norwegians respond to russian naval activity

[Bearcat]

kilo: I think You are very right; but the moves have a touch of desperation to them.

Just saw on the news that the russians are carriyng out flight operations in the north sea, in the middle of all the oil rigs, thus hampering helicopter traffic from the mainland to the rigs. After either pressure, or simply a request, they will stand down tomorrow.

This could mean two things:
1. They are stupid.
2. Very smart.

Stupid because I don't recall a carrier has been doing flight operations in an area as congested as in the area they are now, with oil rigs, supply ships and helicopter traffic. It's obvious that they will disturb "business" in the area, and that is in my opinion a stupid move.

Then why smart? Because they get attention, serious attention. Media coverage right now is high, and should be notet even in russia. They come in, do a bit of flight opereration in a sensitive area, and must know this will get noticed.

Take your pick, what do you think?

 

[kilo]

kilo: I think You are very right; but the moves have a touch of desperation to them.

I dont know what sort of surveillance systems Norway has in the the Barents sea but I think Russia would be able to sneak past them with Akulas and kilos in a war and create a distraction so the rest of the fleet could get through. so I don't think sneaking out along the Norwegian coast will be their plan in a war

 

[Ths]

I don't KNOW, what is going on; and the constructions on Svalbard to preserve seed specimens might be just that - but the location is noted...
Flight operation in the North Sea seems to be ramming yourself - with rather lumbering planes - into probably the best air defended area in the world. Possibly to find out how far the air defences have stood down compared to the cold war...

 

[nornavy]

I think this discussion need some inside input.
First on the Ula class and the Norwegian Submarine Service. The big difference between our subs and most others, is that they are built for costal and inshore operations. Few other, if any nations, operate submerged in an enviroment comparable to the Norwegian fjords, and the Ulas were built on the exipirience accumulated on the older Kobben class (no longer in norwegian service).
Even if they are built primarily for AsuW, they have performed well against other subs as well.
The Ulas are not noisy at all, as many NATO frigates have expirienced over the years on exercises in our fjords.

When it comes to surveillance in the Barents Sea, the first sonar - lines were laid in the 60s. Status now is unknown. Our P3Cs have alwways been good at tracking russian subs up north.

This thread is called "norwegians respond to russian naval activity", but I would rather point out the lack of it.

 

[kilo]

I think this discussion need some inside input.

Have you served in the RNoN?

 

[Ths]

Nornavy: Correct: The SOSUS was laid in the 1960'ies. The last time I looked he homepage was for reunions and chat about the bad old days. This leads me to think its status is not operative anymore.
But that was not what I had in mind.

To think it hasn't been superceeded by something else would be more than naive.

The Danish Navy has bee mucking about on 79 degrees - according to the annual reports of NUNAOIL A/S - since 15 years ago - off eastern Greenland.
They have been yapping about oilexploration - which is just about the only non-classified activity than can justify the expense, difficulty and discomfort of these waters. The operative word here is: Non-classified.
Well they have not to date found oil - which is fortunate as the difficulty of exploiting on up 1 km in a halfanually frozen sea does call for pause - and the local government of Greenland has already spend the income - twice.

The present hectic activity north of Greenland is in my estimate not as much a question of finding oil, but of mapping the bottom.

 

[nornavy]

Have you served in the RNoN?

I am an officer in the RNoN.

 

[submerged]

I think this discussion need some inside input.
First on the Ula class and the Norwegian Submarine Service. The big difference between our subs and most others, is that they are built for costal and inshore operations. Few other, if any nations, operate submerged in an enviroment comparable to the Norwegian fjords, and the Ulas were built on the exipirience accumulated on the older Kobben class (no longer in norwegian service).
Even if they are built primarily for AsuW, they have performed well against other subs as well.
The Ulas are not noisy at all, as many NATO frigates have expirienced over the years on exercises in our fjords.

When it comes to surveillance in the Barents Sea, the first sonar - lines were laid in the 60s. Status now is unknown. Our P3Cs have alwways been good at tracking russian subs up north.

This thread is called "norwegians respond to russian naval activity", but I would rather point out the lack of it.

As for other subs operating submerged in norwegian fjords, the dutch Walrus-class SSK's do, mostly for testing purposes and TFX tho afaik. In regards to the Ula's being noisy.. like all german boats they're far from it. As far as russian submarine activity, if the taskforce is bound south towards the med look at the charted depths in some parts along the journey and tell me how ur gonna operate an SSN there safely