Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity

[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