Russian Navy - News and Analysis

Exercise Ocean Shield 2019 (Okeanskiy Shchit 2019) was a large scale naval exercise conducted by the Baltic Fleet between August 1 and 9, 2019. The exercise involved the participation of over 49 warships from two seperate fleets, Northern and Baltic, with 20 support ships. Over 58 aircraft from both the army and naval aviation were involved as well. Russian figures state that a total of 10,634 military personnel were involved in the exercise. The exercise involved a wide variety of smaller exercises which will be discussed in further detail below in the form of daily reports followed by a general summary. The first focus of the exercise was to check the combat readiness of the Russian naval forces in the Baltic Sea and the further development of skills in operating the fleet and executing different tasks during this exercise. Several Russian sources state that lessons learned from naval deployments at the Syrian coast were also taken into account during the exercise. A lot of info...

Units belonging to the 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division conducted an amphibious landing on the Opuk training ground at the Crimean Peninsula. The exercise was part of larger military maneuvers held by Russian airborne forces on the peninsula over the previous days. The fact that airborne units were used in a task which is traditionally assigned to Russian Naval Infantry suggests that Russia tested the interoperability of its ground forces against an enemy attack upon the Crimea Peninsula.  RFS Ceasar Kunikov approaching the Opuk training ground Around 400 airborne troops, supported by over 30 military vehicles, were transported to the Opuk training ground by two landing tank ships. Russian media identified these ships as the RFS Ceasar Kunikov and the RFS Azov. Both vessels are part of the Ropucha-class LST's, each capable of transporting up to 340 soldiers and a dozen armored vehicles. Following the initial landing operation, both ships conducted gunnery exercis...

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...