/polit...eat/index.html