Russia Holds Large-scale Naval Exercise in Far East

People's Daily ^ | 08-18-03

[Brian S]

Russia launched a large-scale strategic naval exercise in the Far East and the Pacific early Monday morning.

The exercise, participated by the Pacific and Northern fleets, strategic and front-line aviation and troops of the Far Eastern Military District, is unprecedented in the history of the Russian Navy in terms of its scale, range of participants and area, Itar-Tass quoted Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, chief of Russia's Naval Main Staff, as saying on Monday.

The exercise involves 75 naval ships and support vessels of the Pacific Fleet, 20 aircraft of the Northern and Pacific fleets and 30,000 military servicemen and civilian specialists.

The exercise, scheduled to last 10 days, will be held in three stages in the Sea of Okhotsk, Bering Sea and Sea of Japan.

In the first phase on Aug. 18-19, the ships and personnel will be making preparations at bases. Then the forces will be deployed in the designated areas on Aug. 20-22. The active phase of the exercise will begin on Aug. 23 and the whole exercise is set to be completed on Aug. 27.

Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Viktor Fyodorov said earlier that Russia has not held such joint exercises in over 15 years, Interfax reported.

Ships and aircraft from South Korea and Japan will participate. Observers from the United States, Canada, China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea will be present during the exercise, said Itar-Tass.

According to Konstantin Pulikovsky, special envoy of the Russian president to the Far-East Federal District, the exercise seeks to improve interaction between federal and regional government, military and law-enforcement agencies in emergency situations, the Moscow Times reported.

Apart from representatives of the Defense Ministry, the exercises also involve servicemen of the Russian Federal Security Service, the Interior Ministry, the Transportation Ministry, the Atomic Energy Ministry, the Emergencies Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and other ministries and agencies, according to the newspaper.

Russia's Baltic Fleet on Monday also started a major naval exercise, which will last till Aug. 21.

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

Is the show for North Korea, South Korea, USA, or the chicoms?

[ClearCase_guy]

A major naval exercise -- and it involves 20 aircraft? Methinks the US navy dominates the water even more than our air force dominates the sky.

[WestPacSailor]

GAME ON! I bet the bubbas at 7th Fleet and JICPAC are sporting a chubby over this one.

[xrp]

Russia sold off most of their (few) carriers, didn't they?

[The Pheonix]

ping

[Severa]

*eyes the calendar as the date for husband's 6 month deployment approaches within a few months* Hmmm. Interesting...

[WestPacSailor]

They only finished one, Kuznetsov, and it's in the Northern Fleet. Second one was sold to China for use as a "floating attraction".

[The Pheonix]

Pres PUTIN's vision is for Russia to regain her former glories as a Superpower,........

[WestPacSailor]

Methinks the US navy dominates the water even more than our air force dominates the sky.

Thou speakest much truth. Verily I say unto you there ist not a naval force on the planet, or even two or three combined, that can even pretend to challenge the U.S. Navy.

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

Then give them a raise and buy them a few more ships and a few more bombs. If we're going to win let's win big.

[AlextheWise1]

it will be interesting to see how many make it out of port....

[xrp]

Weren't a pair of Kiev class sold to India? India has been buying some decent carriers the past couple of decades. They got the old Hermes from Great Britain, too, I think.

[Seydlitz]

You mean that they got their tug boats working?

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Seydlitz]

We dominate the high seas. The problem will be operating in the Straits of Taiwan under a hail of Chinese anti-ship missiles. There's a high likelihood of Iron Bottom Sound II.

[OPS4]

This is to show N. Korea a bit of solidarity between
Japan, S. Korea, Russia, and the United States,
note China is not mentioned.
Ops4 God Bless America!

[OPS4]

Correction, China is there too.
I guess everyone has decide to observe.
Ops4 God Bless America!

[WestPacSailor]

Weren't a pair of Kiev class sold to India?

The Kiev's were not true aircraft carriers but more like helicopter equipped cruisers with big flight decks. They did operate Yak-38s VTOL fighters, but those were never considered a serious threat to anyone except the pilot.

[WestPacSailor]

Problem? Yes...but not an insurmountable one. Remember, in order for these assets to pose a substantial threat they require over the horizon targeting (OTHT) imputs from either aircraft/helos or surface units. Neither of these assets will last long once the shooting war starts. Also, keep in mind that the AEGIS equipped cruisers and destroyers were built specifically to counter mass cruise missile attacks, and we've recently seen how capable the Army's Patriot PAC III system is against missiles.