Nine Chinese and Russian warships are on a joint patrol after wrapping a large joint naval exercise in the western Pacific, officials announced this week.
A joint Russian Navy–People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) surface action group that was assembled at the conclusion of Northern-Joint 2024 held live fire drills in the Sea of Okhotsk, according to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD).
The joint surface action group comprised of Russian Navy destroyers RFS Admiral Panteleyev (548) and RFS Admiral Tributs (564) and corvettes RFS MPK-107 (332), RFS MPK-82 (375) and RFS Smerch (423) and PLAN cruiser CNS Wuxi (104), destroyer CNS Xining (117), frigate CNS Linyi (547) and fleet oiler CNS Taihu (889).
The exercise included simulated attacks from fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). To counter the UAVs, the surface action group fired surface to air missiles, close in weapon systems and heavy machine guns, according to the release.
The combined patrol searched for an enemy submarine with one of the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet’s diesel-electric submarines acting as the enemy. The release stated that the anti-submarine warfare exercises were the last portion of the joint drills. The ships then conducted a replenishment at sea with fleet oilers, adding that a joint Russian Navy–PLAN detachment will then be formed to begin joint patrols in the Asia-Pacific region.
Earlier on Friday, the PLAN announced completion of the exercise along with releasing a video and images of the drills. Also on Friday, the Russian MOD issue a release about the arrival of ballistic-missile submarine RFS Emperor Aleksandr III (K-554) and nuclear-powered attack submarine RFS Krasnoyarsk (K-571) at the Russian Pacific Fleet’s submarine base at Vilyuchinsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The two boats are among the Russian Navy’s newest submarines. Both were commissioned in December and made an Arctic passage from the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet area of operations to arrive at the Pacific Fleet base, according to the MOD.
“Constructing strategic nuclear submarines and [attack] submarines is one of the highest priorities of the Russian Ministry of Defense,” reads the statement
“There is continuing work to develop a maritime strategic nuclear force in the Northern and Pacific fleets.”
“During the patrols, the Russian and PLAN ships will conduct a series of training and combat exercises, including anti-submarine warfare and sea rescue,” read the release.
Simultaneously, U.S. Navy warships guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70) and guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG-100) are “conducting homeland defense operations in the Northern Pacific,” according to the images issued from the Pentagon.
Meanwhile on Monday, NORAD in a post on social media channel X, stated that a Russian Su-35 carried out dangerous and unprofessional maneuvers during NORAD intercept in the Alaska air defense identification zone on Sept. 23.
NORAD included a video clip and images in the post and also released photos and video of the incident on DVIDS with a statement.
“On Sept. 23, 2024, a U.S. Air Force F-16 operating under the direction of North American Aerospace Defense Command, was conducting a routine intercept of a Russian Tu-95 aircraft in the Alaskan [ADIZ] when a Russian Su-35 aircraft conducted an unsafe maneuver directed at the F-16.
The Russian MOD on Sept. 24 issued a release stating that two Tu-95MS bombers carried out a planned flight over the neutral waters of the Bering Sea near the western coast of Alaska, though it did not state when the flight occurred. The flight lasted more than 11 hours with fighter escort provided by Su-35S and Su-30SM fighter aircraft.
“All flights are carried out in strict accordance with the International Rules for the Use of Airspace,” reads the Russian release which made no mention of any interceptions or incident during the flight.
