Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity

[davidbfpo]

For some a change of scenery, climate and perhaps some food:

Two Russian Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers, an Antonov An-124 Russian heavy military transport plane and an Ilyushin Il-62 plane arrived in Venezuela, the Russian defense ministry said on Monday.

The maps suggests in-flight refueling in mid-Atlantic.
Link:https://defence-blog.com/news/russia...venezuela.html

I recall a similar expedition to Indonesia awhile ago. Neither nation I expect is in the market to buy such aircraft. Perhaps a return via Cuba?

Via a UK newspaper:

the planes can fly over 7,500 miles without re-fuelling and have landed in Venezuela twice before in the last decade.

Link:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ssian-bombers/

[AdamG]

The Russian military says two of its nuclear-capable strategic bombers have flown over the Caribbean Sea during a 10-hour training mission.

A pair of Tu-160 bombers arrived at Maiquetia airport outside Caracas Monday. The Russian Defense Ministry said they were escorted by Venezuelan fighter jets during part of the training mission on Wednesday to practice interaction.

The Tu-160 is capable of carrying conventional or nuclear-tipped cruise missiles with a range of 5,500 kilometers (3,410 miles).

https://abcnews.go.com/International...n-sea-59782330

[AdamG]

From TASS

The Russian naval aviation will be developed in three stages, the general said.

At the first stage (until 2021), there are plans to continue modernizing the operational planes while in 2021-2030 the naval aviation will start to receive the most advanced aircraft. After 2030, the efforts to develop promising aircraft will continue, the general said.

In the period until 2021, the active upgrade of the existing fleet of aircraft will continue, he said.

http://tass.com/defense/1035224

[AdamG]

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. The cutting-edge frigate Admiral Kasatonov under construction for the Russian Navy at the St. Petersburg-based Severnaya Verf Shipyard will enter sea trials in December 2018, Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Korolyov said on Monday.

The lead warship of this series, the Admiral Gorshkov, was delivered to the Navy in the summer of 2018 and the construction of two more frigates (the Admiral Golovko and the Admiral Isakov) continues at the slipways of the Severnaya Verf Shipyard in St. Petersburg.

Project 22350 frigates are the Russian Navy’s most advanced warships in their class. These frigates displace about 5,000 tonnes and can develop a speed of 29 knots. They are armed with Oniks and Kalibr missiles and the Poliment-Redut air defense missile system.

The large amphibious assault ship Pyotr Morgunov was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard on the Baltic coast on June 11, 2015 and floated out on May 25 this year. By the Navy’s decision, this series will consist of only two warships: the lead ship Ivan Gren, which has been under construction for over 20 years due to the Project’s numerous adjustments and the first serial-produced (the second-built) large amphibious assault ship Pyotr Morgunov.

Project 11711 warships displace about 6,000 tonnes and are the largest surface combatants built to date. The previous Project 1171 ‘Tapir’ large amphibious assault ship displaces 4,300 tonnes and the most numerous ships of this class in the Russian Navy (Project 775) have a displacement of 4,400 tonnes.

http://tass.com/defense/1032678

[AdamG]

Russia says it has built a new barracks for troops on a disputed chain of islands near Japan and vowed to build more facilities for armoured vehicles, prompting a diplomatic protest from Tokyo. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Monday it planned to shift troops next week into four housing complexes on two of the four disputed islands, known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. Japan’s defence ministry says 3,500 Russian troops are deployed on the two larger islands as part of a military buildup.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8689026.html

[AdamG]

Bonus - social media OSINT*.

A warship of Russia's Northern fleet entered the Black Sea on Wednesday, January 9. The vessel in question is the Severomorsk (619) anti-submarine Udaloy-class destroyer, according to Andriy Klymenko, an expert with the Ukraine-based Maidan of Foreign Affairs Foundation. "For the first time since the start of Crimea occupation, a warship of the Russian Northern fleet – not just a landing ship of another fleet but the one that is part of the Russian navy's main strike force – has entered the Black Sea waters," * the expert wrote on Facebook, also posting the relevant photos of the destroyer.

https://www.unian.info/politics/1040...sea-photo.html

[davidbfpo]

From the reliable Barents Observer website; the full title being: 'Norway tired of Russia's electronic warfare troubling civilian navigation: “Unacceptable and risky”and sub-titled 'Military forces on the heavily militarized Kola Peninsula have blinded GPS signals in Norwegian air space five times over the last 17 months.'
Link:https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/se...able-and-risky

[AdamG]

From January 23rd

And despite the nation's economic crisis, Maduro welcomed the deployment of two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers. The Russian aircraft, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, landed in Caracas last month in a move designed to show Moscow's support of Venezuela's socialist regime. The Pentagon swiftly criticized the Russian deployment of warplanes to Venezuela.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/23/vene...e-country.html