Russia enters into confrontation in the Red Sea

February 12 2021 15

The Russian Federation is returning its influence to the Red Sea region, where the foreign policy interests of many powerful powers are intertwined. Back in November last year, Moscow signed an agreement with Khartoum to establish a naval base in Port Sudan, as well as a logistics center. In exchange, Russia will send military advisers to Sudan and will also be able to use the local airport to meet the needs of its military facility.

Thus, according to the American resource Fair Observer, Russia is strengthening its maritime power, expanding the combat capabilities of the Navy. Earlier, the Russian Federation has already secured its influence in the Mediterranean region through the Syrian base in Tartus and the presence of Wagner PMCs in Libya, but now the Red Sea is turning into a strategically important point for influential world players. The Port Sudan facility allows Moscow to expand its zone of influence from the Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

The Sudanese base also marks a deeper penetration of the Russian Federation into Africa, thanks to which the Russian Federation gains access rights to the extraction of natural resources of the “Black Continent”, as well as the possibility of concluding military agreements with African partners.

Fixing itself in the Red Sea region, Russia enters into a confrontation with other countries - the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are creating their outposts in this region. It is possible that competition between Moscow and Ankara will increase in this direction, as long as policy the two countries will not find a common ground of interests, as in a certain sense is happening in Libya and Syria.

Abu Dhabi is already cooperating with Moscow in Libya, supporting the LNA, while the Saudis may view the appearance of Russians here as new opportunities in the fight against the Yemeni Houthis and ensuring security in the south of the Red Sea. Basically, the countries of the Persian Gulf do not consider the Russian Federation as a threat, in contrast to the USA and Western countries, who impose onerous conditions on it.

The United States and the PRC already have their bases in the Horn of Africa, and they will have to come to terms with the increased military presence of Russia, which is now able to conduct military operations near the narrowest points of the planet - the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal.

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Monster_Fat

-6

12 February 2021 09: 43

The Russian Federation is returning its influence to the Red Sea region,

Uh-huh. And, its (influence) is losing in the Black Sea, where NATO and US ships began to feel themselves complete masters.
1. Yuri Nemov
  
  +6
  
  12 February 2021 16: 41
  
  The Black Sea is not a purely Russian reservoir, Turkey controls the Black Sea strait and therefore has a huge influence on the Black Sea basin. And Turkey, as you know, is a NATO member, and why would it feel not at home on the Black Sea? She felt exactly the same under the USSR. And it easily let the ships of the USA and other NATO members into the water area. But someone seems to have just woken up and did not know.
Afinogen

-2

12 February 2021 09: 56

Back in November last year, Moscow signed an agreement with Khartoum to establish a naval base in Port Sudan,

Find ships somewhere else to be based there. The Americans and China are rapidly building ships of different types, from small to large, and now we can only corvettes and frigates.
oderih

0

12 February 2021 10: 23

First of all, our ships need a service base in this region
Sapsan136

+5

12 February 2021 11: 06

Gentlemen, let's take a sober look at our fleet. I will not write much, so I will only touch on the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, especially since the Mediterranean Sea, back in the days of the USSR, was part of its zone of responsibility.

1) Even before the return of Crimea to the Russian Federation, a program for updating the Russian Black Sea Fleet was developed.
A) Under this program, the fleet was to receive 6 missile frigates of project 11356, of which only 3 were received, others are not expected in the foreseeable future.
B) Under the same program, the fleet was supposed to receive 6 missile supercorvettes of project 20385, of which not a single one was received.
C) In addition, the fleet was supposed to receive 10 MRKs, but received only 4 MRKs of the Buyan-M type.
D) The fleet was to receive 10 new minesweepers, of which only 2 minesweepers of the Alexandrite type were received (and the name for the ships was chosen bad, since Alexandrite is considered a widow's stone).
E) The program was carried out only for DPL. They planned to replenish the fleet with 6 submarines of the Varshavyanka type, 6th and replenished ...

2) However, it should be borne in mind that along with some replenishment, the Black Sea Fleet also suffered losses. BOD Kerch was written off, BOD Smetlivy was written off, MRK Mirage and Calm were written off, DPL B-380 was written off, sent for long-term repair of DPL Alrosa, which after repairs to the Black Sea Fleet will no longer return, will go to the Baltic. In total, the fleet lost 4 surface warships and 2 submarines. ...

3) Now think what the fleet can do today with the available forces ?! Do not know? And I will answer you, to die heroically in battle with the Turkish fleet, destroying it at the cost of your own life. Turkish ships are worse than ours, but there are many more of them. We have nothing to fight in the Mediterranean Sea, the maximum we have enough strength for today is to ensure the interests of the Russian Federation in the Black Sea, and then with an incredible effort of all the forces of the fleet. Before shouting about military bases abroad, it is necessary to replenish the fleet with new large multipurpose ships, a class no lower than frigates, without this all the talk about the Mediterranean Sea, empty boltology.
1. Jarilo
  
  -1
  
  12 February 2021 11: 30
  
  Defeat the enemy not by numbers, but by skill. The asymmetric answer is to do the same tasks without ships, if possible.
  1. Sapsan136
    
    +8
    
    12 February 2021 11: 37
    
    You can't even scare a hedgehog with a bare booty, and fighting is even more unrealistic. Skill is certainly necessary, but one in the field is not a warrior. Try to fight against 10, at least drunks, they will either clean your face, or completely beat you, if you are not an athlete, and the athlete will be remembered, or they will ditch the armature on the back of the head. We need to look at things realistically, without hacking. And if you think that you can and are able to do more than the military, we will give you our shoulder straps and will wait for you with a victory at home. And then by the hands of others who want to fight, there are many who want to fight, but they themselves are not hunting for bullets. Suffice it to recall the Armenians who, sitting on the stove in the Russian Federation, are offended that the Russian Federation did not go to fight for their Armenia ... And gentlemen, Russian Tatar, your Armenia went as it went to me and I am not obliged to fight for it. This is your land and your duty to protect it, not mine
  2. bear040
    
    +6
    
    13 February 2021 10: 45
    
    You must understand that in our time, the program, according to which the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation was supposed to be updated and replenished with new warships, has already been worked out taking into account the minimum support that the fleet should have in order to fulfill the tasks assigned to it. If the fleet did not receive this minimum, but it did not receive it, but it will not be able to fulfill the tasks assigned to it at all, or will be able to fulfill them only partially
2. Cat
  
  +1
  
  13 February 2021 14: 13
  
  You are right about everything, with the exception of "tsushima". The modern RF at the World Cup, has the following modern ships that can carry a variety of missile weapons, namely: 4 RK pr.1241 (16 anti-ship missiles "Mosquito") +2 pp.1139? (16 missile launchers "Moskit") + 4 MRC pr.21631 (32 missile launchers "Alpha") + 3 frigates pr. 11356 (24 missile launchers "Alpha") + 6 submarines pr. 06363 (72 missile launchers "Alpha") + cruiser pr. 1164 (16 missile launchers "Volcano") total 176 anti-ship missiles. In addition, the "Moscow" has 64 zur, which can be used as anti-ship missiles. Not giving in to the numerical strength of the Turkish fleet, but they do not have supersonic anti-ship missiles, and one big drawback, they do not have the Aegis air defense system. Therefore, the naval battles of our fleet off the coast of the Crimea, under the protection of the S-300/400 and air defense systems, will leave Turkey without a fleet. If you look closely, we are not so afraid of their fleet as their Air Force, the F-16 of which is about 250 units, and they, given the small size of the Black Sea, can safely carry 4 Harpoon anti-ship missiles ... in total, 1000 Harpoon missiles. There won't be enough of our zur. It is clear, and we will suffer losses, but our IA will not smoke on the sidelines ... But our obvious "Achilles heel" is the absence of the MD air defense system on all ships. And this should be "Pantsir-M" or "Tor MF." And they are not. But they are very expensive, Armor 15 years ago were sold for 15 million dollars. And now? We must have an MD air defense system, such as the American RIM-116. They took an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile with a diameter of 127 mm, removed the wings and stuck it in the pipe. So we have the Grad MLRS in this caliber. So let's take a 40-barrel package from the Grad, screw the corresponding head to its shells and onto the ships! So much for Ivan RAM! And the NURS Grad fly already 40 km. Well, something like this....
  1. Restless Sagittarius
    
    +1
    
    14 February 2021 08: 16
    
    The Turkish Air Force has only about 50 pieces of modern F-16 block 50+, all other junk. At the expense of RCC Mosquito, I have to disappoint you. Yes, when launched along a high trajectory, they have a range of up to 240 km, but taking into account modern air defense systems, these missiles will be shot down, but along a low-altitude trajectory, where it is almost impossible to shoot them down, their range is only 90 km, which is not a lot. The Russian Federation does not have any Alfa anti-ship missiles, the frigates 11356 and Buyan-M are armed with anti-ship missiles Caliber, with a range of up to 300 km against surface targets. On frigates 11356 there are quite modern air defense, but there are only 3 of them, but the air defense of MRK Buyan-M is frankly primitive.
    1. Cat
      
      0
      
      18 February 2021 10: 08
      
      Anti-ship missiles "Alpha", this is from the "Caliber" 3M54 family. A three-stage cruise missile with a supersonic warhead. She was sold to China, so her Chinese replica hits 550 km. It definitely is on our ships. It is a pity that the Onyx anti-ship missile system is not on any of our ships in three of the four fleets ....
      1. Restless Sagittarius
        
        +2
        
        17 March 2021 22: 13
        
        Onyx anti-ship missiles were on one of the Soviet RTOs of the Ovod type, I don't think they are not in the Russian fleet now
        
        Cat
        
        0
        
        18 March 2021 19: 30
        
        Of course they are, so far only on Project 22350, but there are only two of them. Of course, they are also on the pr.885 nuclear submarine, but there are only two of them so far. And all these four ships are part of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation. Did they launch the "Thundering" corvette? I don't know, it looks like not. That is, we have two types of UKSK for BNK, one for Project 22350 for Onyx and Zircon, and all other ships of Project 11356, 21631, 11661, 22800, 20385 only for Caliber.
123

0

13 February 2021 22: 47

How strange it is. A reprint of the "masterpiece" of Arab date traders?

Fixing itself in the Red Sea region, Russia enters into confrontation with other countries - the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are creating their outposts in this region.

Well, let's say "graters" with the Turks, what kind of confrontation with the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia? In the next paragraph already ..

Abu Dhabi is already cooperating with Moscow in Libya, supporting the LNA, while the Saudis may consider the appearance of Russians here as new opportunities in the fight against the Yemeni Houthis and security in the southern Red Sea. Basically, the countries of the Persian Gulf do not consider the Russian Federation as a threat, in contrast to the USA and Western countries, who impose onerous conditions on it.

Where is the Emirates, where is Libya and what does cooperation in the Red Sea have to do with it? Helping the Saudis to get rid of the Houthis is fantastic. With what fright did they decide that Russia would help the Saudis in Yemen? And then it turns out that none of the countries in the region considers Russia a threat. So what kind of confrontation are we talking about? The only one with whom a confrontation in this region is possible is the United States, or the British will accidentally wander.
And yet, I suppose you should not get excited and plan naval battles. It is about opening a "pivot" point. The Russian Navy gets the opportunity to enter the port, replenish supplies, rest, repair on the spot and not drive ships to Russia. There are dozens of similar ones in other countries in this region.
By the way, no one will keep a strong fleet there, geography however. Two bottlenecks, from the north the Suez Canal, from the south the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The probability of encountering a torpedo from a submarine there is quite high; it is rather difficult to slip past. This severely limits maneuvering options. In addition, air defense and coastal missile systems will most likely be placed there, which automatically makes it possible to control about a third of the Red Sea. Taking into account aviation, the possibilities are still expanding. This is unlikely to add optimism to those wishing to arrange a battle there.
It is a convenient logistic point and it is good that it appeared
And the ships ... they will be ... but then Yes, there are few of them, we need to build and build, but we must also understand that in terms of numbers with the Americans or the Chinese, if we will equal, it will not be soon enough. The size of the economy still varies considerably. And the fleet is not a cheap pleasure. See what India, England, Japan can afford.
Michael1950

-2

14 February 2021 17: 38

The natural resources of Africa have long been seized by China. He climbed in there "with two legs" and "up to the tomatoes" ...