Russian submarines play 'cat and mouse' with NATO Navy

Photo: RIA Novosti

Analyst Thomas Guchker in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote that the reappearance of Russian submarines and fleets in the Mediterranean after many years has made NATO worried.

Tracking Russian submarines is a more difficult task for Western navies.

“Russian submarine activity has reached its highest level since the Cold War,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, pointing out that since the beginning of 2014, the Russian Navy has received 13 new submarines that could threaten US communications in the Atlantic.

The Americans are particularly concerned about the new Varshavyanka and Paltus-class submarines. As an example, expert Thomas Guchker cites the operation involving the Krasnodar submarine, which NATO military experts call the quietest “black hole”.

To track this submarine, NATO had to use four destroyers and several anti-submarine aircraft deployed in Sicily at the same time.

In the Mediterranean, the submarine submerged and surfaced only to launch Kalibr missiles at international terrorist targets in Syria. After that, the submarine began playing “cat and mouse” with NATO navies and returned safely to its base in the Black Sea.

As a result, US strategists had to admit that “Russian submarines operate very professionally”, and began to request additional budget increases for re-equipping naval forces.

Project 636.3 submarines are built at the Admiralty Shipyard in Saint-Petersburg specifically for the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

These submarines belong to the third generation diesel submarines, which are considered to be one of the quietest submarines compared to submarines of other navies, and at the same time have higher combat efficiency than their Russian predecessors, as well as being equipped with the latest missile-torpedo complexes and electronic warfare systems.

The range of the Kalibr cruise missile used for this ship is about 2,000 km.