Russia launched a massive strategic naval exercise on Tuesday, Russia State TV reported. Named Ocean-2024 and scheduled to be held simultaneously in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans as well as the Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic Seas, the drills are set to be the biggest in three decades, according to President Vladimir Putin.
Aimed at testing the combat readiness and interoperability of the nation’s fleets and its Air Force, the exercise is to be held until September 16. During the drills, troops are expected to simulate real combat situations, the president said, as he attended the start of the maneuvers via video link.
The Defense Ministry has published a series of videos it claims show the military taking part in the exercise. The Russian Pacific Fleet was the first to launch a massive joint strike at a simulated enemy targets on the very first day of the drills, according to the ministry. The fleet’s surface and undersea vessels as well as coastal defense systems fired almost a dozen cruise missiles in a coordinated volley.
One clip showed Russia’s B-274 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky submarine firing a Kalibr-PL cruise missile while submerged. This Russian cruise missile variant can be launched as a torpedo from a submarine’s tube mount. It then emerges from under water and flies towards its target like a regular cruise missile.
A total of 26 Russian vessels and one submarine have been hit by Ukraine since the start of large-scale hostilities, representing a third of the Russian Black Sea fleet, according to the Ukrainian General Staff, which does not take into account auxiliary vessels or shallow-draft patrol boats.
The Ukrainians have found success with maritime drones because they are operating “in a relatively confined body of water [against] relatively static targets,” Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told USNI News. He added Kyiv’s intelligence organizations and navy “have basically adapted to that environment” where Russian ships can’t really get underway quickly or maneuver.
The Ukrainians’ success with the maritime drone swarm attacks and aerial drone and missile strikes have shown the Russians how vulnerable Sevastopol, headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet, is to a determined adversary, security analysts interviewed by USNI News agreed.
Right now, Ukraine, which is struggling in the ground and land battles against the Russians, holds an advantage in maritime drone warfare. Samuel Bendett, a CNA advisor on strategy, policy, plans and programs, said in an area like autonomy, the Ukrainians “will probably get there before the Russians and possibly other militaries around the world.”
The asymmetric attacks’ success has also caused the major shift in the fleet’s war role to active defense, not offense. Any Kremlin plans for amphibious assaults on Ukrainian ports, like Odesa, on the Black or Azov seas were put back on the shelves when the fleet’s landing ships became targets.
The drones and missile strikes on the Black Sea Fleet broke Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports, which were driving grain prices higher globally.
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