The High North was a pretend war zone last week as Russian and NATO forces staged dueling exercises.
Canadian, German and Norwegian warships, a Norwegian air force F-35 stealth fighter and U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers gathered off Norway’s west coast to practice jamming and shooting down enemy anti-ship missiles.
Meanwhile, a powerful Russian missile cruiser simulated attacks on NATO submarines while lurking around a fjord near Norway’s northeast coast.
NATO’s Dynamic Guard exercise drew a powerful air and sea force, including the Canadian frigate Halifax and the Norwegian corvettes Steil and Storm. The German tanker Spessart supported the warships. […]
The exercise confirmed what observers predicted when the U.S. Air Force announced the B-1 deployment last month—the swing-wing bombers have come to Norway in part to prepare for a possible future sea battle with the Russian fleet.[…]
It’s unclear what role the B-1s and F-35 played in Dynamic Guard. But in wartime, B-1s with their new 300-mile Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles would be among the most power ship-killers in the theater. F-35s could protect the bombers while the big planes press their attacks. Dynamic Guard demonstrated how NATO could go after the Russian navy—with a mixed sea and air force combining offensive and defensive missiles. […]
The Russian cruiser Marshal Ustinov in early February sailed from Severomorsk in northern Russian into the Barents Sea. “For several days, the ship’s crew will practice combat and daily organization at sea, conduct a number of general ship exercises on damage-control, [nuclear-biological-chemical] protection, as well as anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defense,” the Kremlin announced. Läs artikel