Ooooo, Admiral Grigorivich ...

 ... fired a warning shot. The world has ended, not. 

The British Defense Ministry is investigating reports that a Russian frigate fired warning shots within 500 meters of a UK-registered yacht in the English Channel, the BBC has reported.  According to the Press Association, the Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich fired the shots at 11:40 am local time on Tuesday, as it sailed in international waters between the Isle of Wight and Normandy. The crew of the yacht reportedly told the British Coastguard that the shots had been fired from a distance of around 500 yards (457 meters). The yacht was not hit, and nobody on board suffered any injuries, according to the BBC. Speaking to the BBC, the Defense Ministry did not confirm that any shots were fired, only stating that it was “investigating reports of an incident in the Channel.” The Admiral Grigorovich, a 3,600-ton warship equipped to carry Kalibr cruise missiles, was being followed by a Royal Navy patrol ship – the HMS Mersey – at the time of the alleged incident, the BBC reported. It is unclear how close the HMS Mersey was to the Admiral Grigorovich at the time, or whether the Russian crew interpreted its behavior as hostile.

For starters--3, 600 ton displacement is a standard one (the ship without stores, empty), full displacement of these ships is 4, 000 +. Secondly, depending on the maneuvers of the said yacht and how warnings have been delivered (radio, visual etc.) if yacht wasn't following instructions and was continuing to approach--it is pretty standard protocol. Something like this--5 mil lead at the stern, if continue to move, 5 mil lead at the nose, still didn't get the message? Well, too bad, bye, bye--feed the fishes. 

Considering piracy, terrorism and sabotage "operations" by whatever passes in UK for military, including once mighty and glorious Royal Navy, one should always keep in mind that the use of weapons is authorized. NATO cowards will not dare to enter the actual fire exchange with the Russian Navy, so all kinds of provocations and then hiding behind backs of some civilian victims will continue. That's their MO and then they will praise their own cowardice in the text books which will be written to explain how great they were standing up to those nasty undemocratic Russkies. 

Meanwhile:

What is happening in Kostantinovka is an organized slaughter of VSU and functionally it is over for 404 in this particular city, Kramatorsk and Slavyansk are next. But look at this--mighty Dutch armed forces train this element:

Moscow has condemned a Dutch military test involving a mock prisoner-of-war camp for Russian soldiers, warning European “hotheads” that the facilities would be of no use if a real conflict broke out. Dutch media reported last week that the Netherlands Army was test-running a new POW camp design at the Marnehuizen training facility in Groningen, preparing to hold up to 2,000 Russian captives in the event of a large-scale conflict. The facility reportedly features barracks housing groups of roughly 20 detainees, and seeks to replace traditional watchtowers with guards by camera-equipped poles, with monitoring also being carried out by drones.

Sure, that's Europe's specialty--atrocities, concentration camps et al. Cretins from Dutch military obviously do not understand that in real war Dutch Kingdom will cease to exist, including its "military" really fast. But then again, Dutch military is a reflection of its nation known primarily for official drugs' use and prostitution today. Russian will not be taking prisoners in case of real war. 

Explaining to some Dutch officer what REAL long-range fires and stand-off weapons in concentrated sustained manner are is an exercise in futility. 

Few Short Notes.

1. When people ask why getting hands on some S1 Pantsir (belonging to UAE) in Libya makes a huge news in the West, my answer is simple--because it is the best air defense, as is all nomenclature of Russian-made air defense complexes, in the world even in their export variants with significantly reduced combat capabilities. But even those are enough to be superior to anything anyone produces in the world. As Israeli Air Force learned it a hard way today, once Syrian Air Defense Forces get their combat readiness up, they intercepted all 12 guided missiles launched by IAF at Damascus suburb and airport (in Russian). This kind of news will never make it into the Western media. Here, you can see the work of Siryan AD S1 Pantsir and Buk M2 intercepting Israeli's missiles yesterday. 

Obviously, such highly professional actions by Syrians who, by now, have one of the best combat training in matters of repelling all kinds of stand-off weapons in the world, merely demonstrate that it is always a combination of man and machine which matters. Obviously, Israeli combat planes prefer to remain in Israeli air space or far in  the international one when launching. Modern air defense complexes from Russia can shoot down literally anything in terms of manned combat aircraft. I am yet to find how the process of transfer of S-300 PMU2 from Russian forces to Syrian ones is ongoing, but it is clear that it is an extremely sensitive matter for a number of operational reasons. You know, S-300 PMU2 on combat duty near Damascus can easily shoot down Israeli combat aircraft within Israel and this is a tricky business.  

2. In other news: 

A US warship docked in Sudan Monday a day after a Russian frigate arrived in the same key Red Sea port where Moscow is planning to establish a naval logistics base, an AFP correspondent said. The arrival of the guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill to Port Sudan follows Washington's delisting of Khartoum as state sponsors of terrorism, following the April 2019 ouster of strongman Omar al-Bashir.

It is not "planned", it is already signed and Russia will have not base but "Point of Material-Technical Supply" (PMTO). It is not quite "base". Tartus IS base, Port-Sudan is not a base but a provision point, albeit with some important clarifications such as the ability to keep there a nuclear powered ships and subs. Here is Admiral Grigorovich in Sudan. yesterday (in Russian). 

Now, imagine a modernized Admiral Nakhimov "parked" there, with a couple of 11356 or 22350 with all those 3M14M and 3M22 Zircons. Well, you get my drift, right? Here is how it looks like on the map, wink, wink...

Just in case, the distance to Persian Gulf is also given. You know, marine traffic through Suez into the Red Sea may need (hopefully not) at some point of time real protection from who knows what may pop up in the future as a threat...

3. In other news, US media still remain crude propaganda tools, as are most US "journalists" working there and US remains completely delusional about Russia. This cannot be helped and will continue to deteriorate because they are one trick ponies and ignorant to boot. Well...

This Is Rather Interesting.

A trials of a new modification of a venerable Tor, Tor-M2MKM,  air defense system by means of placing a ground based system...on board of Admiral Grigorovich. Ship's speed: 7 knots, sea state 1-2. Two targets: one "aircraft" at 1000 meters, another sea-skimmer with Harpoon's properties. You can see this rather interesting operation here:

The navalized version of Tor is Kinzhal (a dagger), so, as media sources state, this whole thing with "navalization" is means to an end of a complete cross-service unification of such air defense systems. I can only speculate how this could be done but I don't want to. Make your own conclusions. It is a very effective short-range (12 kilometers) system which handles over-the-surface targets quite well. Upgrading Kinzhal on project 1155 (Udaloy-class) Large ASW Ships also seems only natural. Plus there are some other, smaller, ships coming which may use this rather robust air defense capability. 

 

Admiral Grigorovich, Welcome To The Fleet.

Yesterday, the leading ship of project 11356 Admiral Grigorovich was officially transferred to the Russian Navy. This ship, as well as two others, Admiral Essen and Admiral Makarov, to be commissioned in April and October 2016 respectively, are a good lesson in geopolitical realism for Russia. Hopefully, the lesson has been learned. Original 6-ship series of this class was supposed to have Ukrainian-made power plant but, as you all may know, things didn't work out this way. Current regime in Kiev is anything but normal and there are no reasons anymore for Russia to buy anything from Ukraine, especially equipment for the navy. Nor was it a good idea to buy power plant from German MTU--sanctions on Russia are here to stay and it is all for the better, while Germany can forget about Russia's market. Good riddance. NPO Saturn is already busy with designing power plant for future Russian ships. Russia is totally capable of producing first class power plant (COGAG) for any class of the ships.

Meanwhile, three other hulls of this class, most likely will not get their power plant on time and could be sold to India with Ukrainian power plant. Initially, all six were planned for the Black Sea Fleet, now, it seems, the Black Sea Fleet will receive only three. This changes operational picture substantially. The Black Sea Fleet for decades, for a reasons of Crimea being a de jure part of Ukraine since 1991, was the most neglected Russia's Fleet. Times changed and six project 11356 frigates were supposed to be the core of what would eventually emerge as remote analogue of the Soviet Navy's 5th Operational Squadron (OPESK). While deliveries of the brand new SSKs of Kilo-class are on track and formation of the separate brigade of this highly capable subs is on track too, the Black Sea Fleet will need more in terms of its surface combatants. One of the stop-gap solutions could be, and it was articulated already, delivery of increased numbers of project 21631 Buyan-class and perspective project 22800 Karakurt-class  missile corvettes. There is also a possibility of some of the project 22160 patrol ships adding to what can be a mighty first salvo of deadly Kalibr and Onyx missiles. The problem with this solution, however, is that none of the missile corvettes listed have robust enough air defense systems and carry only short-range self-defense weapons. Grigorovich-class frigates were supposed to be the ones providing a robust air defense cover with their Shtil' AD Complex.

It is difficult to predict how this problem will be solved but there is little doubt that something is in the works. In the end, the transfer of Northern Fleet bound couple of project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates with their mighty Poliment-Redut can not be ruled out. Meanwhile, the new ship for the Russian Navy and she is a beauty and a damn dangerous one at that. 

Grigorovich sister ship Admiral Essen

 As they say--7 feet under the keel............