Vantage Point North

The ongoing escalation of hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz may have effects far beyond the middle east. The capture of the British flagged oil tanker Stena Impero by the Iranians forced the UK to step up their presence in the region. HMS Monmouth a Type 23 Frigate The reinforcements the Royal Navy was able to send to the Persian Gulf were hardly enough to escort the number of tankers in need of protection. The present day 80-ship Royal Navy no longer rules the waves and is actually struggling to deploy enough combat ships to cover the existing commitments, let alone to take on a possible fight against the Iranian navy or even provide the dozen or so escorts needed. The British government then sent a proposal to create a European naval mission to escort the vital tanker traffic through the Hormuz. The response frhciting the wish to avoid further escalations as the main reason, both also have limited amount of shirps and other operations to cover. USA, under the Tr...

Until this weeks kaleidoscopic scramble across Russia’s the western frontier, the Russian armed forces have been following a largely routine schedule since the rolling readiness checks of the October 2017 and the massive Zapad17 exercise. The recent flurry of activity started with the snap drills of the reconnaissance, artillery and combat engineering units, that are commonly associated with the spearhead formations of the Russian army. Alone these drills are not very remarkable and even when grouped like this, they shouldn’t cause a major alarm with the Western defense planners. When the entire Strategic Rocket Force (RVSN ), ie. the Russia’s ground based ICBM force was alerted and the mobile TEL:s rolled into the vast forests things started to look slightly suspicious. Especially when the readiness check of the nuclear forces coincided with the expulsion of the Russian diplomats by UK, EU and USA. Simultaneously with the RVSN, the majority of the Russian a...

The social stability in Finland had steadily deteriorated as the newly independent nation lacked both police and military forces and the Russian army still had a strong presence within the Finnish borders. Both socialists and conservatives had begun to build their own security forces during the previous summer. Red Guards and Russians supporting them To solve the situation, that had already escalated into sporadic violence and acts of terror, the Finnish Senate, with a mandate from the elected Parliament, declared in 25th of January1918 that the Civil Guards would become the Senates army under the command of the General Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, a 30 year veteran of the Imperial Russian Army. The Reds immediately refused to obey the order to stand down their military forces. The Civil Guards began to disarm the Russian garrisons and used the captured weaponry to arm their forces. During the 27 th of January 1918 the Red Guards issued a full-scale mobilization within the...

#Zapad2017: Russia threatens Finland and the Baltic states The eyes of the European military experts and leaders have been focused on the upcoming Russian Zapad2017 exercise for a while now. When compared to the hype the official Russian description of the exercise is rather underwhelming. Russia claims that the exercise will include slightly over 10000 Russian soldiers altogether with only 3000 entering Belarus to help the Belarussian army to quench an imaginary separatist uprising supported by the evil neighboring superpowers. It is most likely completely coincidental that these neighbors look awfully lot like Poland and Lithuania. So why is the west so worried? Most important reason is, that the scope of the preparations for the Zapad2017 seem to be quite conflicting to the official story. Russian army has activated a large contingent of reservists and specialists to create an infrastructure for the drill. These rear area troops include nearly 5000 men from t...

Maskirovka buildup by Russia 31st Air Assault Brigade has brand new BMD-4M IFVs. Exactly a year ago I wrote about the Russian  Maskirovka mobilizations  that are also known as “snap drills” or “readiness inspections”. Some of these drills have been massive and enough troops were set in motion, that the forces could’ve invaded a small nation. While the snap drills of various units of the Russian Armed Forces and the Russian National Guard have continued, the scale has been smaller. Most analysts are looking towards the well published Zapad 2017 exercise as the next possible window for a Russian aggression. However there is an ongoing, slow and creeping, buildup at the western border of Russia. Several combat units have been enlarged during the recent intakes of new recruits and conscripts. More importantly troops move around long distances in seemingly scheduled exercises, which are announced a day or few hours before they commence. These allow Russia to ...

West races to counter Russia American M1A2 tanks on gunnery training Hard military power was neglected by the Europe for over 15 years. Many armies converted to crisis response forces and for example the Bundeswehr was neglected. However, following the Russian aggression in Ukraine and increasingly  offensive posture  all along it’s frontiers from the  arctic down to the Mediterranean , many western nations are now rapidly reactivating their readiness. This readiness building seems to be accelerating rapidly. Here is a quick recoup of the latest developments. Sweden, that gave up on territorial defense, reacted to the Russian threat in the Baltic sea by sending troops to the island of  Gotland.  This was followed by  reactivation of RBS-15  anti-ship missiles, that were also positioned to Gotland. Swedish municipalities were ordered to prepare civil defenses for a major war. There is also serious discussion about  reinstating ...

Swedish soldier Following the ever increasing Russian activity in the Baltic region, the Swedish government has decided to accelerate its plan to protect the island of Gotland. Sweden conducted a snap drill exercise and ferried a company sized combat group to the island. Now this unit will remain as a protective force and rotating presence will be maintained there for the foreseeable future. This move is a radical departure from the Swedish policy of de-escalation and self-imposed disarmament of the ground forces it has been conducting since 1990. A 150 soldier company is hardly enough to stop a full blown invasion by the vast amphibious assets that Russia has in the Kaliningrad and Gulf of Finland. But even a small force with solid infantry fighting vehicles, such as the Swedish CV 9040, can turn a “little green men” takeover into a proper battle. Swedish combat group with the CV9040 Following the re-militarization of the Gotland, only one demilitarized zone...