Russian Navy - News and Analysis

Russia announced on Wednesday February 27 that it will set up a tank regiment and a coastal defense missile battalion in the Baltic region. The deployment is scheduled to be completed in 2019 but no specific time frame was brought forward. Both military formations are to be attached to the Russian Baltic Fleet. Although the location of the deployment was not mentioned by name, it is expected that both military formations will be stationed in the Kaliningrad Region. By stationing these formations in the Kaliningrad Region, Russia further strengthens its position in the Baltic Region. Kaliningrad is geographically isolated from the Russian mainland and effectively surrounded by NATO forces. The increasing in military formations in the Baltic Region allows Russia to defend its positions in this region to a higher degree. At the same time, the deployment follows the pattern of Russia using the Kaliningrad Region as a heavily defended bastion in the same way the Soviet Union defe...

Aircraft of the Baltic Fleet conducted air training operations in the Kaliningrad Region on Tuesday February 29. The training was conducted by by Su-30SM and Su-24M aircraft and involved training in air to air refueling from a IL-78 tanker aircraft. A total of 15 aircraft participated in this training over the course of several days. The air-to-air refueling training was conducted both day and night and pilots conducted these exercises both while flying single or as a pair. Air-to-air refueling is considered to be a stressful event as the pilot of the receiving aircraft needs to focus himself during the approach and make a successful connection. The pilot also needs to be focused in order to maintaining position and speed during the transfer of fuel. By conducting these training, the Baltic Fleet Aviation makes sure that its pilots maintain the necessary skills needed to perform air-to-air refueling under a wide range of conditions. Air-to-air refueling allows Russian aviation...

Russia recently announced that it plans to deploy small detachments of naval infantry on board of its warships. These small detachments are called anti-terrorist group by the Russian media and are expected to join warships deploying in conflict zones in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa. Though the deployment of naval infantry on board of warships is nothing new, for Russia it marks a change o policy. The previous policy dates back from the Soviet Union when naval infantry was deployed on warships between the 1960s and 1991. Russian naval infantry during exercise The deployment of the anti-terrorist groups makes sense and Russia is actually following the standard practices of naval infantry forces in western Europe. Just as their western counterparts embarked aboard, the anti-terrorist groups are expected to be able to combat on board of ships, provide harbor protection in conflict zones and be able to board and search ships. These practices are not strange to the R...