Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1365706
The situation in the case of the naval assets is similar. Russia, potentially, could be viewed as a powerful player here. The Baltic Fleet alone consists of 1 destroyer, 2 frigates, 4 modern 20380 corvettes, six legacy ASW corvettes, and 15 missile corvettes, with some of them having the Kalibr missiles at their disposal. The Black Sea fleet, alongside the Moskva cruiser, operates five frigates and 21 corvettes and missile boats. The Northern Fleet is qualitatively the strongest element - apart from the damaged Kusnetsov aircraft carrier, known for its smoke-generating capacity, this element has three cruisers, five destroyers, two frigates, and eight corvettes at its disposal. The Russians also have a significant submarine potential at their disposal. Even though only a single Kilo-class submarine is currently available to the Baltic Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet operates seven of these. The Northern Fleet, alongside the ballistic missile submarines (including the last of the remaining Typhoon-class vessels), also operates 20 nuclear and conventional submarines, including ones designed for gathering intelligence and supporting the SOF. Apart from the submarines, Russia does have a varied portfolio of warships available capable of working in littoral zones, and as blue water, or green water navy. Especially when extra protection is provided by the air assets. Here, multi-mission vessels capable of providing area air defense could be viewed as an ace up the West's sleeve. The capabilities warships as such offer make a maritime group's presence in the Baltic region, with a German Sachsen-class frigate, and Dutch De Zeven Provincien-class warship supported by other assets, such as the German Brandenburg- class ASW frigates, allow the west to effectively neutralize the surface assets, air assets, as well as the coastal missile assets altogether. Furthermore, the warships may also act against inland targets - supporting the effort undertaken by the other branches of the armed forces. The introduction of new warships, such as the new City- class frigates, would only amplify the aforesaid potential even further. The land domain is the one that is the most concerning one, at the same time - similarly as during the Cold War. According to OSINT, Russia has around 300 MBTs in the active service at any given moment, with an ability to increase that number by another 1,500 in four months. The mobilization capabilities are also significant here. The Russian regiment- or brigade-level combat elements are saturated with tube and rocket artillery, and air defense assets. It is not probable that all of the forces are used in one area. However, one should note that the Western Military District, according to the analysis published in 2020 by Konrad Muzyka (Rochan Consulting Group), has three large operational elements within its structure - two ANALYSIS