Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity

[AdamG]

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/...astern-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/comme...ticle13696054/

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_m...nit_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...nce_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/20...an-naval-base/

[AdamG]

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]

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/201...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/201...a-g20-showdown

[davidbfpo]

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]

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

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

[AdamG]

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

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

http://grognews.blogspot.com/2013/09...-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/2013-0...ia-strike.html

[AdamG]

This sounds like something off the Sy-Fy channel - Russians sending an ancient destroyer to the Med...

http://navalmatters.wordpress.com/20...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/new....53sdanq7.dpuf

[Steve Blair]

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

Cue dramatic music




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

Random funfact:


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...ia-strike.html

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

[wm]

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) 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]

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-cru...terranean-720/

[Steve Blair]

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]

Is it just me or does anyone else think SWC has real potential as an OSINT site?

[AdamG]

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...a-arctic-base/

So who plays Patrick MCGoohan's role?

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/20131202/185...y-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/globa...mbers-20131209

[AdamG]

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/commenta...rm-rising-9616

[AdamG]

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/2...40-New-Vessels

[AdamG]

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]

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-s...224015753.html

[AdamG]

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]

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/....4YriJ6H5.dpuf

[AdamG]

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/uk...m-kiev-report/