"Russian Pacific Fleet Warships Enter Mediterranean" Topic

"Russian Pacific Fleet Warships Enter Mediterranean For First Time In Decades, To Park In Cyprus"

Do they want their cash back?

and the US Marines recently arrived in Israel. Someone recently posted a battle report for USMC Recon vs Russians. Lets hope this stays on the gaming table and out of real life :-)

The task force currently includes the large anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, the frigate Yaroslav Mudry, the salvage/rescue tugs Altai and SB-921 and the tanker Lena from the Northern and Baltic Fleets, as well as the Ropucha-II Class landing ship Azov from the Black Sea Fleet. The task force may be enlarged to include nuclear submarines, Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov said last Sunday.

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Do the Reds er, Russians have any larger ships, like cruisers, left?

More probably a show of force intended to buck up the Assad regime.

That force is too insignificant to materially affect the balance of power in the NATO lake that is the Med.

The Ropucha (toad), or Project 775 class landing ships are classified in the Russian Navy as "large landing craft" (Bol'shoy Desatnyy Korabl). They were built in Poland in the Stocznia Północna shipyards, in Gdansk. They are designed for beach landings and can carry a 450 ton cargo. The ships have both bow and stern doors for loading and unloading vehicles, and the 630 m² of vehicle deck stretches the length of the hull. Up to 25 armored personnel carriers can be embarked.

I wonder what cargo it is carrying.

For the new S-300 tractor, comrade?

"Do the Reds er, Russians have any larger ships, like cruisers, left?"

Yes, a few of the old Slava and Kirov classes are still in service, with another Kirov undergoing modernization to soon return to the Northern Fleet:

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NBC kits for the tanks

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Anti-ship cruise missiles, if the reports from earlier today are correct.

Love that first pic, where you can see the details of the underwater bow bulge on that vessel. The water they are sailing in appears to be unusually clear.

I've never seen that clarity before in a pic of a Russian vessel.

Note the darker gray camo scheme on the Black Sea vessels.

I love this Russian Guided Missile Cruiser. I didn't realise that Russians had Guards units at sea.

Picture taken from this story

'Expect Israeli strikes on Russian arms shipment to Syria-Hezbollah'
U.S. officials tell The Wall Street Journal: Another round of Israeli airstrikes could target a new Russian transfer of Yakhont advanced anti-ship missiles in the near future • Russia moving more quickly than previously thought to deliver S-300 surface-to-air defense systems to Syria • CIA Director John Brennan in Israel to coordinate policy.

U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that another round of Israeli airstrikes could target a new Russian transfer of advanced anti-ship missiles in the near future. Israeli and Western intelligence services believe the Yakhont missiles, which have been sold by Russia to Syria in recent years, could be transferred to Hezbollah within days, the newspaper reported on its website Friday

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meanwhile told Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen on Thursday that Moscow had not backed down from its contract to supply S-300 systems to Syria.

"We are not signing any new contracts, but we will complete the old ones, especially with regards to aerial defense systems," Lavrov said. In what could be perceived as a message to Israel, he said, "Those that aren't planning on acting aggressively against sovereign nations should not have any reason to fear this."

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What would be the western equivalent to those anti ship missiles, and how much of a threat would they be to US/Israeli warships? (for the purposes of a game)

Very formidable, and deadly, presumably vs. naval vessels, since they are supersonic, carry a large warhead, and supposedly have better targeting ability than older models:

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The US, Israel, France, etc. field subsonic cruise missiles, but even these can be deadly, as was demonstrated during the Falklands War, and in various Arab-Israeli, and Indo-Pakistani engagements.

If they are Mach 2.5 capable, that will leave little time for defenders to react to inbound attack, e.g. about one minute, or less, when detected at the radar/visual horizon, since they can fly about 25 miles per minute at the aforementioned speed.

I suspect an alert, US Battle Group could deal with them, given their Aegis and other systems, but the Israelis, and/or others might be overwhelmed by a surprise attack.

No doubt, these are being delivered to try to keep US/NATO sea forces from enforcing a "no-fly zone" from the sea, or to make it a dangerous proposition if they do.

These missiles will likely force even a US carrier battle group to tread carefully in the Eastern Mediterranean, in order to prevent being targeted by these weapons.

Here's an interesting article on how the missiles and their mobile launchers might deploy, in defense of the Syrian coast:

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Apparently, a Ka-31 helo, with decimetric radar can be used for over-the-horizon targeting.

They are surely heading for cypres. This might be the biggest bank robbery in world histoy!
:)))

Assuming there is any money left to steal.

Might make for an even better anti-invasion/occupation scenario.

This is so funny!….

Armand

😆

But seriously with the USA's most recent failure to keep the Israelis & Hamas from shooting at each other etc.

The Russians are still in Syria.

* anleiher +1

More probably a show of force intended to buck up the Assad regime.

That force is too insignificant to materially affect the balance of power in the NATO lake that is the Med.

Bingo !

That and again Putin et al is testing a certain Gov't(s) …

I wonder what cargo it is carrying.

Vodka

Cases of borsch

T-shirts with a topless Putin's pic on horseback. Saying :
"I💘 Vlad "

(smile)

Armand