Today Ukraine announced that its military had launched attacks on two sanctioned Russian Oil tankers operating in the Black Sea.
The ships, identified as the Gambian-flagged Kairos and Virat were empty at the time of the attacks and it is reported they were heading to the Russian city of Novorossiysk, a major port and oil hub for Russia especially in the Black Sea region.
Tanker Virat after the attack. Mostly minor damage on this ship.
During an interview with Turkish broadcaster NTV, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu,the transport and infrastructure minister for Turkey, said the attacks took place within the country’s exclusive economic zone.
The Russia shadow fleet oil tanker Virat stopped near Turkey after it was attacked by Ukranian sea drones.
This attack is being reported by Ukraine as a joint operation between the SBU’s 13th Main Directorate of Military Counterintelligence with the Ukrainian Navy. The operation was carried out with Ukrainian “Sea Baby” drones which can travel long distances.
Video of the events were relesed across social media.
Морські дрони СБУ Sea Baby уразили в Чорному морі два підсанкційні танкери тіньового флоту РФ KAIRO та VIRAT.
Це була спільна операція 13-го Головного Управління військової контррозвідки СБУ з ВМС України.
The Russian dark fleet oil tankers Kairos (left) and Virat (right) were heavily damaged in the Black Sea yesterday after being targeted by a number of Ukrainian USVs. pic.twitter.com/cH9re9neTM
Both ships attacked have been under sanctions by the UK and European Union. However these two ships and the many more like them continue to find Russia’s nearly four year long war. They continue to haul Russias crude oil and funnel money to Moscow, fueling Russias economy.
“The Russian shadow fleet has become almost a tumour on global shipping,” said Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative.
“The shadow fleet has grown exponentially, and Western governments have tried sanctioning specific vessels … but every time that happens, another vessel enters the shadow fleet.”
These Russian shadow ships often carry “flags of convenience” often being flagged in places with little knowledge or experience in maritime affairs, places like the Gambia and Cook Islands.
Ships that’s are sanctioned have no access to western ports and personnel. They are barred from trading from many nations however are still able to find buyers in China and even in Europe. Some European nations still buy Russian gas and oil either directly or through a third party.
The Russian shadow fleet is made up of as many as a reported 1500 ship as of 2024 highlighting the ineffectiveness of the western sanctions to slow the flow of Russian oil. This is one reason why Ukraine has taken such an interest in targeting Russian oil production choosing instead to attempt to stop it at its source.
Last week, Italian Aeronautica Militare Eurofighter Typhoons intercepted a TU-134 “Black Pearl” over the Baltic Sea while taking part in their routine Baltic Air Policing (BAP). The Black Pearl is a pretty rare sight only spotted in the Baltic twice since 2020. “Black Pearl” is the name given to the plane by western military analysts, its actual NATO designation is “Crusty-B”.
The Typhoons were stationed at Ämari Air Base in Estonia. They recently replaced the Italian F-35’s that were stationed at the same base. The Italians are taking part in the multinational NATO operation Eastern Sentry.
The TU-134 “Black Pearl” accompanied by two Su-30SM2 and a SU-24.
At the time of interception of “The Black Pearl”, a modified version of the civilian Tupolev TU-134, the district plane was being accompanied by two Sukhoi Su-30SM2 “Flankers” and what is believed to be a Su-24MR “Fencer”. The “Flankers” are operated by the Russian Navy, while the “Fencer” is from the Russian Air Force.
Sukhoi Su-24 Flanker. Italian Typhoon tailing the two SU-30’s.
The Black Pearl is a Tu-134UBL (now Tu-134A-4 VIP transport) that was at one time used to train pilots and navigators of Russia’s strategic bomber forces. Anything from the Tu- 160’s to the Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS. The Russians added a very sharply pointed, bomber-like nose and a black paint job. The jet is now mostly used as a VIP transport. As it was encountered over the Baltic it’s likely it was hauling Russian VIPs to the Russian enclave in Kaliningrade.
NATO air command shared the images on November 21st, but implied that the images weren’t taken that day.
Over the last week 🇮🇹 jets deployed at Amari 🇪🇪scrambled to intercept multiple 🇷🇺 assets. NATO Air Policing in the Baltic region ensures security of @NATO airspace under Eastern Sentry#EasternSentry is enhancing flexibility and strength to NATO's posture on the eastern flank pic.twitter.com/UElLnTi7VJ
The plane was intercepted in 2020 by F-16’s from the Belgium Air Force that were also conducting a BAP. They managed to capture an inferred image of the plane from the F-16’s Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod.
IR imagery of the Black Pearl taken from the Sniper pod of a Bulgarian F-16.
The Black Pearl is an interesting variant of an aircraft that you don’t see very much anynore.
It’s believed the Black Pearl was shepherding the fighters for delivery to the 4th Guards Naval Assault Aviation Regiment of the 34th Mixed Aviation Division, assigned to Baltic Fleet Aviation and based at Chernyakhovsk Air Base in Kaliningrad, according to KEY.AERO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged that the Russian federation is responsible for the downing of the Azerbaijani Airlines, Flight 8243 on Christmas Day 2024.
The plane, an Embaer 190 took off from Heydar Aliyev International Airport carrying 62 passengers and 5 crew.
The flight first experienced issues about 40 minutes after takeoff when it first entered the Russian airspace around Grozny. The pilots reported losing GPS navigational systems, due to jamming. The plane continued its approach at the Kadyrov Grozny International Airport in the Chechen capital. At this time the pilots reported twice tried to land at Grozny but were ultimately diverted due to fog. 81 minutes into the flight, and while the plane was still over Grozny, passengers at this time reported an explosion and shrapnel striking the aircraft. The pilots thought they had experienced a bird strike and proceeded to initiate emergency protocols and squawked 7700, which signals to others that the flight is experiencing an emergency. They then turned back towards the Caspian Sea.
The plane made it across the Caspian and back to Azerbaijan but the pilots were not able to maintain control of the aircraft while trying to put it down in Baku. Video from the ground showed the plane changing altitude at a very quick rate as the plane pitched up and down as the pilots fought to bring the plane down with increasingly unresponsive controls.
Video from the crash of Azerbaijani Airlines Flight 8243.
The plane ultimately crashed, bursting into a large fireball and split in half. Of the 67 people on board, 38 were killed. Almost immediately after the crash there were questions. What actually happened to flight 8243?
Photos from the crash showed damage not consistent with a bird strike. Damage to the tail looked more like the damage from the explosion of an air defense missile. In fact, several passengers had been injured from shrapnel from the explosion.
An image from the crash. The tail of the plane shows shrapnel damage.
Russia right away denied that this had happened. Several days later The New York Times put out a report which stated that Azerbaijani investigators believed that a Russian Pantsir S-1 had actually shot the plane. On February 4th, investigators found fragments from a Pantsir S-1 missile inside the airplane’s fuselage.
At the time the plane was attempting to land the city was under warning as Ukrainian drones had been spotted in the area and shot down.
On December 28th Russian President Vladimir Putin apologized to the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the “tragic incident” although he didn’t elaborate further on the incident.
Today the Russian president, speaking with the Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, admitted to him that Russian air defense was responsible for the crash and that two Russian air defense missiles had exploded near the plane.
The Russian President very rarely admits to mistakes by his military. More than a decade after a Malaysian flight was brought down over Ukraine by Russian defense systems, Putin still denies Russian involvement.
The previous denial of the Russian involvement in the Azerbaijani airlines flight has caused some tension between Russian and Azerbaijan causing Aliyev to become increasingly critical of Moscow, even offering support to Ukraine and condemning what he called the “soviet occupation” of Azerbaijan. Some in the country were even calling for the relationship between Russia and Azerbaijan to be cut. It’s likely this admission of guilt by the Russian leadership is more about saving the relationship with an increasingly strong ally.
US Navy E-6B Mercury refueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker.
By.Scott Jackson
09/24/2025
On the night of September 23-24 both France and the United States carried out separate nuclear exercises. These exercises act as apart of a deterrence strategy aimed at making any potential adversaries think twice about attacking. They also provide real life training for the crews involved preparing them for a day that they hope never happens.
Some components of these drills were monitored in real time.
COST43 a U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury.
COST43 the callsign for a U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury, the Airborne Nuclear Command Post and Communications Relay. The jet is seen in the above image heading back to Ramstein AFB, Germany after this mornings nuclear exercise by U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) over Northern Europe.
Today, in an act that the Estonian foreign minister is calling “unprecedentedly brazen”, three Russian MIG-31 “Foxhound” fighter jets violated Estonia’s border and remained inside Estonia for 12 minutes. They crossed the border in the area of the Gulf of Finland.
Russian MIG-31 “Foxhound”
NATO forces responded to intercept the Russian fighters with several Italian F-35’s being scrambled to track and intercept the Russian MIG’s. The alliance’s spokeswoman Allison Hart said ”This is yet another example of reckless Russian behavior and NATO’s ability to respond.”
Swedish forces also responded with several JAS 39 Gripen scrambling to the Baltic area where they intercepted and tracked the three Russian jets.
Russian Mig-31Swedish JAS 39 Gripen
Tensions between NATO and Russia have remained high since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine but spiked even more recently as Russian drones flew into Polish airspace just 10 days ago. NATO responded to shoot down some of the drones in that incident as well. Poland called the incursion a deliberate effort to test NATO’s willingness to respond and its readiness.
“..three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen-clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression.”
“Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen-clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression.” Margus Tsahkna, Estonian minister of foreign affairs. He continued “Russia’s ever-increasing testing of borders and aggressiveness must be responded to by rapidly strengthening political and economic pressure,”
In response to the incident in Poland, and now Estonia, NATO has launched new air patrol operations in eastern and Northern Europe. This operation is going by the name Eastern Sentry and is modeled after the Baltic Sentry operations that have been taking place in the Baltic. Baltic sentry added new aircraft and ships to its patrols after the recent Russian incursions and continuing acts of sabotage. The operation includes increasing air and sea patrols, as well as an increase in ground based interceptor launchers and radar. Eastern Sentry will focua mainly on Poland however it can be shifted to deal with Russian threats in other countries.
“Russia’s recklessness in the air along our eastern flank is increasing in frequency,” said NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte. He added that drones have recently violated the airspace of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania.
“This was no accident.” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas speaking on the Estonian situation.
The Russian ministry of defense has declined to respond to an email from GCR.
At the time of writing another situation is ongoing with 2 other Russian jets doing a low flying pass on one of polands Petrobaltic oil and gas platform in the Baltic Sea. While Polish airspace was not violated in this case it shows the willingness to engage in aggressive behavior on the side of Russia.
According to video evidence as well as Russian and Ukrainian sources, Ukraine has downed a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 this morning.
“This morning, on June 7, 2025, as a result of a successful Air Force operation in the Kursk direction, a Russian Su-35 fighter jet was shot down,”
Statement made on telegram from the Ukrainian military.
The Russian army hasn’t yet responded to this claim however sources claiming to be Russian soldiers have chimed in. They say the plane was shot down but that the pilot had ejected.
Video showing the wreckage of the Su-35 after being shot down.
Claims have appeared online saying that a Dutch supplied F-16 using an AMRAAM was responsible for the downing.
The crash is near Yurasovo village in the Kursk direction.
On Sunday, we reported on a major covert drone attack carried out by Ukraine on Russian airbases across the country destroying a not insignificant percentage of Russia’s long range strategic bomber fleet. This attack stunned Moscow as well as western leaders who by all accounts weren’t made aware of the strike beforehand.
‘Operation Spiderweb’, the name given to the operation was carried out using semi trucks that were loaded up with a reported 117 drones total. The drones were used to target 4-5 different airbases spread all over Russia with the furthest being in Siberia.
The trailers on the semi trucks were each disguised as sheds being hauled. When parked near their targets the roof was activated remotely and would slid off allowing the drones inside to be piloted remotely into their targets. Ukraine has done mass drone attacks before, often even but drones launched from Ukraine have to travel much further and are at a greater danger of being shot down by Russian Air Defense.
Image released by Ukrainian security services shows the back of the trucks which were used as makeshift drone carriers.
The drivers of the trucks were all Russian truck drivers contracted out by one (or several guys) using the name Artyom. They were contacted with delivery instructions and all had similar stories about getting to their drop off point and then the roof sliding off and drones started flying out. Russia is still investigating.
Let’s go over each of the airbases and look at the numbers for Russian loses as best we can. These numbers are all based on satellite images received as well as open source information. Take the following breakdown for what it’s worth, an analysis done with less than an optimal amount of data.
Before we jump in I’ll link to some videos one from the day of the attack and the other released today which has some more data we can use and is almost 5 minutes long.
Here is the first.
Video shows the first footage most were shown of Operation Spider Web.
Belaya Airbase. Probably the hardest hit of the airbases.
This video was released the day after the attack and shows strikes from all of the bases. A lot of the analysis I’m doing here will include things seen in this video.
Olenya Air Base
Olenya Air Base directly after the drone attack.
On the Kola Peninsula, Air Base Olenya is an important part of Russia’s military operations. The bases aircraft are mostly made up with a collection of Sukhoi Su-24 and Tupolev Tu-95s.
Most recent Google Earth Image from Olenya Air Base.Most recent imagery shows a line of TU-95This image is from Olenya but more recent than the Google earth inages.
After Ukraine’s attack images look a bit different.
The below shows the wider view in the aftermath of the attack .
After looking at this data as well as the video clips of the attacks it’s believed that at least 4 Russian Tu-95 bombers were destroyed at Olenya air base along with one An-12 transport aircraft.
Online sleuths have pointed out that in the video released after the attack you can see that at least one of the Tu-95’s had already been loaded with Kh-101 cruise missile. These bombers among others have been responsible for the recent missile wave attacks launched at Ukraine and her city’s. Some of the largest missile and drone attacks of the war have been carried out in the past 2 weeks.
Alleged Russian cruise missile spotted during operation spiderweb.
Ivanovo
Ivanovo Severny Air base houses the 144th AEW&C regiment as well as rhe 610th Combat Use and Retraining Center for Military Transport Aviation.. The Ivanovo airbase houses a number of retired A-50 (and possibly active A-50’s) as well as transport aircraft like the Il-76. The video shows two A-50s being struck however I don’t know if these are the operational A-50s. Now we know Ukraine watched and planned this mission for a year and a half. I would like to think they wouldn’t waste the time attacking an airfield that holds nothing except some old parts planes. They had great Intel for this operation so it’s possible but I wanted to at least mention the uncertainty.
Two images from a drone on the day of the strikes. These planes are covered in tires and other things used to break up line of sight for drones. Russia often uses tires for this purpose.
Dyagilevo air base
Of all the airbases. This is the one I have the least data for. I’ve yet to see satellite imagery from after the attack so I’ll just go by the video. It seems that a number of Tu-22s were targeted. At least 4 possibly more however I did notice that some of the planes shown in the video were struck multiple times. Will update this if I can get more info.
Belaya
Belaya air base in theUsolsky District, Irkutsk Oblast was hit pretty aggressively compared to the others.
The base houses two types of Russias strategic bombers with the 200th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Brest Red Banner Order of Suvorov Regiment using Tu-22M3, the 444th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment with the Tu-22M3 and the 181st Independent Composite Aviation Squadron with the Antinov A-12 and A-30. Present at the base during the attack were also Tu-95s.
This is the before shot of the airbase. Included fkr comparison with the after shot. This base has several decoy parking slots used to fool drones and satellites. That being said the paint for the decoys is very old so it’s fairly easy to spot. Sat images done by Planet labs.The shot after Operation Spiderweb. Sat images done by Planet labs.
If my math is correct this airbase lost at least a solid 4 Tu-22’s, those are the ones that I can see, from the images, burned up and are completely destroyed. The video m of the attack shows multiple other Tu-22s that were targeted making me think that there is a good chance that some were damaged and need repaired or are not recoverable but we just can’t see it. So for now I’m sticking with 4 but it has an asterisk.
I’m not counting this one, which is an obvious decoy. The fake wreckage might have fooled me but I’ve seen this base before. Pictures of this spot exist prior to the operation.
The image with the decoy shows 2 of the 3 completely destroyed Tu-95’s. There is one more further down the runway which can be seen in the imagery and is shown to be struck in the video.
Afterthoughts
This attack will go down as one of Ukraines highlight moments in the war, showing a weakness in Russia’s current method of parking their airplanes.
The line of B-52 Stratofortress at Anderson AFB.
However. While my own country of the U.S. does have Hardened Aircraft Shelters, they are usually only found being used on the frontlines areas like the Middle East or in The Pacific. Protecting those w deployed assets is extremely important but it’s becoming increasingly glaring that some day, one of the US’s enemy’s could stage a similar attack, knocking out multiple squadrons of long range bombers before anybody even knows what’s happening. China on the other hand has been ahead of the game in this field building vast hundreds of these shelters for their air fleets. China who also happens to be in the forefront of drone warfare and combat tech. Could it be thag China sees a threat because they know the possibility’s of what rcan be accomplished with drones?
The opening of a Hardened aircraft shelter located in South Korea.
I’d like to thank everybody who provided imagery for this, especially planet labs who allows me to be on their mailing list to receive these images when something big happens. That was a nice surprise after I started trying to find sat images to find them in my email.
Last year Warsaw’s largest shopping center, Marywilska 44, was burned down leading to a year long investigation that was only concluded earlier this month. That investigation, led to the arrest of several Polish nationals acting as Russian operatives and connected to the Russian state and the GRU, Russia’s secret police.
“We already know for sure that the large fire on Marywilska was the result of arson ordered by Russian services. The actions were coordinated by a person staying in Russia. Some of the perpetrators are already in custody, the rest have been identified and are being sought,”
Polish Prine Minister Donold Tusk writing on Twitter.
This case of arson was one of several terrorist acts linked to Russia, all being carried out in the weeks leading up the Marywilska 44 fire. Arson is the focus of this article however attempted cyberattacks are another regular occurrence in countries that have shown support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. In early 2024 shipments of pillows, cosmetics and sex toys were filled with explosions being detonated in British Birmingham, Leipzig in Germany and in Warsaw, Poland. All of this is apart of an ongoing hybrid warfare campaign being waged by Russia on Poland (among others) as backlash for their support to Ukraine.
Back to the shopping center Investigators in Poland are working with those in Lithuania for a similar series of sabotage activities believed to be linked to Russia according to a statement by Justice Minister Adam Bodnar and Interior Minister. Tomasz Siemoniak. Since some of the perpetrators in Poland had been arrested Polish authorities believe they have enough evidence to directly tie Russia to these crimes and Bodnar and Siemoniak continued in their statement: “Based on the evidence collected, we know that the fire was the result of arson committed at the request of the Russian security services. We have in-depth knowledge about the course of the arson, as well as the way in which the perpetrators documented it.”
The immediate response to these attacks has been the closure of the Russian Consulate in Warsaw Poland however its still believed Russian operatives are carrying out other operations in Poland with several abductions being linked and a string of arson’s. Another consulate had been closed previously by Poland citing its link to a cyberattack, acts of sabotage, as well as other intelligence activities.
This highlights Russia’s willingness and want to wage a sort of hybrid war, using terrorism and other more covert methods in an aim to punish those it views as hostile to Russia. In October of 2024 MI5 Director General Ken McCallum had this to say of the GRU was “…on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets”. A Romanian man was attested in 2024 in Birmingham after settling fire to a DHL warehouse on behalf of Russia.
The Baltic nations have also had to deal with this extensively as Russian ships regularly attack underwater cables by dragging their anchors over them. Severing the lines. NATO warships often follow Russian linked ships now, even going so far as to have submarines tail these cargo ships.
Actions like the one here have led to a wave of diplomatic closures as European/western countries,one by one, board up embassy’s and ban Russian diplomats from entry.
Over the past several days the North Atlantic Treaty organization or NATO has carried out a series of large navel focused exercises across the Baltic, North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Norwegian Seas.
For those who don’t know NATO is a military alliance between 32 member nations. Formed in 1949 as a way to provide collective defense to its members from the then perceived threat posed by the Soviet Union. It remained in place after the fall of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.
The fighting forces of of NATO are made up of the military’s of the nations that make up the treaty by rotating voluntary forces. However NATO keeps several permanent navel fleets standing as apart of NRF- NATO’s Response Force. The fleets are made up of mostly destroyers and frigates from rotating in from member nations with the supply ships used by the fleet being the only constant.
Some of rhe ships of Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2).
The past weeks exercises not only focused on their specific goals (which I’ll get to below) but showcased the just massive amount of firepower and capabilities that NATO and its combined nations can field. Let’s take a closer look.
Dynamic mongoose 25
“Dynamic Mongoose is NATO’s largest and most intensive annual anti-submarine warfare exercise in Northern European waters. This year’s version, Dynamic Mongoose 25, has come to an end. It was both a great success and a memorable experience. With over 10 countries participating—with submarines, frigates, support ships, helicopters, Maritime Patrol Aircraft, and coast guard vessels—we have truly shown we are stronger together.”
Royal Netherlands Navy Commodore Arjen S. Warnaar, Commander of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1)
Brining together frigates, submarines, support ships and aviation maritime patrol craft Dynamic Mongoose is the largest ASW exercises conducted annually by NATO. The event was hosted by the Icelandic Coast Guard and involved personnel and equipment from more than 10 member nations all led by NATO’s Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM). Carried out in the waters of the North Atlantic the forces would carry out different scenarios all designed around Anti Submarine Warfare and all of its complexities. The event teaches the crews how different crews and assets with very different abilities can work together to solve problems.
Dynamic mongoose had the participating sides rotate through hunting and evading in complex undersea warfare scenarios in the challenging conditions of the North Atlantic waters.
The GIUK-N Gap was a big focus for the event and is a key maritime corridor between Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom/Norway. This event focused on an area that would be one of the most important areas should the capabilities become necessary. In a war between NATO and Russia for example, thag corridor would likely be a hot spot for submarines and has been considered strategically important since the beginning of the 20th century.
A map showing the GIUK-N Gap. Images from a previous year’s Dynamic Mongoose.
Formidable shield 25
Belgian navy frigate BNS Louise-Marie fires off a Sea Sparrow missile.
Participating nations include crews, ships from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, U.K., and U.S. with the Australians providing a radar sensor for data collection only.
Formidable Shield is the biennially (During the odd numbered years) occurring largest live fire exercise carried out in Europe. This year the event was carried out from Norway and the United Kingdom and the North Sea and Atlantic.
This exercise focuses on Integrated air and missile defense among the different nations focusing on interoperability and the different procedures. In an overall defense plan, knowing your allies capabilities and their procedures and process is a positive. Learning what they can do, how do they do it, and how can everybody come together to strengthen everybody else.
This years event was carried out with the ships of the U.S. 6th Fleet and executed by Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO) and with participation from 11 member nations.
NATO’s SNMG1 fleet taking part in Formidable shield 25.
“There is simply no substitute for the training and learning that occurs when we operate in these intensely realistic scenarios…Training as a collective using NATO command and control reporting structure forges the bonds of interoperability and strengthens the alliance as a whole. Exercises like ASD/FS are critical for refining our collective integrated air and missile defense capabilities, ensuring we can respond effectively to any threat from any direction and maintain a credible deterrent posture.”
Capt. Michael Dwan, Commander, Task Group 154.64 and STRIKFORNATO’s U.S. Maritime Ballistic Missile Defense Assets Advisor
Netherlands Navy HNLMS De Ruyter (F804) De Zeven Provinciën-class guided-missile frigate served as the command ship for the event which will last for 3 weeks. During that time the participating ships will conduct live fire drills against unmanned drone and surface targets as well as subsonic, supersonic, and ballistic targets. Multiple nations ground based air defense systems will also be involved with the exercise.
The event is in part put together by UK defense company QinetiQ who supply alot of the targets that will be used as well as helps with range measurements.
Mediterranean strike
Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (RO9), left and Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour (550), right, lead the Mediterranean fleet.
Med strike is a large exercise ptaking place in the Mediterranean. It’s brought together one of the largest military navel fleets seen in decades and includes, 21 ships from the UK and Italian navy’s. 3 submarines, 41 aircraft( half of which are F-35B’s) 19 helicopters and 10 maritime patrol aircraft and more than 8,000 crew and sailers.
Like most of these events this one has a large focus on multi-national cooperation between the different nations involved. Canada, France, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Spain,Turkey, UK and the United States. The participants will work together on several drills including, live fire exercises, air defense exercises, anti-submarine warfare, and drill covering defense against hostile drones. Also one drill will focus on cross deck flying between some of the F-35s utilizing both carrier decks for takeoff and landing.
Some images from the exercise.
Open Spirit
Ships from 11 nations come together in the Baltic for Open Spirit.
Open spirit is less of an exercise and more of a yearly operation however I thought I would mention it as well since it is happening now.
During the world’s two great wars, WW1 and WW2 the waters of the Baltic were heavily mined. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania rotate yearly on leading this NATO event which see ships coming in to attempt to locate and destroy these “Historic weapons”. Last year’s event found around 40 weapons in the waters off of Estonia and was joined by a ship from the Finnish Navy for their very first NATO operation.
This year the focus will be on Lithuania and success is already at hand as the first of the years weapons have been found and disposed of. An explosive device was located some 38 nautical miles from Klaipėda port gate, in Lithuania by French minesweeper FS Andromeda which is currently sailing with Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCG1)
An image from Open Spirit 24 showing the destruction of a historic weapons on the seabed.
This operation makes the waters of the Baltic much safer for general maritime activities. Since 1997, just in Lithuania more than 200 mines, bombs, torpedoes, the remains of 17 sunken ships and two aircraft have been discovered.
All of these exercises have one major theme in common which I think is important. All of them focus mainly on how to accomplish the task while utilizing every nations strengths and working together. The working together part is a big one. NATO would crumble if these very different nations didn’t share a common focus. I suspect that the early days of the treaty were filled with a lot of communication breakdowns.
I want to thank each and every one of you for being here and reading. It’s through the support I’ve received that has brought GCR to where it is today. While I feel we have accomplished some major goals I still want to do more and with you all behind me it’s not a question of if but when. I have some major projects in the works right now and a good number of you will already have access to those when they drop on Patreon.
I can finally say that the plan is to do a big weekly recap show and possibly another if I can find some people interested in being interviewed. I’m looking to talk to people who are knowledgeable about the regions we cover or people who have interesting stories related to conflict or geopolitics. That will all drop for the members on Patreon, they have been patient long enough and I think they deserve something special. If you want access to that when it drops as well as other future benefits I’ll link to the Patreon below. It’s $1 dollar a month.
Anyway I just wanted to let everybody know about what I have going on and what I’d like to accomplish this week. I’m excited to do something new. I love writing but this will have me outside of my comfort zone and that will be good. If people like it maybe I’ll make it a daily or every couple days kind of thing.
An ongoing story in Europe as 4 US soldiers have gone missing during a training exercise being carried out in Pabradė, a town near the border between Lithuania and the Belorussian border. The four were all apart of 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division and based at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
A comment from the commanding general
“I would like to personally thank the Lithuanian Armed Forces and first responders who quickly came to our aid in our search operations,” said Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, the V Corps commanding general. “It’s this kind of teamwork and support that exemplifies the importance of our partnership and our humanity regardless of what flags we wear on our shoulders.”
The army later put out a statement that the crews M88 Hercules armored vehicle they had last been seen in had been found submerged in a body of water and that recovery efforts were ongoing. Members of the U.S. army as well as the Lithuanian army are working to recover the vehicle with the help of civilian agencies.
It’s very likely that the crew was in the vehicle when it was submerged as they probably would have showed up by now. The army would understandably want to notify the families and recover the body’s before any announcement is made.
Our thoughts are with the families and those who knew them.
Global Conflict Reporting 
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