China’s vast fleet is tipping the balance in the Pacific
The Chinese navy, which is growing faster than any other major fleet, now controls the seas off its coast. Once dominant, the United States and its allies sail warily in these waters. A former U.S. naval officer says China’s advances have caught America napping.
▻https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-navy
#chine #etatsunis
la version en ligne “ classique ” de ce très bel article interactif :
Special Report: China’s vast fleet is tipping the balance in the Pacific - Reuters
▻https://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKCN1S6139
For now, many of China’s warships are smaller vessels, including a big fleet of fast missile-attack craft. But Chinese shipyards are launching surface warships that are closing the gap in size, quality, and capability with the best of their foreign counterparts, according to interviews with veterans of the U.S., Taiwanese and Australian navies. China’s big fleet of conventional and nuclear submarines is also improving rapidly, they say.
By 2020, the PLA navy will boast more big surface warships and submarines than the Russian navy, the former head of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, told a congressional committee last year. Some American naval experts believe China could achieve rough parity with the U.S. Navy in numbers and quality of major surface warships by 2030.
Crucially, the Chinese navy already has an edge in hitting power, according to senior officers from the U.S. and other regional navies. The best Chinese destroyers, frigates, fast attack craft and submarines are armed with anti-ship missiles that in most cases far outrange and outperform those on U.S. warships, these officers say.
This firepower explains why Washington keeps its carriers at a distance. The last U.S. carrier to pass through the Taiwan Strait was the now-decommissioned USS Kitty Hawk, which made a transit with its battle group in late 2007 after being denied a port visit to Hong Kong.
The U.S. Navy and other foreign navies still sail near the Chinese mainland. But they avoid overt shows of force that would increase the risk of clashes with modern Chinese warships and submarines. Retired U.S. Navy carrier-fleet officers say that in recent years the Pentagon has also avoided sending carriers to the Yellow Sea between the Korean Peninsula and the Chinese mainland, amid repeated Chinese warnings.
An example of China’s determination to control its near waters came this month, when a French warship passed through the Taiwan Strait. After the April 6 transit of the frigate Vendemiaire, China informed Paris that France was no longer welcome to attend celebrations last week to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese communist navy, U.S. officials told Reuters.
On peut mettre cet article en perspective avec celui sur les conséquences de l’austérité sur l’armée britannique (▻https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/27/world/europe/austerity-britain-military.html) alors que partout les dépenses augmentent (▻https://www.courrierinternational.com/une/rearmement-le-boom-des-depenses-militaires-un-parfum-de-guerr) ; La Russie est en recul, dépassée notamment par la France (▻https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures)
Despite Putin’s Swagger, Russia Struggles to Modernize Its Navy - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/02/21/world/europe/21reuters-russia-military-insight.html
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f08c-xdQeP4
President Vladimir Putin calls improving the Russian navy’s combat capabilities a priority.
The unfinished husks of three guided-missile frigates that have languished for three years at a Baltic shipyard show that is easier said than done.
Earmarked for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the frigates fell victim to sanctions imposed by Ukraine in 2014 after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, prompting Kiev to ban the sale of the Ukrainian-made engines needed to propel them.
With Moscow unable to quickly build replacement engines for the Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates, construction stopped. Russia is now cutting its losses and selling the three ships to India without engines.
The navy’s problems stem largely, but not exclusively, from the Ukrainian sanctions. There are also problems, for different reasons, with new equipment for the army and air force.
The picture that emerges is that Russia’s armed forces are not as capable or modern as its annual Red Square military parades suggest and that its ability to project conventional force is more limited too.
L’annonce du contrat avec l’Inde (20/11/2018) ne dit pas un mot des turbines…
India signs contracts to purchase 4 Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates from Russia
▻https://thedefensepost.com/2018/11/20/india-russia-4-admiral-grigorovich-project-11356-frigates
India has signed contracts to purchase four Admiral Grigorovich-class (Project 11356) stealth frigates from Russia, Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation said on Tuesday, November 20.
“Contracts were signed for the construction of Project 11356 frigates for the Indian Navy. This is yet another important event in developing Russian-Indian military and technical cooperation,” Tass- reported the Federal Service as saying.
The agreement for four ships was first brokered in 2016.
India’s Ministry of Defence signed a $950 million deal with Russia to purchase two Admiral Grigorovich frigates which will be built in Russia’s Baltic Coast Yantar Shipyard, Janes reported on October 29. As of last month negotiations over price and transfer of technology were still ongoing for the two ships to be built in Goa Shipyard.
The new agreement between Russian state exporter Rosoboronexport and Goa Shipyard Limited for two ships is for $500 million, although a government official said that includes only the “_foreign content,” including material, design and assistance, Hindustan Times reported. The final cost of the two ships has yet to be determined, according to the report.
According to the Indian defense ministry, the deal includes transfer of technology and the frigates will be outfitted with India’s BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system.
Admiral Grigorovich-class frigates are armed with A-190 100mm artillery guns, strike missile and air defense systems, including Kalibr and Shtil complexes and torpedo tubes, according to Tass. They can perform against surface ships and submarines as well as air targets.
The ships will be delivered to India beginning in 2026.
BrahMos is a supersonic medium-range liquid-fuelled ramjet-powered cruise missile that can be launched from sea, land and air. It is a two-stage missile, with a solid-fueled first stage to bring it to supersonic speed. Surface-launched missiles can carry a 200-kg warhead, while the air-launched variant can carry a payload of 300 kg.
It is manufactured in Hyderabad by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India’s DRDO and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroeyenia.
Russian navy put on high alert off Ukraine coast : sources | Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-worldcup-russia-ukraine-milita/russian-navy-put-on-high-alert-off-ukraine-coast-sources-idUSKBN1JA2BS
Sources close to the Russian military said on Thursday that Russian naval forces in the Black Sea had been put on heightened alert to discourage Ukraine from trying to disrupt the soccer World Cup as the tournament got under way.
However, the Defence Ministry itself dismissed the reports, saying in a statement: “The forces of the Black Sea Fleet are working in routine mode. No measures to put (them) on high combat alert have taken place.”
Reuters was not able to verify a Ukrainian build-up independently, and there was no confirmation of that from officials in Kiev.
One of the military sources said there were concerns that Ukraine was building up its military presence in the area as a “provocation” during the tournament.
Three sources said Russia’s forces around the Black Sea Crimea peninsula had been put on a state of high combat readiness. Two of them said it was linked to the tournament.
Trois sources russes insiders, longuement rapportées, pas de vérification indépendante, même pas côté ukrainien…
Comment qu’c’est déjà ?
« toute allégation ou imputation d’un fait dépourvu d’éléments vérifiables de nature à rendre l’information vraisemblable »
ah non, ça c’est le projet initial, le dépourvu d’éléments vérifiables est tombé, sans doute parce que trop facilement … vérifiable : Reuters lui-même l’annonce. Actuellement, c’est :
« toute allégation ou imputation d’un fait, inexacte ou trompeuse, constitue une fausse information »
Vous en pensez quoi, M’dame la juge ?
Britain says West must defend undersea cables from Russian navy
▻https://in.reuters.com/article/britain-russia/britain-says-west-must-defend-undersea-cables-from-russian-navy-idINKBN1
Britain and its NATO allies must defend deep sea cables against a potentially catastrophic attack by the Russia navy that could disrupt trillions of dollars in financial transactions, the head of Britain’s armed forces warned.
The cables which crisscross the world’s oceans and seas carry 95 percent of communications and over $10 trillion in daily transactions.
“There is a new risk to our way of life, which is the vulnerability of the cables that criss-cross the seabeds,” the BBC quoted Stuart Peach, chief of the defence staff, as saying.
Peach said the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s modernisation of the once mighty Soviet navy now posed a serious threat to Western communications.
“Russia in addition to new ships and submarines continues to perfect both unconventional capabilities and information warfare,” Peach said.
Russia has repeatedly dismissed Western concerns about its renewed assertiveness as Cold War hysteria, though Kremlin supporters praise Putin at home for putting restoring Russia’s clout after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
(intégralité de la dépêche Reuters)
Tracking US Navy nuclear submarines using publicly available information
▻http://www.vesselofinterest.com/2017/06/tracking-us-navy-nuclear-submarines.html
The purpose of the secrecy around the locations of US Navy SSNs, SSGNs, and SSBNs is operational security; OPSEC. You don’t want to tell an adversary where the submarines are, so you don’t jeopardize their mission. The safety of those submarines, and their submariners, is of paramount importance to everyone. My objective in highlighting the following is to raise awareness that the supposed secrecy surrounding those deployments does not to hide their area of deployment from the Chinese Navy, North Korean Navy, or the Russian Navy; it hides or obfuscates their deployments from the collective knowledge of the American people, who happen to pay for the US Navy though their taxes. The technique I’m going to show you suggests that they are not hiding, and know it
impressionnant, en effet. Ceci dit, j’en ai pris un au hasard, un SSGN le USS Florida : dans l’Atlantique, en route pour Gibraltar où il est attendu le 16 avril 2016…
Ceci dit, faire savoir où se "promène" certains éléments de la flotte, notamment les SSGN, est une variante moderne de la "délicate" #diplomatie_de_la_canonnière …
cf il y a un mois et demi, la réponse du berger à la bergère :
Pyongyang promet « une fin pitoyable » au sous-marin USS Michigan
▻https://fr.sputniknews.com/international/201704301031166100-corees-michigan-sous-marin-us
Le submersible américain USS Michigan, qui vient d’entrer dans le port sud-coréen de Busan, connaîtra « une fin lamentable » en cas de démarches provocatrices, avertit le portail nord-coréen Uriminzokkiri.
Sur le même site, les tracés des survols russes dans le cadre du Traité Ciel ouvert…
▻http://www.vesselofinterest.com/2017/05/russian-observation-flights-over-united.html
Russia Starts Military Drills On Ukraine’s Border, In Annexed Crimea
▻http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-crimea-ukraine-military-drills/27967877.html
Moscow has launched large-scale military drills on Ukraine’s eastern border and around Ukraine’s Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
The Russian Defense Ministry said September 5 that 12,500 servicemen are taking part in the drills across its southern military region. It said the Russian Navy in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea are participating in the exercises and that planes also are being used.
The six-day exercises will test the army’s ability to “plan, prepare, and carry out military actions,” the ministry said in a statement.
Russia last month conducted a large-scale snap drill, putting its troops on full combat readiness in military districts bordering Ukraine and the Baltic states.
Russes et Américains s’accusent de manoeuvres dangereuses en #Méditerranée
▻http://www.romandie.com/news/716017.rom
Washington - Russes et Américains se sont mutuellement accusés mardi de manoeuvres dangereuses entre deux de leurs navires de #guerre en Méditerranée orientale mi-juin.
Russia, United States blame each other for maritime incident | Reuters
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-navy-idUSKCN0ZE1Q8
Russia and the United States gave contradictory accounts on Tuesday of an incident involving the two countries’ navies in the Mediterranean Sea on June 17, each blaming the other for what they said were unsafe maneuvers.
The Russian Defence Ministry said a U.S. destroyer had approached dangerously close to a Russian warship, and protested at what it said was a flagrant U.S. violation of rules to avoid collisions at sea.
La vidéo (de RT) semble montrer la fin de la rencontre. On y voit le USS Gravely accélerer plein pot pour passer sur l’avant du Iaroslav le Sage puis prendre le même cap. Ce qui correspond assez bien à ce que décrit le Ministère de la défense russe.
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqF6EcShwP0
The incident involved the USS Gravely and the Russian Navy frigate Yaroslav Mudry, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement. The Gravely approached the Russian vessel at a distance of 60-70 meters (65-75 yards) from the port side and crossed in front of it, it said.
At the time of the incident, the Russian ship was in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean, cruising steadily and without making any dangerous maneuvers, the Russian statement said.
But the U.S. Defense official said the Russian frigate had “repeatedly crossed the stern of USS Gravely at close proximity” and had “repeatedly asked Gravely to maintain a safe distance, yet continued to maneuver in close proximity to Gravely.”
U.S. says Russian ship raised false signal in incident | Reuters
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-navy-idUSKCN0ZG01L
On Wednesday, Hernandez said the Russian ship raised the “ball-diamond-ball" signal on its mast when it was two nautical miles away from the USS Gravely, a U.S. destroyer operating in the Mediterranean with the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.
That combination of simple geometric shapes is used to indicate that a ship’s ability to maneuver is restricted.
Russia identified its ship as the Russian Navy frigate Yaroslav Mudry.
Hernandez said the Russian ship maneuvered to get closer to the Gravely, changing course and speed as the U.S. ship did, which he said showed it was not in fact restricted in its ability to maneuver, and was thus intentionally displaying a false international signal.
As a result, he said, the U.S. destroyer believed the Russian ship was intentionally trying to interfere with Harry S. Truman operations.
Version légèrement différente du Ministère états-unien.
Navire pas maître de sa manœuvre
Office of Naval Intelligence > Intelligence Community > Russia
▻http://www.oni.navy.mil/Intelligence-Community/Russia
ONI’s most recent unclassified report on Russia’s navy, The Russian Navy - A Historic Transition, looks historically and currently at the role played by Russian naval forces. It is the first such report discussing the Russian Federation Navy by ONI since the seventh and last issue of Understanding Soviet Naval Developments published in 1991.
tout juste déclassifié, ce rapport devrait intéresser @simplicissimus et @reka
Documents incroyables dans les rapports, et aussi voir les couv époustouflantes des rapports... surtout celui sur la Russie.
#merci ! à lire, éventuellement pointer l’état d’avancement du plan tel qu’exposé en 1991.
Sinon — rien à voir —, où est-ce qu’ils ont été chercher cette police géniale ?
Dans le style look russe (kitsch), je trouve (rapidement)
ou
http://www.dailyfreefonts.com/fonts/image/4475-Soviet.png 
http://www.dailyfreefonts.com/fonts/image/4448-Nyet.png 
http://www.dailyfreefonts.com/fonts/image/1494-Kremlin.png 
Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort - The New York Times
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/world/europe/russian-presence-near-undersea-cables-concerns-us.html
Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict.
The issue goes beyond old worries during the Cold War that the Russians would tap into the cables — a task American intelligence agencies also mastered decades ago. The alarm today is deeper: The ultimate Russian hack on the United States could involve severing the fiber-optic cables at some of their hardest-to-access locations to halt the instant communications on which the West’s governments, economies and citizens have grown dependent.
While there is no evidence yet of any cable cutting, the concern is part of a growing wariness among senior American and allied military and intelligence officials over the accelerated activity by Russian armed forces around the globe. At the same time, the internal debate in Washington illustrates how the United States is increasingly viewing every Russian move through a lens of deep distrust, reminiscent of relations during the Cold War.
[…]
“I’m worried every day about what the Russians may be doing,” said Rear Adm. Frederick J. Roegge, commander of the Navy’s submarine fleet in the Pacific, who would not answer questions about possible Russian plans for cutting the undersea cables.
[…]
In private, however, commanders and intelligence officials are far more direct. They report that from the North Sea to Northeast Asia and even in waters closer to American shores, they are monitoring significantly increased Russian activity along the known routes of the cables, which carry the lifeblood of global electronic communications and commerce.
Just last month, the Russian spy ship Yantar, equipped with two self-propelled deep-sea submersible craft, cruised slowly off the East Coast of the United States on its way to Cuba — where one major cable lands near the American naval station at Guantánamo Bay. It was monitored constantly by American spy satellites, ships and planes. Navy officials said the Yantar and the submersible vehicles it can drop off its decks have the capability to cut cables miles down in the sea.
Why the Chinese Navy is in the Mediterranean
On Thursday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) frigates Linyi and Weifang left the Black Sea along with a Russian #Navy guided missile corvette to begin the first ever round of Chinese and Russian naval exercises in the #Mediterranean.
The exercise — Joint Sea 2015 — is mostly a sign of a growing security relationship between #Moscow and #Beijing, and an attempt to signal the two powers’ ascendance on the global stage.
Besides, it also follows after nearly two years of increased Russian naval activity not only in the Mediterranean, but also the Baltic Sea, the High North, and the Black Sea. However, China also has its own reasons for operating in the Mediterranean, and the current exercise is far from the first time the Chinese military has operated there.
For China, the broader Mediterranean region is of real interest in terms of both energy security and trade.....
▻http://news.usni.org/2015/05/14/why-the-chinese-navy-is-in-the-mediterranean
#army #china #russia
China and Russia Conclude Naval Drill in Mediterranean
▻http://thediplomat.com/2015/05/china-and-russia-conclude-naval-drill-in-mediterranean
Cina e Russia hanno fatto delle esercitazioni militari nel Mediterraneo
▻http://www.internazionale.it/notizie/2015/05/22/cina-russia-mediterraneo-esercitazioni-militari
Russian sailors hope to return to Saint Nazaire to take first Mistral-class helicopter carrier in March
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/russia-and-former-soviet-union/russian-sailors-hope-to-return-to-saint-nazaire-to-take-first-mistral-clas
The crew of the first Mistral-class helicopter carrier, the #Vladivostok, may go to Saint Nazaire, France, for the vessel in March, the Main Headquarters of the Russian Navy told Interfax-AVN.
(intégralité de la brève)
Crimean Military Dolphins to Serve in Russian Navy | Defense | RIA Novosti
▻http://en.ria.ru/military_news/20140326/188762672/Crimean-Military-Dolphins-to-Serve-in-Russian-Navy.html
SEVASTOPOL, March 26 (RIA Novosti) - The combat dolphin program in the Crimean city of Sevastopol will be preserved and redirected towards the interests of the Russian Navy, an employee at the facility where the dolphins are trained told RIA Novosti.
The program, dating to the 1960s, was previously scheduled to be disbanded by the Ukrainian navy in April, but the facility and the dolphins themselves have now become Russian following the reunification of Crimea with Russia last week.
(…)
“Our experts have developed new devices, which convert the detection of objects by the dolphins’ underwater sonar to a signal on an operator’s monitor,” the source said. “But the Ukrainian Navy lacked the funds for such know-how, and some projects had to be shuttered.”
The source expressed hope the Russian navy would support the combat program, which also trains sea lions.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the dolphin program was handed over to the Ukrainian navy, where it was initially reconverted for civilian uses, such as working with disabled children. The military arm of the facility was re-formed in 2011.
The facility is one of only two such combat dolphin training centers in the world, the other is run by the US Navy in San Diego.
Russie défense Arctique Base navale Transport
Russia to Set Up Naval Infrastructure in Arctic on Northern Sea Route – Patrushev | RIA Novosti
►http://en.ria.ru/mlitary_news/20120806/175015455.html
Russia will create several infrastructure hubs along the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic to be used as temporary stations for Russian warships and border guard vessels, Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev said on Monday.
The authorities have drafted a list of “key double-purpose sites in remote areas of the Arctic seas along the Northern Sea Route” to enable “temporary stationing of Russian Navy warships and vessels operated by the Federal Security Service’s Border Guard Department,” Patrushev said during a meeting with officials in Siberia.