Feb. 27, 2014: A Russian spy ship Viktor Leonov SSV-175, is seen docked at a Havana port. REUTERS
Pentagon: Russian Spy Ship, Tug Operating Near U.S. -- Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon
Ships near nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, Ga.
A Russian intelligence-gathering ship has been operating off the U.S. East Coast and near the Gulf of Mexico for the past month, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“We are aware that the Russian ships Viktor Leonov and Nikolay Chiker are currently operating in waters that are beyond U.S. territorial seas but near Cuba,” said Lt. Col. Tom Crosson, a Pentagon spokesman. “We respect the freedom of all nations, as reflected in international law, to operate military vessels beyond the territorial seas of other nations.”
The Leonov is an intelligence gathering ship outfitted with high-tech electronic spying gear. The Chiker is an ocean-going naval tug that has been accompanying the spy ship on its mission.
Read more ....
Update: Russian Spy Ship Spotted Along US East Coast -- Inquisitr
My Comment: This is actually old news ....
Russian tug off Florida: supporting nuclear attack subs or observing SpaceX launch? -- Aviationist (April 17, 2014)
Watching the Russians... Off Florida's Coast -- Information Dissemination (March 15, 2014)
But with U.S. - Russian tensions escalating .... I guess this is now becoming news.
Update: The U.S. is not the only country that is being targeted by Russian spy ships .... Europe has a few Russian ships floating around .... Royal Navy warship 'monitoring' Russian naval vessel -- ITV
They're everywhere now!
ReplyDeleteActaully the NSA is technically everywhere
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this or something similar a while ago. These ships are being spotted as well as Russian planes. Scouting and planning perhaps? Could the planes be testing and timing how long these countries take to respond and scramble jets to intercept them? Who knows.
ReplyDeleteWhat a ship like this does is sit off a base, in this case our Georgia sub base and just suck up every bit of electronics they can. Then it's a ton of traffic analysis getting done that can tell you lots of things. Usually the antenna array on these things can tell a lot about what they're tasked for. Provoking air and sea defense systems for analysis is a whole different and very dangerous animal which I doubt seriously is what these ships are doing. It's been a long time for me and some of the other commentors could be much more up to date than I am.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that. It is pretty incredible that technology can be used in such a way. I figured they were just using direct observation when in these locations. I completely underestimated technology and didn't think about intercepting information through antennas which makes a lot of sense. I agree I doubt these ships would play with fire like that however why do you think the planes would enter restricted air space and provoke a defensive measure to be taken(scramble the jets)?
ReplyDeletePlanes because of their speed are a different matter. They in reality do wander off course a lot and because of their speed can cross lines before they know it. And there are lots of commercial aircraft crossing air borders everyday so it's something you can easily deny. There can be problems see Flight 007 and the USS Pueblo.
ReplyDeleteThat's true it is something that could be easily denied. At first i believed the Russian bombers that entered Dutch airspace was intentional but after looking into it I found it is actually a fairly common event. The hype was due to it being Russian aircraft. Flight 007 was devastating but it was indeed a mistake of air borders. USS Pueblo was another interesting situation. It could be something that could easily happen to these Russian ships but hopefully the U.S (or another country) wouldn't create such a dangerous situation.
ReplyDelete