News about NATO

HMS Prince of Wales, Britain's largest warship, has left Portsmouth Naval Base to lead the UK Carrier Strike Group to the Arctic and North Atlantic, marking the second phase of Operation Firecrest focused on readiness, training and NATO interoperability. It is accompanied by the Type-45 destroyer HMS Dauntless and carries an air group that includes F-35 jets and several types of helicopters. More than 1,200 British personnel are deployed, working with Norway, Denmark and Germany. The ship will host military and political leaders in Oslo for forums on Northern European security. A former Royal Navy chief has warned earlier this year that the navy is in its most parlous state in the 60 years he has been on the active list.

Germany’s Merkur, in an article dated October 12, called Russia’s Kh-BD cruise missile a “range monster,” with an estimated range of up to 6,500 km, and Russian outlet ABN24 picked up the report on October 15. The missile is believed to be developed for the Tu-95MS and Tu-160M strategic bombers, allowing strikes from far away without the aircraft needing to approach enemy airspace. According to Defense Express, leaked Russian procurement documents show an order of 32 missiles in two batches of 16, at about USD 4.5 million each, for a total of around USD 144 million. If the estimated range is achieved, bombers could launch from areas far from US air defenses, putting some targets on US territory within potential reach. Still, long range does not mean the ability to penetrate every defense system.

HMS Prince of Wales, the UK's largest warship, left Portsmouth on Sunday to lead the UK Carrier Strike Group on a deployment to the Arctic and North Atlantic, marking phase two of Operation Firecrest, focused on readiness, training and NATO interoperability. It sails with the Type-45 destroyer HMS Dauntless and carries an air group of F-35 jets, Merlin and Wildcat helicopters and Malloy drones. The Royal Navy says more than 1,200 British personnel are deployed, working with Norway, Denmark and Germany. The UK government says the deployment will help keep key energy, trade and communication links in the region secure, and the carrier will host military and political leaders in Oslo to discuss Northern European security.

Two Romanian F-16 fighters on air-defense duty shot down two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on October 17, minutes apart, over waters within Romanian territory. Radar had detected the group about 120 km east of Zmiiniy Island, flying southwest. The Romanian Ministry of Defence did not disclose the identity or type of the drones, but the article says their trajectory, passing about 65 km from Crimea’s coast and 140 km from the Ukrainian-controlled coast, indicates they originated from Russia. Romania is proposing a joint NATO Black Sea military command to counter UAVs, with member states rotating leadership, and says it is ready to lead the command from 2028.