Aleksandr launches massive Ocean-2024 strategic exercise
For the first time in post-Soviet era is Russia deploying warships in the inner waterways east of Finland in a strategic exercise.
“The exercise will become one of the main events of operational and combat training of the Russian armed Forces in 2024,” says Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral Aleksandr Moiseev.
The announcement posted by the Ministry of Defense [unsafe link] on September 10 is the first official confirmation the the long-planned drill has kicked-off.
Although, naval movements have been going on for more than a week. The Barents Observer Thursday reported about the Northern Fleet’s multi-domain bastion defense manoeuvres with anti-submarine hunting in the Barents Sea. On Monday this week, we reported about Baltic Fleet warships sailing north along the coast of Norway.
Massive war games
400 warships, submarines and auxiliary fleet support vessels are out sailing. 120 aircraft of the Navy and air force participate and in total 90,000 personnel are involved, the Defense Ministry informs. There are also some 7,000 units of weapons and special equipment involved with the coastal units involved. Along the coast of the Kola Peninsula that includes anti-ship bastion missiles, anti-aircraft S-400 and S-300 missiles and troopers protecting the strategic naval bases, including where nuclear submarines are sailing out.
The exercise involves the Pacific Fleet, where Chinese warships will join, the Northern Fleet, the Baltic Fleet and the Caspian Flotilla. Admiral Moiseev is for a good reason not mentioning the fleet he himself was head of in 2018, the Black Sea fleet. Most of the warships there are damaged or sunken after Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022 and Kyiv started to attack the vessels at sea or at port in Sevastopol and Novorossiysk.
The main objective of the drill is to test command staff’s readiness and how the different units manage to work in their areas of responsibility. Also, a wide range of modern weapons will be tested during the second, the practical phase of the exercise.
First phase now is to move warships and weapons into positions.
Ocean-2024 will last until September 16, the Defense Ministry says.
Baltic – White Sea deployment
The Ministry’s TV-channel Zvezda tells that for the first time in history, small missile ships have deployed to Lake Ladoga as part of the large-scale exercise.
It is two Buyan-M class corvettes armed with cruise missiles that this weekend sailed north from Kronstad via the Neva River into Ladoga. The small warships are armed with Kalibr cruise missiles. By navigating such weapon systems east of Finland, the Russian navy in practice gets a 360 degrees operational teater around the Scandinavian Peninsula.
TV Zvezda informs that the voyage, when continuing north from Lake Ladoga into Lake Onega and further north to the Arctic via the White Sea channel poses a strategic advantage for the Russian navy.
The Kalibr is the most used cruise missile when Russia is targeting Ukraine and has proven not too difficult to shoot down with anti-missile systems.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada:Canada pledges billions for defence, falls short of NATO’s 2%, CBC News
Denmark:Denmark’s Arctic, North Atlantic focus: Canada among new defence attaché posts, Eye on the Arctic
Finland:Finland in talks to host NATO Troops in Lapland to strengthen northern defense, Yle News
Iceland: RAF Squadron begins NATO airspace patrols in Iceland, Eye on the Arctic
Norway:Against Russian aggression: Norway signs security agreement with Ukraine, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Russia signs MoU with Chinese navy, The Independent Barents Observer
United States: US Army sends heavy equipment to Arctic Norwegian port for transfer to Finland, The Independent Barents Observer
