Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity

[davidbfpo]

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-secur...t-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]

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/ukne...-Scotland.html

[AdamG]

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-...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-scr...084627854.html

[AdamG]

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-secur...t-near-alaska/

[davidbfpo]

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]

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/suspec...153700477.html

[davidbfpo]

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/ukne...ish-skies.html

[AdamG]

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/vietn...sia-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/c...y/2677999.html

[AdamG]

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-c...y/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/russ...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-mult...l-navy-drills/

[AdamG]

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/busine...on/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/201506...#ixzz3cIsjQrVp