Russian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Equation said:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

Iskander-M in Kaliningrad

It’s always been clear Moscow would deploy new Iskander-M SRBMs in its Baltic exclave Kaliningrad. Now it has.
The folks at

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

posted the news to their

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

on Saturday. They were impressively attentive to the military press while yours truly remained in a slothful tryptophan-induced post-Thanksgiving stupor.

Let’s look at what CAST saw.

On November 23,

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

wrote that the next “brigade set” of Iskander-M missiles has just been handed over to a missile formation from the Western MD. The MOD paper noted that Colonel Anatoliy Gorodetskiy commands the brigade in question. That is the 152nd Missile Brigade based at Chernyakhovsk in Kaliningrad. For now, the formation is still practicing with its new equipment on the range at Kapustin Yar.

As CAST noted, this is the eleventh “brigade set” delivered to Russian ground forces.
With reported 500-km range from Kaliningrad, the Iskander-M can cover targets throughout Poland, the Baltic states, and southern Sweden. If armed with cruise missiles (SSC-8 or Russian designator 9M729), their reach is

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

. Their 2,000-km or greater range allows them to strike targets close to Paris.

Why Now? Why Not?

Iskander-M in Kaliningrad was always just a question of timing.

Since at least 2014, the Russian Army has temporarily deployed Iskander-M launchers to Kaliningrad from the “mainland” for exercises.

As CAST reported, Jane’s Defence Weekly published photographs of characteristic “tent-mobile shelters” under construction for the new SRBMs at the Chernyakhovsk base in February.

But why now? Because the missiles and associated equipment have been produced and Moscow loses nothing at this point.

The Kremlin always said it could deploy the new SRBMs to its Baltic exclave to counter Aegis BMD (Aegis Ashore) in Poland slated for completion in 2018.

There are enhanced U.S. and NATO ground deployments to Poland to assure the easternmost allies in the wake of Russia’s occupation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Perhaps relevant here is the possibility the U.S. Congress will authorize DOD development of a new U.S. intermediate-range missile to answer Russia’s material breach of the 1987 INF Treaty.

And U.S.-Russian relations are the worst since the end of the Cold War.

Next Stop Kursk

CAST adds only the 448th Missile Brigade in Kursk remains armed with the late 1980s vintage Tochka-U (SS-21 / Scarab-B) SRBM. Kursk-based Iskander-M SRBMs deployed to launch positions in southwestern Russia will easily reach Kyiv, and central and eastern Ukraine.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

Russian Navy Chief: Project 22350M Frigates to become main blue and green-water warships

The Main Russian navy command and the Admiralty coordination council of navy veteran organizations held a joint meeting in St. Petersburg. Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Korolev delivered a report on fleet buildup in 2017 and prospects up to 2030.
"The Main navy command is positive about prospects of all navy components due to scientific and technical progress. We have already planned over 10 R&D to create perspective warships. Thus, the state arms program envisages that the navy would receive new and upgraded blue (sea zone) and green-water (ocean) ships. The upgraded frigate of project 22350M with high-precision weapons will be the main one. The brown-water (close zone) warships and boats will tend to improve efficiency and combat capabilities. This force will develop mostly due to new ships armed with high-precision weapons," he said.

The Russian navy will continue upgrading the deployment network and ensuring balanced supplies of arms and munitions. The arrival of new warships demands accelerated development of the navy deployment system. The main effort focuses on the construction of infrastructure for new-generation surface ships and submarines, as well as seaborne aviation on the main and operational airfields.

The Russian navy will continue to develop the Arctic and ensure naval presence to support a favorable operational regime and ensure safe maritime operations of the Russian Federation on strategically important sections of the Northern Sea Route - the Kara Sea and Strait, the Chukotka, Bering Seas and Strait, Korolev said.

The main navy development guidelines will maintain the combat potential of strategic nuclear forces at a proper level due to the construction of Borey-A-class SSBN of project 955A and Borey-B-class of project 955B, the development of general-purpose naval forces due to the construction of brown, blue, and green-water warships, upgrading warships with a major modernization potential, the supplies of modern flying craft for naval aviation and coastal units of the navy and the development of precision weapon carrying warships.

Navy Recognition comment:
The Modernized frigate of project 22350 (now apparently designated Project 22350M by the Russian Navy) was first unveiled during the IMDS 2017 naval show. United Shipbuilding Corporation Vice President for military shipbuilding and Northern Shipyard Director General Igor Ponomarev declared at the show held this year in St Petersburg that "they have more powerful armaments and can operate as destroyers", inferring that Project 22350M could actually replace the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Click to expand...

Jura said:

U.S. F-22 Raptor Allegedly Interfered With Russian Su-25s Over Syria And “Chased Away” By Su-35S, Russian MoD Claims

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

I noticed before, but wouldn't quote Sputnik just like that LOL

Click to expand...

Two U.S. F-22 Raptors intercepted and fired warning flares at two Russian Su-25s over the tightly congested air space in Syria along the Euphrates River on Wednesday.

The Russian fighters had crossed an agreed upon deconfliction line that runs parallel with the Euphrates River. The U.S. and its Syrian partner forces, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, operate on the eastern side of the Euphrates, and it’s a region Russia and its Syrian regime allies are supposed to steer clear from.

“On December 13, two Russian Su-25s flew into coordinated Coalition airspace on the east side of the Euphrates River near Abu Kamal, Syria, and were promptly intercepted by two F-22A Raptors providing air cover for partner ground forces conducting operations to defeat ISIS,” said Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a spokesman for U.S. Air Forces Central Command.

The F-22s conducted maneuvers and fired warning flares and chaff to convince the pair of Russian fighters to leave the deconflicted airspace, he said.

“At one point, one Su-25 flew close enough to an F-22A that it had to aggressively maneuver to avoid a midair collision,” Pickart said. “During the incident, a Russian Su-35 also flew across the river and was shadowed closely by one of the F-22As.”

The incident lasted nearly 40 minutes and the Russian aircraft eventually flew back to the west side of the river.

The U.S. used a special hotline designed to deconflict ground and air operations with Russian forces to convey their concern over the incident, Pahon said a spokesperson for the Pentagon said.

Despite the liberation of Raqqa in mid-October, operations along the Euphrates River and in Deir Ezzoir province continue as U.S.-backed fighters clear remnants of the Islamic State terror group from the region.

That region is still hotly contested and is also controversial because of the many lucrative oil wells that dot the landscape.

In late September, U.S.-backed Syrian fighters claimed Russian jets bombed one of their positions near a contested gas field, killing several of their forces.

The battle for control of southern Syria and the Middle Euphrates Valley has been contentious this year, and today’s provocations by Russian fighters and their allies are not the first such incident.

“Since agreeing to this deconfliction arrangement, the Russians have flown into our airspace on the east side of the river six to eight times per day, or approximately 10 percent of the Russian and Syrian flights,” Pickart said.

During the summer, U.S. warplanes down two Iranian Shahed 129 drones that threatened coalition and partner forces in Syria. And in June, a U.S. F/A-18 Super Hornet downed a Syrian Su-22 after it dropped bombs near U.S-backed fighters in Syria.

“The Coalition’s greatest concern is that we could shoot down a Russian aircraft because its actions are seen as a threat to our air or ground forces,” Pickart explained.

“We are not here to fight the Russians and Syrians — our focus remains on defeating ISIS. That said, if anyone threatens Coalition or friendly partner forces in the air or on the ground, we will defend them,” he added.

Click to expand...