From Free Beacon

 

[excerpt]

 

Silent Running

Russian attack submarine sailed in Gulf of Mexico undetected for weeks, U.S. officials say

BY: Bill Gertz

August 14, 2012 5:00 am

 

A Russian nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles operated undetected in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks and its travel in strategic U.S. waters was only confirmed after it left the region, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Not surprised in the least! It shows the stealth of a single unit. A wolf pack or several boats would have raised some red flags in the LANTFLT ops center. A single boat getting underway is a daily occurence. What ticks me off is our guys and gals let them get this close. I hope this isn't a sign the ASW capabilities of the USN are slipping.

I hope this isn't a sign the ASW capabilities of the USN are slipping.

 

In some ways, been slipping since they pulled the ASW mission from the S-3B Viking, imho. The helicopters have probably maintained the capability, at least on paper. Whether the P-8A proves to be the platform that the P-3C was, remains to be seen, but those are big boots to fill.

Yeah, tell me about it. However, this makes really good grist for my BRICS series.

And last but not least, SOSUS was part dismantled a lot of years ago ...

With the end of the Cold War, SOSUS hydrophone arrays in both the Atlantic and Pacific face an uncertain future of shutdowns and closings. Consolidation of SOSUS by array retermination, remoting, or closure will be complete by FY97. Recent closures include Bermuda, Adak, and Keflavik. All other arrays will remain operational. SOSUS in the North Pacific is currently being analyzed for low-frequency vocalizations from marine mammals living in the open ocean.

http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/sosus.htm

 

Also, I highlight the same news reports mentions Akula equipped with anti-ship missiles SS-N-27 Sizzler. I've not idea if it's for real or some error, but it's credible ...

As mentioned on IRC, I'm not terribly surprised that the patrol went unnoticed. I rather doubt that anyone was looking, and even so, I expect the Gulf of Mexico is probably not the quietest place acoustically speaking.

Brad your absolutely correct. Like most littoral and continental shelf regions, the GoM is a very noisy environment and it would be a great operating space for an Akula. Without any type of SOSSUS net at the gates (the island chains that border the Caribbean from the rest of the Atlantic), the entrances are pretty porous. I think I'm going to include something similar to this in an upcoming BRICS installment.

Once they're through SOSUS, it's a very big ocean indeed. Especially for an 'Akula'.

Once they're through SOSUS, it's a very big ocean indeed. Especially for an 'Akula'.

 

SOSUS is merely a shadow of its former self. These days I'd expect better results from satellites, HUMINT, a 'tail', or heck, Twitter.

Wow! Now there's a concept.

Did this really happen? Every news report on this subject references the original news story rather than their own sources and now I've seen a report that the pentagon is denying that it happened. This just seems suspicious to me. It wasn't detected by the US but unnamed US sources are saying it happened?

Clemens,

That's how things goes in defense sector reporting all the major rags reference each other - its an incestuous relationship and a lazy man's way of reporting. I'm thinking the probability of it occuring is about 75%. US SOSSUS sucks these days and with the Navy concentrating on so many other places, I wouldn't put it pasted the Russkies to slip an Ajkula into the GoM - just to show that they could. At the same time this occurred, Russia was also restarted strategic aircraft patrols along our frontier - interesting coincidence (not). Its just another example that the Bear we faced backed during the Cold War, hasn't replaced its teeth with dentures, due to age. I think that Czar Vladimir is seeing how much of his muscles he can flex.

Clemens,

That's how things goes in defense sector reporting all the major rags reference each other - its an incestuous relationship and a lazy man's way of reporting. I'm thinking the probability of it occuring is about 75%. US SOSSUS sucks these days and with the Navy concentrating on so many other places, I wouldn't put it pasted the Russkies to slip an Ajkula into the GoM - just to show that they could. At the same time this occurred, Russia was also restarted strategic aircraft patrols along our frontier - interesting coincidence (not). Its just another example that the Bear we faced backed during the Cold War, hasn't replaced its teeth with dentures, due to age. I think that Czar Vladimir is seeing how much of his muscles he can flex.

 

 

I understand that is how news spreads but absolutely no other organization has been able to confirm this and the pentagon denied it. Some things just don't add up here. Too may details are missing for it to make sense. If it was undetected, how did they know it was there? The russians certainly don't want that known. Did they get a sniff at it as it was entering the gulf? As it was leaving?

 

There were some specific details included like the fact that is was an Akula, so how did they know this and yet they didn't know it was there for a month?

 

 

 

The story did not contain enough detail to know what to make of that assessment – whether, for example, the Navy searched for the sub and didn’t find it, or whether it visited and left without a trace. The “Free Beacon” story said American commanders only learned of the sub’s patrol after the fact, but it did not explain how they could learn of it given that they hadn’t been able to detect it in the first place.

 

The incident is similar to 2009 reports in which the U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) confirmed that two Akula boats patrolled off the Eastern U.S. seaboard.

 

After rumors emerged of the 2009 incident, the Pentagon confirmed the submarine presence quickly. A Navy spokesman told the U.S. Naval Institute, after several checks with NORTHCOM, U.S. Southern Command and the Office of Naval Intelligence, none of the organizations were able to confirm the “Free Beacon” report of the Akula boat operating in the Caribbean.

 

http://news.usni.org/news-analysis/news/pe...led-gulf-mexico

 

I'm pretty skeptical here without anyone else being able to confirm it. Leaks seldom stop at one destination.

I saw the Pentagon denial. Not particularly surprising.

 

Without further information - and I doubt it will be forthcoming in any official capacity - who knows whether it really occurred or not?

One thing's for sure ... it fodder for good scenario design!