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Russian Northern Fleet on Full Alert for Combat Readiness Drills

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Naval Forces News - Russia
 
 
 
Russian Northern Fleet on Full Alert for Combat Readiness Drills
 
President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet and paratrooper units to go on full alert as part of snap military exercises in the Arctic, RIA news agency quoted the defence minister as saying on Monday. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who is overseeing an expensive modernisation of the armed forces, said Russia faced new threats to its security which obliged it to boost its military strength and capabilities.
     
Admiral Levchenko Udaloy-class destroyer of the Russian Northern Fleet Admiral Levchenko Udaloy-class destroyer of the Russian Northern Fleet
     

“New challenges and threats to military security require the armed forces to further boost their military capabilities. Special attention must be paid to strategic formations in the North,” state-run RIA quoted Shoigu as saying. The exercises will be held on land, in sea and air and will run for five days beginning March 16, the general said.

The Northern Fleet was brought to alert at 8:00 a.m. Moscow time (05:00 GMT) and includes 38,000 military personnel, 3,360 pieces of equipment, 41 ships, 15 submarines, and 110 airplanes and helicopters, Shoigu added.

Tensions between Russia and the West have reached their worst level since the Cold War over the crisis in Ukraine.

Moscow has boosted its ambitions in the resource-rich Arctic region, where it shares a border with NATO member Norway, and the military is looking to boost its capabilities in the region.

Russian Fleet aligned in 2014: 10 nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN), 3 nuclear-powered guided missile submarine (SSGN) , 13 nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), 7 conventional attack submarine (SSK), 1 carrier vessel, 1 nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser, 7 guided-missile destroyers, 4 landing ship tank. Naval aviation has 2 sqn with Su-33 Flanker D (18) and Su-25UTG Frogfoot (5), 13 Tu-142M/MR Bear F/J (ASW), some Il-20RT Coot A and 14 Il-38 May. KA-27 and KA-29 are also used for ASW missions. One marine infantry brigade and one land-based anti-ship missile battery complete the Northern fleet inventory.