![]() ![]() No doubt Ukraine’s leaders will wish they had subs of their own. But they are powerless to do anything about Russia’s submarines. The Ukrainians with their new Neptune anti-ship missiles-and TB-2 drones to cue them-aren’t totally powerless to resist Russia’s surface ships. ![]() In wartime, the Kilos might hunt down Ukraine’s handful of surface warships in order to clear a path for an amphibious assault, then park off the coast, from where they can lob cruise missiles at targets deep inland. Today the Russian Black Sea Fleet with its six improved Kilo-class submarines has, after Turkey, the second-most-powerful sub flotilla in the region. Zaporizhzhia’s capture accelerated the inevitable dissolution of Kiev’s undersea capability. “In five years we will lack those who want and are able to serve in a submarine force wherever it’d be needed,” a Ukrainian admiral admitted. More to the point, by 2012 the Ukrainian navy had been without a functional submarine for so many years that it no longer could sustain a roster of qualified, experienced submariners. ![]() Consider that, during the 1982 Falklands War, the Royal Navy deployed 12 surface ships, two dozen helicopters and six of its own subs in a vain effort to hunt down the Argentinian sub San Luis.īut Zaporizhzhia was old and probably unsafe. Crew 52 Length 72. The submarines are built at the Admiralty Shipyard in St Petersburg, Russia. The long-awaited transfer of a Russian-made Kilo-class submarine from India to Myanmar took place last week during Myanmar’s Bandoola fleet exercise. Even a couple of submarines greatly can complicate an enemy fleet’s operations. DecemSSK Kilo Class (Type 877EKM) SSK Kilo class (Type 877EKM) attack submarines are designed for anti-submarine (ASW) and anti-surface ship (ASuW) warfare. It’s not clear Kiev would have wanted her back. While Moscow eventually returned many Ukrainian warships it seized in Crimea, it kept-and later scrapped-the ancient Zaporizhzhia. As half her crew defected, her skipper handed the boat over to the Russians. Interrupting service in a strait that they could feasibly dominate could be a winning end-game for Iran if the country's theocratic government ever feels its existence is threatened.But when Russian forces seized Crimea in February 2014, Zaporizhzhia was idling pier-side. Iran's biggest threat arguably doesn't come from their missile systems, or their nuclear program, or any of their jets. Navy has mine-detection, but the average oil tanker does not. Were Iran to cause a disruption in the Strait - perhaps by mining it, if conditions in the region deteriorated badly enough - it would have a catastrophic effects on the price of oil and could bring the global economy to its knees. One third of all the world's oil is moved through the strait. The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the rest of the globe. Their coastline includes one side of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most tactically significant stretches of water in the entire world. It often indicates a user profile.īut maybe Iran's most effective weapon is intangible, as well as permanent: geography. The Kilo class, Soviet designation Project 877 Paltus (Russian:, meaning 'halibut'), NATO reporting name Kilo, is a class of diesel-electric attack submarines originally designed in the 1970s and built in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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