The ‘game’ continues…

Posted on by November 11, 2022

This was one of the reasons we always hauled ass when we heard a Soviet sub surfacing…

In the video, a Norwegian Lockheed P-3 Orion reconnaissance aircraft can be seen dropping a sonobuoy in front of the Russian nuclear submarine, ‘Knyaz Vladimir.’ The incident occurred in the Barents Sea when the Russian submarine had surfaced and was returning from its mission.

In response, the crew of the Knyaz Vladimir simulated using a Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) against the MPA. To drop the sonobuoys accurately, MPAs must operate at medium or low altitudes over the sea, thus making them vulnerable to MANPADS.

Full article, HERE from Eurasian Times.

I can’t help but wonder if that will be a standing order if Putin goes stupid in Ukraine…

Comments

The ‘game’ continues… — 23 Comments

  1. I will suggest the air defense is already a standing order, it’s possible that the crew acted independent of the high command directions in doing this, but not likely, given the tendency of Moscow to control everything to the Nth degree.

  2. Off topic rant removed.

  3. The purpose of dropping the sonobuoy is to record the signature of the sub? Or was it just to tweak the Russkies?
    I wish there was a meter somewhere that would indicate the overall morale of Russian troops right now!

    • It can’t hurt to collect more data.

      Tweaking: I wonder if the P-3 can fly inverted for a second pass.

      The morale meter better be a center-zero one so it can indicate negative numbers.

  5. What ASW capability would the Norwegian P-3 carry?

    Was the encounter serendipitous or had the sub been spotted before surfacing or “other”?

    Anyone know what the guy on the 1MC was saying besides “Hi, Mom! I’m on TV!”?

  6. Good drill for both crews as long as the adults are in charge.

    • I remember thinking we need more adults when I heard one of our F-14 drivers begging to shoot down a Soviet aircraft while we were being shadowed by one of their subs. Fun times.

  7. “one of the reasons we always hauled ass”
    I, for one, would like to hear some of the other reasons, please. Wait, I’ll get you a beer. BRB.

  8. Not exactly sure the “drill” with the manpad was at the same time as the P3 pass; I did not see a P-3 in any video at same time as manpad. Just luck they had the video running below at same time or maybe the Russians had 2 video cameras running at same time? Beyond that I would hate to be the spotter – launch backblast off the scope tower might be a cast iron female dog.

    RAS

  9. There is no such thing as counteroffensive to these sonobuoys like another buoy that emits masking noises? Does it matter?

  10. Some of the Victors, I think the Victor III had 4 launchers for Strellas in the sail. There is no way of knowing how well they worked after stowage in that way over time, but it makes some sense. You only have to clear the sail and VAMPIRE-VAMPIRE-VAMPIRE!

  11. Video editing matters.

    Unless they’ve got a Strella with a 20-mile range, that Orion crew was pulling into the hangar and ordering a beer by the time Ivan got his MANPADS up the hatch to engage. If it ain’t present on the conning tower when the plane is inbound, you’re already too late. And in wartime, already sunk.

    And the P-3 can carry metric buttloads of ASW weapons, kids, from Mk-whatever torps to Harpoons, and probably even TV-guided Mavericks, etc., all fireable and effective from stand-off range far beyond the range of any MANPADS, as our bloghost will re-assure you any second.

    The sub’s stinger is about as effective as the 23mms on the back of a Russian bomber. Mainly there to make the crew feel something less than totally naked, and only a serious deterrent to someone being majorly stupid.

    Frankly, Ivan’s lucky the Norwegians didn’t drop the sonobouy right on the deck casing, just to tweak them.

    Not much has changed in the air-vs-sub game since circa 1942, when the standard radio call during WWII from blimps and Catalinas to HQ was “Sighted U-boat. Sunk same.” Subs don’t defeat aircraft ASW. They avoid it, or they die.

  13. Grog- Definitely possible… Given the increased tensions.

    GB- Tracking and signature data.

    Robert- LOL, at best they could barrel roll the P-3… At best… They have the same capability the US does for tracking and recording data.

    Gerry- True, but the Soviets also ran a Mig-31 into a Norwegian P-3 back in the day…

    Robert- LOL, someday…

    Rysz- Agreed, and yes, I’d hate to be on the bridge if they cooked one off!

    Jamie- They have ‘noisemakers’ that can mask the sub for a while.

    LL- Yep! That they did!

  15. If the plane can drop a sonobuoy it can drop a torpedo……

  16. Video of a ‘peacetime’ game underway. If a they were operating under elevated threat or emergency/war warnings, probably a whole ‘nother set of actions and reactions. This was more like the Cav patrols waving at their Soviet/DDR counterparts across the German fences, back in the day.

    Games, but polite ‘public’ moves shown. Both of them testing crews and nerve for a “what if” that neither really want to start playing.

  17. Scary. Will things go full crazy? Possible, our rulers can’t even define “woman.”

  18. Hey Old NFO;

    I miss it when I played “The Game” Fun times back in the day, there are times I wish I could go back in time and ride it again.

    • “There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.” – Ernest Hemingway