HONOLULU — Russia has conducted its largest military exercises since the Cold War off the coast of Hawaii.
Reports differ over the exact location of Russian activity, but a Russian Ministry of Defense account cited by The Drive said the exercises involved up to 20 surface warships, submarines and support vessels, plus around the same number of aircraft.
The exercises involved detecting, countering and delivering missile strikes against the aircraft carrier strike group of a mock enemy.
Simulated cruise missile strikes were carried out by a Slava class cruiser, as well as an Udaloy [q]class destroyer, and three Steregushchiy [r]class corvettes.
Also involved in the exercises were a pair of Tu-142M[s] long-range anti-submarine aircraft from the Pacific Fleet’s naval aviation branch, escorted by MiG-31BM[t] Foxhound interceptors.
Six Il-38[u] anti-submarine aircraft were given the task of searching for and tracking submarines from the mock enemy group.
The Drive, citing CBS News, reports that on June 14, three U.S. F-22A Raptor stealth fighters were scrambled in response to aircraft associated with the Russian naval exercise.
Separately, The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported that on June 18 a pair of F-22s was launched to investigate Russian air activity in the area.
According to The Drive, one unverified satellite image from June 19 shows Russian Navy vessels 35 nautical miles south of Honolulu, Hawaii, being escorted by three U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke class destroyers and a U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel class cutter.
However, The Honolulu Star Advertiser quoted an anonymous U.S. official locating Russian vessels “several hundred miles west of the Aloha State.”
