War Games

As Russia rebuilds its fleet, participating in war games with other countries is a sign of cooperation and prestige.  In the past several months the Russian Navy has conducted exercises with Norway, and is also participating in anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean.

It was announced this week that the Russian Navy will be conducting war games with China. These war games will begin at the end of April and run into the first part of May.

A Chinese Navy spokesman, Yang Yujun, stated that the naval war games are, “designed to improve both countries' abilities to cope with challenges and safeguard peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large”

Since 2005 the Russia and China have conducted several exercises.

 

NATO vs. Russia

During the cold war NATO assigned reporting names for Soviet/Russian submarines. This was done in order to streamline reporting among the NATO allies. So that France didn't call a ship on thing, and Germany call it something completly different.  The names were often derived from the NATO alphabet.

Here is a list of the reporting names for Soviet/Russian submarines and ships.

Painting of an ALFA class submarine.

The practice for surface ships was to name the class after the lead ship of that class.

Everything went according to the plan until the late 1980's when the Typhoon class submarine came out. This class caused confusion in reporting circles because it is called Typhoon by NATO, but Akula by the Soviets.

After the fall of the Soviet Union NATO adopted the process of calling the class after the lead ship in the class. That's why we now have the Severodvinsk class and Borei class submarines. But even these are often called by different names.

Russian Troops in Syria

      This week there were reports that Russian troops had been sent to Syria in order to assist the Syrian government with what they are calling a terrorist insurgency.  When I first saw these reports my attention was immediately peaked, and I couldn’t believe that Russia had actually escalated the situation by sending troops. As I looked around the internet it seems that the news agencies overreacted to a report of a Russian tanker docking in Tartus, Syria with a security force on board. 



Iman oil tanker



 He is a quote from Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, about the situation:

“As the defense ministry said, it is an oil tanker. We don’t have any warships in the Syrian regional waters. There are no Russian special forces aboard the oil tanker…but we should be aware that aboard these kinds of tankers, there is always a force to protect it against any attack. Ships of the Black Sea fleet are operating within the framework of an international plan for anti-piracy,” Lavrov said.

Here is a good read about the situation.

 And in other news:

The Bulava missile will enter service in October, after undergoing more tests

                                      

    Submarines: The Quiet Bulwark of the Russian Navy



Commander In-Chief

 

     The Russian Navy is overseen by an admiral. The current commander in chief is 

Vladimir Sergeevich Vysotsky (Not to be confused with the famous Soviet singer). 

Official photo from the Ministry of Defense

     Vysotskiy graduated from the P.S. Nakhimov Black Sea Higher Naval School in Sevastopol in 1976, and was then sent to serve with the Pacific Fleet. While stationed there he served on a variety of ships, including a being the executive officer (XO) of the Svedlov Class  cruiser Admiral Senyavin.  

Svedlov Class cruiser

     After attending an advanced officers school Vysotskiy was appointed to be the XO of the Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk. 

Kiev class carrier 

      Vysotskiy was assigned as the commanding officer of the Varyag, the sister ship to the Admiral Kuznetsov, but this unit was never finished due to the breakup of the Soviet Union. 

Varyag

      After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Vysotskiy returned to the Pacific Fleet for a time, served with the Baltic Fleet, and eventually was appointed commander of the Northern Fleet in 2005.

      By decree of the president  Vysotskiy was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy. 

       Vysotskiy has severed in the Russian Navy through a very difficult period. A period of decline and budget woes. However if all the promises of Putin are to believed then Vysotskiy will oversee the Russian Navy through a period of enormous change. In a decade the Russian Navy will be a completely different force. If given the opportunity Admiral Vysotskiy will have as much impact on the Russian Navy as Admiral Gorskov had with the Soviet Navy. 

Admiral Vysotskiy on an official visit to India.

 

Pirates



Somali pirates surrendering



      Again there has not been much news out of the Russian Navy. Most of the country is still talking about the election of Putin. Despite that there are several exercises that have taken place or are planned for the Russian Navy here in the near future.

The Russian ship from the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Tributs, just concluded an anti-piracy exercise with the Coast Guard of the Seychelles. These operations and training for them have become more inportant for the Russian Navy over the last several years. Their interest began after Russian sailors and ships were taken by Somali pirates. Directly from an article,

"Russian warships have taken part in anti-piracy patrols since October 2008 and successfully escorted a total of 130 commercial vessels from various countries through the pirate-infested waters off the Somali coast."

Since 2008 the Russian Navy has maintained a constant presence in the area of Somalia. This area is vital for shipping, and protecting ships, like the one below, is of the upmost importance.

Moscow University, a Russian ship that was hijacked by pirates

Here is a map showing the attacks over the last several years:

It just reminds me of this motivational poster I saw a few years ago.I'm certain that the Russian Navy takes care of business just like we do

.

 K-152

     The Nerpa is an Akula II class submarine that has now been leased to the Indian Navy for a period of 10 years. This was a deal that was many years in the making, with coutless delays, and it's interesting that this isn't the first time that a nuclear powered vessel has been transferred between navy's ( K-43 a Charlie class SSGN was leased to the Indian Navy as the Chakra from 1988 to 1992).

 

      The submarine was originally laid down in 1993 at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Because of financial difficulties and the loss of specialist's the submarines construction was delayed. Construction did not begin again until 2004 when it was reported that the Indian Navy expressed interest in acquiring the ship. For the next several years there were many conflicting reports about if the ship was going to serve with the Russian Navy or with the Indian Navy. Still there were many delays, and the submarine didn't start sea trials until 2008.

     
While on sea trials in 2008, a fire suppression system went off and killed 20 people and injuring many more. This was the worst submarine accident in the Russian Navy since the Kursk.

 The ship was returned to the ship yards to undergo further repairs.

 

     Finally in late 2009 the submarine was commissioned into the Russian Navy. An Indian crew was being trained at this time to eventually take over operations on board the submarine. The transfer was completed at the end of 2011, and the submarine was renamed INS Chakra.

 Here are some of the specifications according to RIA Novosti:

A New President (well kind of)

       The news out of the Russian Navy this week has been slow. I'm guessing that this is because of the elections and protests dominating the news. In case you hadn't heard Vladimir Putin was elected to a third term as president of the Russian Federation. That means for the next six years he will be the head of the Russian military.

Putin

     So in light of that here are a few of the stories that I found from the past week: 

Typhoon at sea

       The Russian Navy has said that it will not modernize the Typhoon class submarines (the picture in the article depicts an Akula class submarine, which the Russian call the Typhoon. Akula is the NATO reporting name for submarine pictured in the article.) The main reason for not wanting to modernize lies in the fact that a full refit of one of the Typhoons could pay for two new Borei class submarines. The reports on whether or not these submarines will stay commissioned with the fleet vary widely. With some sources saying that they will remain in service until 2019. In my opinion besides the Dmitri Donskoy, which is being used to test the Bulava missile, the ships will be scrapped.  For more information about the Typhoons see my earlier blog post here. 

      

IL-38 May

      The Northern Fleet now has a modernized version of the IL-38 May. The aircraft were upgraded and fitted with a new system called Novella. Here are some of the new capabilities:

"The Novella system includes a digital computer manned by two operators. The system also has a new high resolution thermal imaging system, a magnetic anomaly detection system, an optical detection system (including laser, TV and thermal channels), gravitational anomaly detector and other equipment."

The Northern Fleet

      Throughout the Cold War the Northern Fleet was the main area of naval activity for the Soviet Navy, and this fleet remains very active. Officially this fleet was established in 1937 as part of the Soviet Navy. In movies and books it is probably better know as the Red Banner Northern Fleet. This fleet operates out of the extreme northern area of the Russian Federation, but thanks to the gulf stream some of its ports remain ice free year round. 

     Here is a map of the bases in the Northern Fleet's area of operations: 

Area Centered around Murmansk

     The main port for the surface combatants is the city of Severomorsk. This city remain closed  to outsiders. This is also where the Northern Fleet is headquartered.

Severomorsk

     The submarine fleet is spread throughout several different bases, along the northern part of the Kola Peninsula. See map above. 

Oscar's in port

     There are also several airfields associated with the Northern Fleet. 

Tu-142 ASW aircraft

To see a detailed order of battle for the Northern Fleet take a look here. 

      Perhaps the biggest fear coming out of the Northern Fleet is the amount of nuclear waste that is sitting around. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation didn't have the resources to maintain the largest submarine fleet in the world. Many nuclear powered submarines were left to rust away. Fortunately, through international agreements much of this nuclear waste is getting cleaned up. 

Reactor compartments of decommissioned submarines

      Recently Russia has stated that its main focus in the future will be operations in the Pacific Fleet (The US is also doing this). This is evidenced in the fact that many of the new ships being built for the Russian Navy are being sent to the Pacific Fleet, namely the first Mistral and the Yuri Dolgoruki.  Only time will tell if this shift will first actually happen, and second if it will diminish the Northern Fleets significance. 

The Future of Carrier Aviation 

RIA Novosti

     The Russian Navy this week made it official,  it will be transitioning to the MiG-29K as its carrier based aircraft. On the 29th of February it was confirmed by defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov and MiG general director Sergei Korotkov that a contract for 24 aircraft had been finalized. 20 of the MiG's will be single-seat MiG-29k's, and the remaining 4 will be dual cockpit MiG-29UB's. These new aircraft will be delivered to the Russian Navy in several years, and will replace the Su-33's. 

Su-33

      The MiG-29K is a variant of the MiG-29, which is a land based multi-role fighter. The MiG-29 started its service with the Soviet Air Force in the early 1980's, and has undergone upgrades through out the years  in order to maintain its role as a front line fighter. 

     The MiG-29K lost the competition to the Su-33 to become the carrier based aircraft of the Soviet Navy. Because of this many analysts were confused that the Russian Navy returned to the MiG as an option. However I don't see why there is any confusion. The Indian Navy is already successfully operating the MiG-29K,  in which  MiG has updates on-board sensors and avionics. Instead of trying to develop a new platform for naval aviation, the Russian Navy went with what was already working.  The Russian Navy is committed to carrier-based aviation. The Admiral Kuznetsov will enter a refit and overhaul period later this year, and the plans for a new aircraft carrier should also be revealed later this year. 

     It will be interesting to see the future of Russian carrier based aviation. Only time will tell if the Sukhoi T-50 will be developed into a carrier based aircraft. Some think that is already in the works. 

T-50 during flight trials

Other news from this week:

Photo: RP Defense

The Russian Northern Fleet and the Norwegian Navy will conduct joint exercises. 

Udaloy ASW ship

Russian warship visits the Seychelles