A Norwegian P-3C Orion captured these images of a Russian Northern Fleet Task Force shadowing NATO naval vessels collecting off the coast of Norway in the Norwegian Sea today.
The Russian vessels included a nuclear-powered Kirov-class cruiser which is probably the Pyotr Velikiy (099), since the Admiral Nakhimov (085) is still being refitted. A Udaloy-class anti-submarine fighter was also spotted north of Finnmark, probably the Severomorsk since the Vice Admiral Kulakov is in the Mediterranean and the Admiral Levchenko and the Admiral Chabanenko are inactive, under repair.
In addition to these, two other Russian military vessels currently operate north and south of Lofoten and Vesterålen, not far from Allied naval forces participating in the Norwegian military exercise Cold Response 2022.
Cold Response is a multi-national, Norwegian-led NATO exercise meant to demonstrate NATO’s ability to reinforce Norway in the event of an invasion. As well as allow the NATO Joint Task Force an opportunity to practice amphibious landings, air operations, and maritime cooperation. More than 30,000 NATO troops and an array of ships will be participating. The Russian Federation declined a NATO offer to observe the exercises, instead opting for this course of action. The exercise began yesterday and is slated to go until the end of March. This exercise is at a time of heightened tensions with Russia as they enter their third week of open warfare with Ukraine in which probably more than 4,000 of their troops have been killed.
These pictures were taken by a Norwegian P-3C Orion, soon to be replaced by their new fleet of P-8 Poseidons, contracted in a 2019 deal with Boeing. The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. The P-3 is equipped with a MAD in the extended tail. This instrument is able to detect the magnetic anomaly of a submarine in the Earth’s magnetic field.
Norway has bought five P-8s to all be delivered by 2023. The first arrived on February 24th, 2022, the same day as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
