NATO - The Ukraine

[Pelican]

British military reinforcing Eastern Europe amid Russian tensions


Britain is boosting its military presence in Eastern Europe amid tensions with Russia.
Britain is moving army battlegroups, Apache attack helicopters, fighter jets and warships to Eastern Europe due to tensions with Russia.

According to a statement:
The UK is doubling the number of personnel in Estonia and sending additional equipment, including tanks and armoured fighting vehicles. These troops and equipment will begin to move to Estonia today.
The Royal Welsh battlegroup, which includes armoured vehicles and personnel, will leave Sennelager in Germany and bases in the UK and begin to arrive in Estonia during the coming week.
Apache helicopters will soon be making their way to conduct exercises with our Allies and partners in Eastern Europe.
Four additional UK Typhoon jets have also landed in Cyprus and will shortly begin to patrol the skies with NATO Allies in Eastern Europe.
HMS Trent – a UK Warship – has already begun conducting patrols in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea alongside NATO Allies from Canada, Italy, Spain and Turkey.
HMS Diamond is preparing to set sail in the coming days for the Eastern Mediterranean and will join up with NATO allies.

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british ... YSHPNvs5kk

[Pelican]

Britain ramps up deployment of surveillance aircraft to Ukraine


Two British RC-135 ‘Rivet Joint’ electronic surveillance aircraft are in the air near to and above eastern Ukraine.
The deployment of this many RC-135 aircraft in the region at once is unprecedented for the UK.

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/britain ... LmTbXsxdjk

[Little h]

Britain ramps up deployment of surveillance aircraft to Ukraine


Two British RC-135 ‘Rivet Joint’ electronic surveillance aircraft are in the air near to and above eastern Ukraine.
The deployment of this many RC-135 aircraft in the region at once is unprecedented for the UK.

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/britain ... LmTbXsxdjk

Yesterday evening I was observing (on Flightradar24) the track of another 'Rivet Joint' a/c from an RAF base flying over another European country that has a border with Belarus - and the return track to departure airbase.

[Pelican]

FROM NAVY LOOKOUT


After various delays, HMS Diamond is scheduled to sail from Portsmouth for Med/Black Sea deployment today around 1330.

[Pelican]

Navy Lookout

Maritime OSINT tracking frantic Russian naval activity over last 3 weeks suggests Russian invasion of Ukraine imminent. Naval units including assualt ships passed throught Kerch Strait today the Russian MOD says its “closed" the airspace over the Sea of ​​Azov from midnight tonight.

See - https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/ ... 8207406087
And - https://twitter.com/MrFrantarelli/statu ... 7160564736

[Pelican]

FROM NAVY LOOKOUT


After various delays, HMS Diamond is scheduled to sail from Portsmouth for Med/Black Sea deployment today around 1330.

Navy Lookout

HMS Diamond’s departure has been delayed 3 times now - officially due to weather. Latest plan is to sail "on Wednesday at the earliest”.

See - https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/ ... 7912214537

[Pelican]

British surveillance aircraft monitoring Belarus

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british ... osc5lAcg3c
Includes video.

[Pelican]

A prototype spy plane is tracking Russian force movements for the US Army

ARTEMIS “has both electronic collection and ground scanning radar so it could for example see the movement of tanks in real time, and collect RF [radio frequency] signals emitted by adversaries,” said Tom Spoehr of the Heritage Foundation. “Its sensors can go hundreds of miles out, so with the route it is flying it can see well into Belarus, Kaliningrad, and perhaps even into the Donbas region."

See - https://breakingdefense.com/2022/02/a-p ... I0lbE3VV5g

[Pelican]

Large-scale aerial surveillance effort underway over Ukraine

There are currently a significant number of British and American surveillance aircraft in the air over and around Ukraine.
One British UK RC-135W Rivet Joint, one American RC-135W Rivet Joint, one Global Hawk drone and a NATO E-3 AWACS aircraft are currently in the air.

See - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/large-s ... 37mIK55f30

[Pelican]

Factbox: Pact gives Turkey oversight of warship transit to Russia, Ukraine


ANKARA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Ukraine has asked Turkey to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Russian ships, Ukraine's ambassador to Ankara said on Thursday, after Russia launched air and ground assaults on its neighbour.

Under the international Montreux Convention, NATO member Turkey has control over passage of vessels between the Mediterranean and Black Sea, making it a potentially key player in any military conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Earlier this month, six Russian warships and a submarine transited Turkey's Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits to the Black Sea for what Moscow called naval drills near Ukraine waters. read more

Here are details of the pact and supervisory powers it grants to Turkey, which neighbours Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia on the Black Sea:

TURKEY'S POWERS

Continues at - https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pa ... 022-02-22/