Mil News Arctic Military News

[morris]

Norway Expands Key Arctic Port For More US Nuke Sub Visits - Breaking Defense

"The Seawolf deployment, the joint B-52 flights over Norway last month, and our carrier going north of Arctic Circle...all speak to a greater show of US presence in the Arctic/High North,” said Rachel Ellehuus, deputy director of the Europe Program at the Washington-based CSIS.

breakingdefense.com

WASHINGTON: A key Arctic port in Norway has been improved and additions made to pave the way for increased visits by US nuclear submarines, providing a major new jumping off point for watching Russia’s active Northern Fleet as it transits into the North Atlantic.

Twice over the past year, the US Navy has made public displays of its nuclear submarines docking in Norway, sending a clear signal to Russia about the American presence in the region and providing a rare glimpse into the secretive world or undersea deployments. Of course, Norway would have been asked to approve those releases, sending its own signal to the Russians. But those visits were brief, and mostly for effect. The new work will allow American and NATO submarines to pull into the port and replenish, allowing for longer deployments to the critical Arctic region.

 

[morris]

Russian Navy to use armed icebreakers in Arctic

The number of weapons on board will depend on the thickness of the ice in a particular area

tass.com

"There will be ice-breakers and ice-breaking ships, in other words, ships capable of moving at a sufficient speed through ice floes of certain thickness. In fact, they will be armed icebreakers,"

 

[morris]

Russian Navy Launches World’s First Missile-Armed Icebreaker - Overt Defense

The Russian Navy launched what it dubbed a Combat Icebreaker at the Admiralty Shipyard in St Petersburg on the 25th October.

www.overtdefense.com

The Ivan Papanin, named after the famous Soviet scientist and Russian national hero, displaces 8,500 tonnes at full load and will be armed with both a portable anti-aircraft missile system and Kalibr cruise missiles. It will feature a helicopter launch pad capable of carrying a Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopter.

The US started contemplating arming ice breakers following the announcement of Project 23550. In 2017, the US Coast Guard began work to design three heavy and three medium polar icebreakers which could potentially be fitted with offensive weapons in the future. “We need to reserve space, weight, and power if we need to strap on an [anti-ship cruise] missile package on it,” said Adm. Paul Zukunft, Commandant of the US Coast Guard.


A contract for the construction of the lead ship, dubbed a Polar Security Cutter, was awarded to VT Halter Marine by the US Coast Guard and Navy on 23rd April of this year.

 

[Fish&Chips]

The Ivan Papanin, named after the famous Soviet scientist and Russian national hero, displaces 8,500 tonnes at full load and will be armed with both a portable anti-aircraft missile system and Kalibr cruise missiles. It will feature a helicopter launch pad capable of carrying a Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopter.

The US started contemplating arming ice breakers following the announcement of Project 23550. In 2017, the US Coast Guard began work to design three heavy and three medium polar icebreakers which could potentially be fitted with offensive weapons in the future. “We need to reserve space, weight, and power if we need to strap on an [anti-ship cruise] missile package on it,” said Adm. Paul Zukunft, Commandant of the US Coast Guard.


A contract for the construction of the lead ship, dubbed a Polar Security Cutter, was awarded to VT Halter Marine by the US Coast Guard and Navy on 23rd April of this year.

Actually old news. "23rd April of this year" was in April 2019. In related news from this year:

White House Orders Review of Coast Guard Heavy Icebreaker Program - USNI News

The White House ordered the Coast Guard and other agencies to review the planned Polar Security Cutter fleet, a year after awarding the first contract.

news.usni.org

 

[morris]

More NATO jets are being scrambled from Norway - ArcticToday

Two NATO F-16s scrambled into the air on Monday to identify Russian military planes, as the number of such QRAs (Quick Reaction Alerts) in the High North has already surpassed the 2019 count. “We can confirm NATO QRA from Bodø on mission today,” spokesperson Major Brynjar Stordal told the...

www.arctictoday.com

Also this weekend, Stordal said, two Russian Tu-142 anti-submarine warfare planes from the Northern Fleet were identified outside Norwegian air space. The planes continued south to the north of England before returning home. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Navy submarine Seawolf surfaced outside Tromsø in northern Norway for crew replacement.

Last week, Norwegian, British, American and Danish maritime surveillance aircraft were daily met by Russian fighter jets over international airspace in the Barents Sea as the four-nation NATO naval group were exercising navigation in the area.

New nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" test ran in the Gulf of Finland

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[morris]

On September 17, the newest nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" completed sea trials in the Gulf of Finland and returned to the outfitting embankment of the Baltic Shipyard

It is planned that on September 22 "Arktika" will leave the outfitting embankment of the Baltic Shipyard and head for Murmansk. During the transition, which will take about two weeks, the operation of the nuclear-powered ship will be checked in ice conditions.

 

[morris]

Russia holds Oniks missile-firing during Arctic drills - Naval Post

Russia conducts Oniks missile firing from Bastion Coastal Defence System during the Arctic drills on 15th October.

navalnews.net

The missile firings from the coastal defense missile system deployed on the Alexandra Land Island were performed for the first time as part of the Northern Fleet’s planned combat and operational training measures for the summer training period. The ships and vessels of the Northern Fleet’s Arctic grouping accomplishing deployment missions in the Barents Sea near the Franz Josef Land archipelago provided security of the firings and closed the sea area for the time of the exercise, the statement says.

In the past years, the Northern Fleet conducted similar firings from Bastion coastal defense systems deployed on the Kotelny Island.

 

[morris]

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Melting sea ice in the Arctic is spurring a scramble for resources, shipping routes and strategic strongholds in the region. WSJ’s Michael M. Phillips travels to Tin City, Alaska, to see what that means for the U.S. military's strategy in the far North.

 

[morris]

Washington should chill out over Russia’s Arctic ambitions

American strategists should recognize that billions in Russian funds allocated to fund unarmed icebreakers could also have been spent on Russian aircraft carriers or on its submarine force.

www.defensenews.com

 

[morris]

Ltle bit of paranoia courtesy NYT

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American ships expel from US fishing water by the Russian military off the coast of Alaska Several American commercial vessels were ordered to leave US fishing territory by Russian warships who were conducting massive military drills in the Bering Sea less than 200 miles off the coast of Alaska this past summer.

 

[morris]

Arktika class nuclear ice breaker Yamal

 

[morris]

RN:
HMS Lancaster, Arctic fuel stop......Bodo, Norway 2020

 

[morris]

 

[morris]

 

[morris]

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Arctic motorized riflemen improve their skills in driving combat vehicles in difficult terrain, individually and as part of a sub unit.

The main practical elements that drivers and driver-mechanics practice: preparation of equipment and the start of movement, increasing speed and distance when moving in a column, overcoming difficult snow-covered terrain and others.

The unit commanders, in turn, improve the skills of receiving and transmitting signals to control the convoy, actions during an enemy air raid, as well as overcoming contaminated areas.

 

[morris]

T-80BVM tanks from the Northern Fleet's 200th Arctic Motorized Rifle Brigade during a live fire exercise

Photos - Russian military

RUSSIAN NAVY BRAND NEW FRIGATE ADMIRAL KASATONOV

www.militaryimages.net

 

[morris]

The nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine "Severodvinsk" successfully hit a coastal target with a Caliber missile. This was reported by the press service of the Northern Fleet.

The shooting was carried out in a normal mode from a submerged position in one of the training grounds in the Barents Sea. The target is located in the Arkhangelsk region

 

[morris]

Nordic Allies Help Navy Improve Ship Ops in Icy Waterways as Arctic Competition Heats Up

The Navy has also been working on how to "better operate in the challenging region."

www.military.com

the U.S. Navy had a continuous presence of surface ships in the Arctic from May through November, deploying ships from Rota, Spain, to above the Arctic Circle and participating in exercises including Dynamic Mongoose, an exercise in which surface vessels and submarines play cat and mouse war games.

The Navy has also been working on how to "better operate in the challenging region," learning from the navies of the Danes and Norwegians who operate their ships in "marginal ice" and know how to read ice-choked waterways.