Two Halves Of A Possible Naval Battle Played Out Along The Norwegian Coast As NATO And Russia Practiced For War – Forbes

Norwegian air force F-35s break away from a U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker while en route to Iceland ... [+] for air patrols in late February.

The High North was a pretend war zone last week as Russian and NATO forces staged dueling exercises.

Canadian, German and Norwegian warships, a Norwegian air force F-35 stealth fighter and U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers gathered off Norways west coast to practice jamming and shooting down enemy anti-ship missiles.

Meanwhile, a powerful Russian missile cruiser simulated attacks on NATO submarines while lurking around a fjord near Norways northeast coast.

NATOs Dynamic Guard exercise drew a powerful air and sea force, including the Canadian frigate Halifax and the Norwegian corvettes Steil and Storm. The German tanker Spessart supported the warships.

The frigate and tanker sail together under the auspices of Standing NATO Maritime Group One, or SNMG 1.

Two B-1s and at least one Norwegian F-35 flew in from Orland air base in central Norway. Three B-1s arrived at Orland on Feb. 22 for a so-called Bomber Task Force deployment lasting several months.

The exercise confirmed what observers predicted when the U.S. Air Force announced the B-1 deployment last monththe swing-wing bombers have come to Norway in part to prepare for a possible future sea battle with the Russian fleet.

The Dynamic Guard war game was defensive in nature. The exercise provides opportunities for SNMG1 to enhance or otherwise validate our training, knowledge and expertise in electronic warfare and anti-ship missile defense in a unique and challenging operational environment, said Commodore Bradley Peats, the Canadian commander of SNMG1.

But anti-ship-missile defense is a corollary to offensive anti-surface warfare. In a ship-on-ship missile battle, opposing naval groups would volley anti-ship missiles at each other while trying to shoot down incoming missiles. The group that both defends itselfand overwhelms the enemys defenseswins.

Its pretty clear how Peats disposed his forces. The frigate Halifax, displacing 4,800 tons loaded, was the biggest of the three combatants in the NATO flotillaand the most lavishly equipped. Halifax packs a Sea Giraffe radar and two eight-cell launchers for 27-mile-range Evolved Sea Sparrow anti-air missiles as well as an SLQ-505 radar-jammer.

By contrast, the Norwegian corvetteseach displacing just 275 tonslack long-range radars and any surface-to-air missiles. They sport CS-3701 jammers but obviously cannot pump as much power through the jammers as the larger frigate can do with its own electronic-warfare system.

The Norwegian corvette 'Storm' sails during NATO's Dynamic Guard exercise in late February.

In wartime, frigates such as Halifax would sail alongside corvettes such as Steil and Storm, protecting the smaller ships from Russian anti-ship missiles and helping the smaller vessels get close enough to the Russiansa hundred miles or soto fire their Naval Strike Missiles. Its worth noting that Halifax herself carries eight 100-mile-range Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

Its unclear what role the B-1s and F-35 played in Dynamic Guard. But in wartime, B-1s with their new 300-mile Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles would be among the most power ship-killers in the theater. F-35s could protect the bombers while the big planes press their attacks.

Dynamic Guard demonstrated how NATO could go after the Russian navywith a mixed sea and air force combining offensive and defensive missiles.

Submarines obviously would play important roles, as welllocating and attacking Russian ships and protecting NATO vessels from Russias own subs. So it should come as no surprise that while NATOs ships and planes were playing war on Norways west coast, the Russian fleet staged an anti-submarine exercise on the countrys east coast.

The Russian cruiser Marshal Ustinov in early February sailed from Severomorsk in northern Russian into the Barents Sea. For several days, the ship's crew will practice combat and daily organization at sea, conduct a number of general ship exercises on damage-control, [nuclear-biological-chemical] protection, as well as anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defense, the Kremlin announced.

As part of the anti-submarine missions, to which the main attention will be paid, the cruiser will practice interaction with the submarine and anti-submarine aircraft, carry out training search and tracking of the submarine and also perform firing with naval anti-submarine weapons.

Training complete, the cruiser sailed back toward Severomorskand made an interesting detour. On Feb. 22, the 12,500-ton cruiserwhich with her 104 anti-air missiles and 16 300-mile P-500 anti-ship missiles is one of the most powerful surface combatants in the worldlooped south into the Varanger Fjord, which lies west of Russias Fisher Peninsula. The Russian-Norwegian maritime border cuts through the fjord.

Such sailing west of the Fisher Peninsula is something we havent seen in recent times, Maj. Brynjar Stordal, a spokesperson for Norways joint headquarters, told The Barents Observer.

Its worth noting that Marshal Ustinovs southward jaunt took place at the same time the B-1s were arriving in Norway.

The American bombers should be at Orland for several monthstraining, patrolling and possibly laying intelligence traps for Russian forces. Expect more war games, more provocative maneuvers and more previews of NATO and Russian war plans.

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Two Halves Of A Possible Naval Battle Played Out Along The Norwegian Coast As NATO And Russia Practiced For War - Forbes