Norwegian expert on Russia’s military maneuvers in the north says the ongoing exercise has a primary focus on multi-domain bastion defense to protect the strategic important ballistic missile submarines. […]
Headquarters in Severomorsk do not specify if the current anti-sub exercise is a start of the expected larger major Ocean-2024 that was announced by former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu last December to take place this year. If kicking off, a logic first phase for the navy would be to train bastion defense in the north as Russia’s important ballistic missile submarines are based on the Kola Peninsula. […]
“From what I understand, the primary focus of the ongoing special military exercise in the Barents Sea is anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and multi-domain bastion defense. This is also the primary role of most of the participating military naval and air assets,” says Kristian Åtland.
He note that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there has been an increased focus on nuclear deterrence.
“Given that more than half of Russia’s sea-based strategic nuclear warheads are carried by strategic submarines that operate from the Kola Peninsula, the renewed Russian focus on the need to protect and defend the Northern Fleet’s traditional SSBN patrol areas in the Barents Sea should not come as a surprise,” Åtland says. Läs artikel