Joint Expeditionary Force naval vessels escorted Danish and British supply ships as they delivered military vehicles and equipment to resupply the UK-led NATO Battlegroup in Estonia.
The Ministry of Defence says that Royal Navy vessels have joined ships, aircraft and personnel from six Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) nations to provide support to NATO and bolster security in the Baltic Sea.
“HMS Northumberland and sister ship HMS Richmond joined Danish frigate HDMS Niels Juel and warships from Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for maritime patrols in the strategically important region. JEF naval vessels escorted Danish and British supply ships as they delivered military vehicles and equipment to resupply the UK-led NATO Battlegroup in Estonia, where troops from the UK and Denmark are serving side by side. The UK recently doubled the number of troops in Estonia as part of wider NATO efforts to strengthen its eastern defences following Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
As well as patrolling and delivering the vital supplies, the warships and aircraft conducted a series of joint exercises to demonstrate and hone their seamless interoperability. Danish F-16s and Swedish Gripen fighter jets rehearsed air defence tactics with the vessels, while one of the UK’s new RAF Poseidon P-8A submarine hunter aircraft practised working with the ships to spot enemy vessels.”
Major General Jim Morris DSO, the Commander of the UK Standing Joint Force HQ (SJFHQ) which leads the JEF, said:
“Activities such as these in the Baltic Sea are routine business for us and our JEF partners, in one of our principal areas of geographical interest. Given the current level of aggression being displayed by Russia, there has never been a more important time to ensure that freedom of navigation is maintained in the Baltic Sea.”
You can read more about this here.
Let’s hope that the Russian Navy are not ordered to interdict the Baltic. Or for Putin to decide to open a land corridor from Belarus to the Kaliningrad enclave through Lithuania and/or Poland, challenging NATO to respond. Our logistically extended battlegroup would be isolated
I wonder what Biden would do if they did
With his ‘in the name of …Putin must go’ remark Biden has lit the blue touch paper and retired to a safe distance 😉
If Putin does not go, what does that do to Biden’s credibility?
To be honest Biden is only saying what we would all like to see happen; he is not two faced, but authentic. He says what he thinks; that Putin is a butcher. The diplomats can sort the fallout, which so far seems to be positive. The remark has forced the Kremlin to attempt to claim the high moral ground by saying they are not seeking regime change in Kyiv. Result 😂
I do wonder whether it was unscripted.
Beijing biden has no credibility whatsoever. His entire election was allegedly corrupt leaving 50%+ of the US populous now believing he is an illegitimate president. True or false it makes no difference, things have only gone downhill from there. His senility is being used to hide the true motives for the Afghanistan and other debacles. I’m sure you are aware, that a communist Chinese concern with drug addled Hunter Biden “sleeping” in the corner. Has just agreed contracts to mine in Afghanistan. Not that the disgraceful affair has been touted in the media, yet! Everyone is watching sleepy Joe waffle… Read more »
Bit of a rant there George. I have faith that my man and his US state department team will by Easter have been seen to have spoken and acted in such a way as to bring about peace in Ukraine while avoiding WW3, re-unifying Nato while simultaneously encouraging the Russian military to shepherd their leader to the nearest therapy centre. 😉
Agree entirely. Biden has no credibility at all, neither had the blonde fella either. It amazes me how the US can claim to be the ‘bright beacon’ of democracy, when billionaire OAP’s buy the vote in the first place. The last decent President they had was Obama.
I agree with everything except Obama. When he was elected I was very pleased. It was in my mind the endpoint of the abolition of slavery. Fulfilment of the much heralded American dream and that of Martin Luther King. However, when Obama was seen by the entire world to grovel to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and then bequest trillions of dollars to the evil ayatollahs of Iran. It became clear that he was not what he claimed. The backward step of race riots in US cities fueled by Democrats, BLM and ANTIFA. Were the direct consequence of his time… Read more »
Yes Reagan was a better President than people gave him credit for.
To be honest, I don’t quite see the connection between Obama, and race riots. Who or what is fuelling racial tensions, well maybe US intelligence agencies, are aware as to who benefits from perpetuating race trouble/wars.
There is always a reason, an agenda, a sinister agent behind such things, someone with lots of money usually.
Which credibility might that be?
Exactly!
? The credibility of his words.
Sadly biden on a good day is a weak, bumbling, corrupt, senile old fool. Likely to cause wars everywhere.
Truth spoken boldly but not, sadly, by the media who continue to cover for his and his son’s corruption. It’s good to see that Trump has launched a Federal lawsuit against Hilary and the Democratic National Committee for their propagation of the Russia collusion hoax – that some people, astonishingly, still believe was real!
Because Trump and his family aren’t corrupt and he didn’t just ask Putin the war criminal for a favour🙄
Absolutely correct!
Unlike that genius Trump 🤣
Biden and credibility should never be spoken in the same sentence…
Its not like NATO hasn’t spent the last month concentrating most of it’s intelligence, ELINT and tracking technology pinpointing every major Russian target west of Moscow.
So we are totally unprepared for that sneak attack, if it was to happen.
There wouldn’t be a plan for the immediate destruction of Russia’s offensive positions in that attack and to neutralise the invasion in Ukraine at the same time as Article 5 was triggered.
I doubt a single tank would need to start its engine before the airforces of the west made a massive dent in that idea.
“Let’s hope that the Russian Navy are not ordered to interdict the Baltic.” I don’t think their rust buckets would even try and go toe to toe with a NATO fleet – they are not idiots and know what would be meted out to them if things went hot. “Or for Putin to decide to open a land corridor from Belarus to the Kaliningrad” NATO air assets would squash that in about 5 minutes. Can you imagine w what a flight of Typhoon/Gripen/F35/F16/F18 with modern missiles would do to a column of Russian tanks? NATO jets can be accurate at… Read more »
Hi SB, Nice summing up, mate. Given what the Ukrianian’s have achieved against the Russian Army with a few MANPAD’s and lots of determination I cannot see the average Russian soldier being overly keen on taking on NATO. Morale appears to be rock bottom and given there are reports of at least one Russian brigade commander being killed by his own troops I would suggest that the maniacs in the Kremlin should look to history to see what happens when a poorly equipped and abused Russian Army decides enough is enough… Putin is in trouble. Thing is, has anyone told… Read more »
Nobody will have told Putin that he’s in trouble, they are all too frightened of him. That was obvious at his televised security council meeting.
Before the current Ukraine war kicked off, I would have disagreed with you, saying the multi-layered Russian ground air defence systems, would be enough to put a massive dent in our ability to interdict a mechanized push. Now I’m not so sure? On paper the layered system of S400, S300, Tor and Buk backed up with the newer versions of Pantsir, would be a force to be reckoned with. Now it seems the humble Bayraktur TB2 drone can take it apart piece by piece. But this in some ways goes against the combat reports coming from Libya. Where Pantsirs have… Read more »
I agree the Israelis have been very effective at switching off/ jamming all of the Russian systems.
I’d also add into that using SF / real time satellites to designate or convey accurate location data that the battery/radar can be hit from outside the risk radius.
Nothing is ever lossless.
I’d also state that another reason for the Ukrainian success is that they are not attacking full frontal but using asymmetric tactics.
Their SF have been training with UK and US SF for the last 5 years, similarly with their regular units. The obvious tactics with countering the Russian juggernaut, would be asymmetric, if you have a much smaller military. But hit and run can only go so far. At some point you need to find a means for an effective counter. Which is I think what they have done around Kyiv. I still can’t understand the Russian logic. They have known and been up against the TB2, in Libya, Syria and Donbass/Luhansk. So they should have developed a means to counter… Read more »
I think NATO may have helped upgrade the TB2’s to be a bit more hardened? The Ukrainians do have their own drone Skunk Works. It may be that they have taken the basic drone and upgraded it? I think the Israelis were saying, quite clearly, this stuff is carp don’t think you can take pot shots at us and then hide behind it? I agree it is very odd that the Ukrainians haven’t taken out the main rail bridges as the Russians depend on them for logistics. Unless of course they want the gear within easy reach so they can… Read more »
The TB2 had a lot of design input from Ukraine to produce the TB2 Block 2. Ukraine ordered 48 that would be produced in the Ukraine from 2020. Companies like the Kyiv based Luch had designed and produced the Sokil 300 UAV, which is of a comparable size to the TB2.
I can’t find what the Block 2 differences are to the standard TB2.
Israel have an agreement with Russians regarding Syria. They can attack everything that is Iran related.
Informative and insightful comment, thank you.
The US assessed Ukraine Air defences and assisted in deployment techniques. That no doubt included jamming and spoofing techniques against Soviet era systems. TB2 supposedly has is own EW suite, Turkey has been hoovering up Syrain and Russian emissions. The operator can probably transmit some jamming. NATO is giving live time Elint and Russian Air defence locations. Just as a stealth mission is planned, I suspect the TB2 techies can also plan the route, use its slow speed, beam manouever etc against any lookdown radars that might scan it. (Mainstay AEW are staying far away apparently) Russian tactics seem poor.… Read more »
The US gained access to the Pantsir SHORAD system when a fully working one was captured in Libya. I am absolutely certain that the Pantsir went back to the US to be fully tested and probably still is. With the knowledge gained from the testing given over to the Ukrainians discreetly. The S400 can cover a fair chunk of Ukraine from behind the Belarus and Russian borders. Anything flying low level it, like any ground based radar, is hampered by the Earth’s curvature. Russia will be using the Tor (SA-15) and Buk (SA11/17) along with the Tanguska and Pantsir to… Read more »
Lets hope that they people of the Kaliningrad enclave, decide to leave Russia and join one of the NATO nations. I’m sure with a little encouragement from the right factions, it could be encouraged.
Beijing biden is a worse than useless. A soon to be impeached corrupt senile old goat. Following the feckless surrender of Afghanistan to his CCP paymasters. I cannot imagine the US forces would follow any order to go to war that he issued.
Maybe you’re not aware that the native population of Kalingrad Obst where mostly deported or fled after the war being replaced with Soviet settlers. So it’s highly unlikely they’d vote to leave Russia.
The “feckless surrender ” as you call it was a deal with the Taliban that was done by Donald Trump, you know, that self proclaimed ‘stable genius ‘ in much the same way as he abruptly pulled US special forces from Syria. Probably as a favour to Putin. Not sure what is meant Beijing Biden, but it sounds like one of the lazy and inaccurate slurs chanted by those MAGA illiterates. Trump was impeached twice.
Kaliningrad is firmly Russian. Do you really think Putin would respect or tolerate such an election?
The biden crime family have received millions of pounds from the Chinese communist party and despite denials, all the dirty dealings are documented on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Not only is sleepy Joe unfit for office, he is corrupt and must be impeached and charged with treason.
As for the feckless surrender of Afghanistan being a deal done by President Trump. You really need to stop believing CNN, they said Hunter’s laptop was a Russian hoax, despite knowing fine well that it wasn’t.
Ha ha!! This the same laptop that was ‘discovered ‘ deux ex machina by the demented Rudy Giuliani in some New York repair shop ? Nobody believed that rubbish.
Trump proved himself everyday to be unfit for office, his conspiracies to commit crimes and treason against the US are well documented . It was the cowardice of the Republican party that is helping him evade justice.
I’ve never watched CNN, but it sounds like you need to find another news source that isn’t Tucker Carlson.
Never has it been more appropriate that ‘it’s good to have friends’ 🙂
It is telling that the Swedes are integrated into these deployments!
First overflight by a Russian aircraft of their country and I would think they are in with any NATO actions!
Finland is also cosying up to NATO as well.
Both countries are having a serious rethink about their neutrality. Norway has face increasing Russian incursions across the boarder in recent years. It is unmarked in the high north and the Russians just claim they got lost!
Cheers CR
Russian flew two missions very nearly over the eastern side of the Gotland Island at the begin of the Ukraine conflict. Which is why they were so quick with the protects, sanctions and cosying up with NATO.
Lithuania and Latvia can provide small patrol vessels unless you count their minesweepers.
However, with most of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, what might have been more appropriate that 2*T23s might have been a T45/23 combo.
As to labelling Russian ships as rust buckets, that’s not what their corvettes look like at all. Add the land attack missiles being given gratis to the Ukrainians and I’d suggest that UkrMil are probably very weary of them and not nearly so dismissive.
Given how well their weapons systems generally perform or because the ships are bristling with guns and things that go bang?
God knows how accurate those missiles really are? The hit rate appears to be pretty awful – unless of course schools and hospitals are the intended targets.
My opinion of the functionality of Russian systems was never high but this war has downgraded that.
Well, thankfully, you are not in the firing line.
Well the staging barracks circa Lviv got the good news pretty accurately.
It’s old maxim, never under-estimate your foe; the performance of the Russian military has been lamentable – and I would embrace a more robust response by NATO to the blustering of Poo Tin c. Airborne.
However, some of their systems are very competent at delivering destruction.
I don’t under estimate them.
I do think we urgently need more anti missile systems and to boost our stockpiles of CAMM / CAMM-ER.
Then Astor-NT and a launch system.
We need a protection mechanism for bases in the UK such as radar controlled 40mm / 57mm with CAMM / CAMM-ER at critical locations.
We also need more offensive punch -quite urgently and to get things like nuclear depth charges back into inventory.
Little bit of trivia, that’s the Danish navy ship Niels Juel one of the 3 Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates the Danes have and its hull is the one is the one the UK will use for the RNs Type 31e ships.
Makes you realise how big they will be. Good choice by the Navy I think.
Also interesting is that she has two superfiring OTO 3” fitted. Bring back the broadside, even with relatively small guns. Now if we could just persuade the MOD that Type 32 or Type 83 needs two 5” fitted forrard and we would have a very good looking ship!
Apart from the 76mm guns, the missile deck looks as follows. CIWS is a single 35mm cannon overlooking the flight deck. (Hope the image insertion works…)
Interesting photo, thank you. Given that the ESSM can be quad-packed in a Mk. 41 VLS cell, is there a reason they’ve instead gone for a distinct Mk. 56 VLS solution for the ESSM? I’d have thought another 16-cell Mk. 41 cluster would have been more versatile.
I think the Mk56 launchers are on a so-called Standard Flex module, which can easily be replaced. The Mk41s are integrated to the ship.
Thank you. I’d forgotten about the StanFlex modules on the Iver Huitfeldt class.
One can always learn from history so let us hope that the West doesn’t make the mistake that Hitler and his Nazi German Army made in the last war , incidentally Churchill gloomily forecast, it would be all over in 2 months -then Hitler would turn to invading the UK . Speech to the people by radio –https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/winston-churchills-broadcast-on-the-soviet-german-war.html , and then despite the fact Russia entering the war meant we not alone , Hiltler hadn’t yet declared war on the USA . Then in 1945, a touch of treachery >>.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unthinkable . .My problem is I am 92 and recall the… Read more »
German chancellor just declared that Germany are interested in buying Arrow ABM missile.
On the subject of Western Naval unit quality ,I suggest a look at pages 313 and 314 in Admiral I.J.GALATIN,USN [Ret[ >>SUBMARINE ADMIRAL , where he outlines the inferiority of the LOS ANGELES SSN compare to the SOVIET SUBMARINES of the same era and how fortunate the USN was in not having to go to war against them . The Admiral was the skipper of the famous submarine of WW2 USS HALIBUT. Was awarded the Navy Cross, three Silver Stars and the Navy Unit Commendation . The LOS ANGELES class are apparently still in service. My point is simple —… Read more »