Report: Russian Sub Activity Returns To Cold War Levels
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff February 4 at 12:03 PM
The Russian submarine fleet has returned to the North Atlantic with such gusto that NATO sub commanders are reporting more activity from Russian submarines than weve seen since the days of the Cold War, according to a top NATO admiral.
Royal Navy Vice Adm. Clive Johnstone, speaking aboard a Spanish frigate at the end of last month, told the defense analysis group IHS Janes that the alliance is also seeing a level of Russian capability that we havent seen before.
Russias submarine program froze as funds dried up following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Recently, however, Russia has commissioned two new types of subs, including a nuclear-powered attack variant and a nuclear-powered ballistic missile class. According to Janes, they have also started modernizing older submarines as well.
Johnstone said that with these upgrades and newer boats, Russia is freer to operate beneath the waves, as the new technology and an increase in spending has greatly increased Russias capabilities. Johnstone also added that Russian submarine crews are more professional in years past, something that has also raised concern within the alliance.
While Russias revamped sub fleet is certainly a concern for the west, what worries Johnstone is the lack of openness about Russias strategic and operational objectives. The admiral added that the Russians have yet to invite a NATO representative to one of their exercises in the last two yearssomething that NATO does regularly.
MORE...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/02/04/report-russian-sub-activity-returns-to-cold-war-levels/
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)elias49
(4,259 posts)The fact that Russia's war spending is about 1/4 of our war spending, I don't think the US has to worry about being out-gunned anywhere.
In other words: So what?
SoLeftIAmRight
(4,883 posts)fear war fear war -
I am worried about
Air
Water
Food
Housing
Education
Healthcare
Energy
Transportation
and good relations between all things
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)it's nowhere near a match for the US Navy, except for a few modern warships, their fleet is mostly obsolete rust buckets, They don't have any where near the power projection of most Western Navies, especially the US Navy with it's modern Carriers and aircraft.
Russia's Navy would end up on the bottom of the sea in any major Naval battle.