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Business Insider
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Russia's navy looks to be stretched thin after getting battered by Ukraine and losing a key port, Western officials say
TROMSØ, NORWAY — Russia's navy looks to be stretched thin by the Ukrainian attacks in the Black Sea and the loss of a key port in Syria, a top Dutch commander told Business Insider. During an interview aboard the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS De Ruyter last week, Commodore Arjen Warnaar said these recent setbacks have greatly affected the Russian Navy from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic region. "I think they're stretched," said Warnaar, commander of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 — one of the military alliance's immediate reaction forces — while its flagship vessel De Ruyter conducted operations in the Norwegian Sea. Russia's navy has always been under a certain degree of strain due to limits in shipbuilding, maintenance, and modernization, redeployment challenges, and operational overstretch. Recent setbacks, however, have put further pressure on the fleet. At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine lacked a naval force capable of meeting the threat. What little it had didn't last long. To prevent the Russians from capturing it, the Ukrainians scuttled their one major warship. Its other naval vessels were damaged, destroyed, or captured. To project power in the Black Sea and fight back against Moscow, Kyiv launched an asymmetric military campaign involving domestically produced naval drones and missile strikes. Ukrainian operations have damaged or destroyed dozens of Russian warships and naval vessels and forced Moscow to relocate much of the Black Sea Fleet from its Sevastopol headquarters in occupied Crimea to the port of Novorossiysk on the other side of the region. Staggering Russian losses and forced retreats under relentless Ukrainian strikes have stretched a Russian fleet already hobbled by attrition, aging ships in need of repair, and a shipbuilding industry too strained to replace them. Russia's naval setbacks worsened in late 2024 after Syrian rebel forces seized the capital, Damascus, and toppled the Assad regime, bringing a swift end to the country's yearslong civil war. Russia provided military support to the Assad regime during the brutal conflict, and in exchange, it enjoyed a significant presence at Syria's Tartus naval facility on the Mediterranean Sea. However, the change in Damascus has jeopardized the future of Moscow's operations at the strategic port. Warnaar said the fallout of these two setbacks has been significant for the Russian Navy. "I think they've always been stretched," Warnaar said of Russia's naval forces, but the situation looks to be getting worse. "Once things start to happen — and, obviously, Ukraine is an example — they'll be even more stretched." He noted that NATO has the assets for any additional stretch required. "Looking at what they're doing in the Mediterranean, losing a port there means losing logistical support — and that stretches the capabilities they have, which mainly come from this Northern Fleet," the commander said. The Northern Fleet is based in Russia's Murmansk region, along the Barents Sea. A NATO official echoed Warnaar's assessment and said losing Tartus means Russia now needs to pull assets from other regions to support operations in the Mediterranean, putting greater stress on Moscow's ships and submarines and support systems to sustain the deployments. And Russia's Black Sea losses have only added to its force generation challenges, said the NATO official, speaking with Business Insider on the condition of anonymity to discuss alliance observations concerning Russia's navy. These issues are not unique to the Russian Navy. The official said many militaries face force generation issues. But Moscow's problems are compounded by its efforts to keep pace with NATO's vast, jointly organized maritime presence around the European continent. These challenges are becoming increasingly important in the Arctic region, where climate change is opening up new shipping lanes, creating military and economic opportunities for NATO allies — and adversaries. The growing significance of the High North region was underscored last month when Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 — led by the sleek Dutch warship De Ruyter — deployed to the frigid waters off the northern coast of Norway to conduct a range of operations. British Cdr. Craig Raeburn, chief of staff of the maritime group, told Business Insider that NATO was "operating in this area because it's something we haven't done for a while." He said one of the many reasons the consortium of warships deployed to the Arctic is to keep an eye on Russian activity in the region and also "see how they react to us being here." Moscow was relatively unmoved by the deployment. At one point, a lone Russian naval aircraft operated in close proximity to the maritime group, but none of its ships came out to monitor the NATO activity, Warnaar said. He attributed this to possible strain on the Russian Navy following a series of major exercises called July Storm. Cdr. Arlo Abrahamson, spokesperson for NATO Allied Maritime Command, said the alliance's maritime presence across the Euro-Atlantic is intended to defend and protect allied interests. "In projecting this maritime presence, with a robust security network of Allied navies, if an adversary wants to maintain a similar profile, it's going to place strain on their force generation capabilities," Abrahamson said in emailed remarks to Business Insider. Russia isn't able to match that without stress on the fleet.
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Inside the chopper that NATO warships lean on to find Russian submarines
Business Insider traveled with the Dutch Navy in the Arctic region to witness NATO operations. A reporter flew on the European-made NH90 helicopter, which specializes in anti-submarine warfare. This small aircraft is highly suited for missions in the Arctic, where NATO monitors Russian subs. ABOVE THE NORWEGIAN SEA — The sleek, gray NH90 helicopter cut through the brisk Arctic air, leaving the jagged coastal mountains and fjords behind. From above, the frigid blue waters below showed no signs of life. The helicopter wasn't on the hunt when Business Insider flew from Tromsø, Norway, out to the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate HNLMS De Ruyter, but it's built for that mission. Had a Russian submarine been lurking below the surface, as they often do in this remote part of the world, the helicopter could have employed its powerful dipping sonar and other advanced — and secretive — equipment to find the hidden boat. The flight out to the Dutch frigate, the lead ship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, as it was conducting operations in the Norwegian Sea, was merely an airport transfer; however, the NH90 plays an integral role in anti-submarine warfare, one of the standing group's key missions in this latest deployment. Several of De Ruyter's crew members described the helicopter as essential to its sub-hunting capabilities. "It's a fantastic asset," British Lt. Cdr. Michael Royle, the staff anti-submarine warfare officer aboard De Ruyter, said of the NH-90. He described the helicopter as a valuable "force multiplier." 'A big addition' to the warship The NHIndustries NH90 is a twin-engine multirole helicopter made by a consortium of European companies and is in service with nine NATO militaries, including the Netherlands. Although they aren't members of the alliance, Oman, Qatar, and New Zealand also operate the aircraft. The NH90 was developed to satisfy NATO's need for a helicopter that could operate in naval environments. Since the aircraft made its first flight in the mid-1990s, over 500 of them have been built in two variants — an army transport version and another that can be embarked on frigates like the De Ruyter. One of the NH90's main mission sets is anti-submarine warfare. It is equipped with dipping sonar — a deployable underwater sensor that emits pulses and analyzes echoes — and expendable sonar buoys, which rely on acoustic sensors to track submarines and potential threats underwater. The helicopter is relatively spacious. Two pilots sat in the cockpit, while a third crew member sat in the back. At one point, as the aircraft approached De Ruyter, he slid open the door, giving way to a blast of Arctic breeze. The NH90 is full of sensitive equipment, so much so that Business Insider was not permitted to take photographs of the interior. Royle said that the sonar system can be dropped into the sea at "a big depth;" he declined to say how deep. "That allows you to exploit the water column in order to get the massive ranges for sonars to be able to potentially detect submarines." Dutch Cpl. Duncan, a NH90 maintainer with the De Ruyter who was only authorized to use his rank and first name for security reasons, told Business Insider that by deploying both the sonar and the buoys, "you can determine the exact spot and triangulate where something — or someone — could be." The NH90 helicopter can also operate in bad visibility, which can be a challenge in the Arctic region, making it an important tool in countering Russia's submarine force. Russia fields one of the largest submarine fleets in the world, with an estimated 64 active boats. Dozens of boats belong to its Northern Fleet, based in the Murmansk region along the Barents Sea. To get to the Atlantic and Mediterranean as quickly as possible, they have to sail through the Arctic and head west around the northern tip of Norway, through the waters where Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 was operating last week. In recent years, top Western military officers have drawn attention to growing Russian submarine and naval activity in the Atlantic, among other waterways. There is also increasing concern in Europe about damage to critical underwater infrastructure; in January, NATO deployed military forces to the Baltic Sea to respond to sabotage incidents. Commodore Arjen Warnaar, the Dutch commander of the Standing NATO Maritime Group, told Business Insider that countering submarines is one of the De Ruyter's main tasks on its current Arctic deployment. "One of the main reasons for me to be here is to increase our readiness. So that's basically what we've been doing up north," he said. "We've been exercising all kinds of different operations," Warnaar explained. "Surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare — just basic picture compilation, replenishment, logistics are important. And at the same time, we've been having a good look around." NATO forces operate several other aircraft equipped to track down Russian submarines, such as Boeing's P-8 Poseidon or Lockheed's P-3 Orion. These planes, while well-equipped, are less flexible than helicopters like the SH-60 Seahawk or NH90 because they operate from airfields rather than ships at sea, limiting time on site. Cpl. Duncan called the helicopter "a big addition" to De Ruyter because it can extend the range of the warship's anti-submarine warfare capabilities. "The range extension of the sonar is an important aspect because of the abilities of detecting, seeing, and determining if there are any contacts on the water," he explained, adding that the helicopter can clear water columns of potential threats — also known as sanitizing the area — before the ship moves into the space. Adm. Stuart Munsch, the commander of US Naval Forces Europe-Africa, previously told Business Insider that anti-submarine warfare is one of the hardest missions to execute in naval operations. However, he said NATO forces have become increasingly proficient at this task in the Atlantic Ocean and in the High North region.
