Hopefully Their Army Works Better Than Their Navy

In response to apparent Russian provocation, the Brits are beefing up their military presence in Estonia.

British troops began a long-term deployment to Estonia on Saturday as Germany’s intelligence chief warned Russia had doubled its military presence on its Western border.

An advanced contingent of 120 British soldiers landed at Estonia’s Amari airbase late on Friday night as part of a new Nato deployment designed to deter Russia from attempting a repeat of its invasions of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine in the Baltic.

Eight hundred British troops with Challenger 2 tanks, AS90 self-propelled guns, and Warrior armoured vehicles, will be based in the town of Tapa, 80 miles from the Russian border, from next month.

This is part of a planned exercise with French and other NATO forces in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Additional British troops will be sent to Poland to augment American forces already stationed there.

Story here.

As far as the readiness of the best warships in Her Majesty's Navy, go here.  Unfortunately our own navy apparently isn't in much better shape.

The New Russian Army Isn't The Old Russian Army

Putin has not been sitting on his hands when it comes to re-arming the Motherland.

With tensions rising again between Russia and Ukraine, there are fears of a renewed upsurge in the fighting.

Russia-watchers in the West are monitoring events carefully, not just in terms of the day-to-day crisis, but because Russia's military is worth watching.

Moscow's military's performance in Ukraine has provided a foretaste of a new kind of warfare; eastern Ukraine has provided a laboratory for ground combat in the 21st Century.

The Russians have deployed advanced weapons systems that are causing NATO commanders a great deal of concern. These are not proposed systems. These are systems that were used in the Crimea and Ukraine incursions.

• The use of drones to provide targeting information.
• New, long-range air defenses.
• Anti-access and area denial systems.
• Communications jamming.

But one item comes to the the forefront, particularly when viewed against the recent spate of emails that were hacked from the DNC.

But perhaps the most worrying element of Russia's new approach is what has been broadly termed "hybrid warfare" - a mix of semi-clandestine operations; propaganda and information warfare; computer hacking and so on.

This was seen in its seizure of Crimea with troops in unmarked uniforms (the so-called "little green men"); the closing down of independent news sources and so on.

What is fascinating from the Russian literature is the priority that Moscow gives to the whole cyber-domain, ranging from large-scale hacking to even the trolling of Western service personnel using their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

More here.

White House Pussy: We Continue To Be Concerned.

Russian Su-24 planes thundered over the USS Donald Cook at a height of just 30ft in what a military official branded the most 'aggressive' incident between Russia and the United States in years.

The 'simulated attack' maneuver saw the jets pass so close to the ocean that they created a 'wake in the water', the defense official said.

The shock move came as a Polish helicopter was taking off from the US Destroyer on Tuesday evening.

This is not the first time the USS Donald Cook was was buzzed by Rooskie aircraft.

Somebody oughta swat those flies.

Story

US Deploys F-15s To Turkey

Obama has put on his big boy pants and is upping the ante in Syria. We'll see if Putin calls him.

The Pentagon is sending F-15Cs—supposedly to fight the ISIS war. But the jets only have air-to-air weapons, and ISIS has no planes. Which means the real adversary is Russia.

The U.S. Air Force is deploying to Turkey up to a dozen jet fighters specializing in air-to-air combat—apparently to help protect other U.S. and allied jets from Russia’s own warplanes flying over Syria.

Officially, the deployment of F-15C Eagle twin-engine fighters to Incirlik, Turkey—which the Pentagon announced late last week—is meant to “ensure the safety” of America’s NATO allies, Laura Seal, a Defense Department spokesperson, told The Daily Beast.

That could mean that the single-seat F-15s and the eight air-to-air missiles they routinely carry will help the Turkish air force patrol Turkey’s border with Syria, intercepting Syrian planes and helicopters that periodically stray into Turkish territory.

But more likely, the F-15s will be escorting attack planes and bombers as they strike ISIS militants in close proximity to Syrian regime forces and the Russian warplanes that, since early October, have bombed ISIS and U.S.-backed rebels fighting the Syrian troops.

Story here.

Su-27

Russia has deployed Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker" jets to Syria. Both the F-15 and the Su-27 are highly maneuverable, air superiority aircraft with similar capabilities and armament. The F-15 has had a much greater exposure to aerial combat than the SU-27 which has seen very limited engagement in Angola, Eritrea and Chechnya. The F-15 shot down over 30 Russian aircraft (mostly Migs) during the Gulf War. Of course American pilots did not face Russian pilots in those encounters.

F-15

This could get real interesting. The first F-15s were first deployed in 1972; there have been four upgrades. The F-15E is the latest variant (1988); F-15C's are being sent to Turkey. The Su-27 is a mid-80's Russian product.

Two Can Play At This Game

Putin is building an airbase in Belarus? Let's build one in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin has backed plans to establish a Russian military air base in neighbouring Belarus in a move that will unnerve Poland and the Baltic nations.

Belarus has made clear it would not welcome a Russian base, but the former Soviet republic remains dependent on Moscow for credit and energy.

The Russian President ordered his Defence Ministry to hold talks with their Belarusian counterparts and sign the agreement.

Make that two, build two bases in Ukraine.  And a couple Walmarts.
Story here.