Interception

Russia Intercepts US Aircraft (Maybe) Spying on Moscow’s Newest Ballistic Missile Sub

The intercept occurred near the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the region’s capital city making it likely that the U.S. Navy tried to collect intelligence on Russian submarines during the flight of the P-8 aircraft. (Russia conducted a number of military exercises in the region in April, which also might have been of interest to the U.S. military.)

The likely target of U.S. spying efforts was Rybachiy Nuclear Submarine Base, located only nine miles (15 kilometers) across Avacha Bay from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Rybachiy naval base is home to most of Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet in the Pacific including the Russian Navy’s new Borei-class (aka Dolgorukiy-class), Project 955, fourth-generation SSBN (Ship, Submersible, Ballistic, Nuclear) submarine.

Russia’s Pacific Fleet purportedly inducted the Borei-class SSBN Alexander Nevsky, the second vessel of the Borei-class (“North Wind”), last year. Another Borei-class SSBN, the Vladimir Monomak, is slated to join the fleet in the last quarter of 2016. Four more Borei-class submarines are expected to join the Pacific Fleet over the next ten years.