– Russian Military Reform – The Mediterranean will play a key role in Russian naval strategy because of its strategic significance as an access point to southern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. For Russia, the Mediterranean symbolizes the larger competition between Moscow and Washington.

– Forbes – The Russian Navy is expected to be the first country to field hypersonic cruise missiles on its submarines, potentially giving it some strategic advantages in naval warfare.

(Thanks to Alain)

– Covert Shores – Fresh satellite imagery recently made available on Google Earth confirms that Russian Navy’s Beluga Whale pens have been moved to a stable position near the entrance of the Olenya Guba (Оленья Губа) secret submarine base near the Kola Peninsula. These pens were most likely involved in the whale which turned up in Norway in May. Additionally they confirm that the special mission host submarine BS-64 Podmoskovye returned to its home base of Olenya Guba very shortly after the Losharik submarine accident on July 1st.

(Thanks to Alain)

– National Interest – Will Moscow have the funds to keep an elite force under the waves?

– War on the Rocks – America’s strategy community has a problem that it likes to call “A2/AD,” and while the symptoms are very real, in the case of Russia strategists and planners have largely misdiagnosed the nature of the challenge.

– National Interest – Carrier advocates will often make the dubious claim that a couple of missiles or even a torpedo could not actually sink these hulking ships. Perhaps not, but please try to imagine the armada that would have to be assembled to rescue a disabled ship of this stature.

– National Interest – Envious but also dubious.

– BMPD – The first in the series large diesel-electric submarine B-274 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (serial number 01614) of project 06363, built by Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg Petersburg for the Pacific Fleet, went to factory sea trials in the Baltic Sea from St. Petersburg.

(Thanks to Alain)

– War on the Rocks – American national security analysts and practitioners would be well advised to follow who is rising to the senior ranks of the Russian military.

– War Zone – New information is trickling out about the harrowing incident that killed 14 decorated submariners as Russia moves to make the sub serviceable again.

– Guardian – A malfunctioning lithium-ion battery may have sparked a deadly fire on a top-secret Russian nuclear submersible earlier this month that killed 14 naval officers.

– National Interest – At least we are pretty sure. Read on.

(Thanks to Alain…)

– Daily Beast – Fourteen people, including “an extraordinary crew of top elite captains,” were killed on board Losharik, which may be able to dive as deep as 20,000 feet.

– USNI News – The head of the Russian military released a handful of additional details about the fire aboard a specialized submarine that killed 14 submariners in the Barents Sea on Monday.

– Washington Free Beacon – A fire aboard a secret Russian nuclear research vessel that killed 14 Russians may have been involved in secret operations by Moscow to support underwater drone operations.

– War Zone – Reports and rumors are flying about the accident, which may have been aboard the shadowy spy sub Losharik, as Putin clears his schedule.

– USNI News – A fire that broke out on the secret Russian submarine Losharik has killed 14 sailors.

– USNI News – A U.S. destroyer is off the coast of Havana, Cuba, shadowing a detachment of Russian naval ships that includes one of the country’s most advanced surface ships.

– War Zone – It is the first time in years a Russian surface combatant has sailed into the region, let alone one able to fire modern land attack cruise missiles.

– USNI News – A Russian destroyer came within 100 feet of a U.S. cruiser operating in the Western Pacific in an incident the U.S. Navy is calling, “unsafe and unprofessional.”

– Barents Observer – The Zvezdochka shipyard now confirms that a replacement for the PD-50 dry dock that last October vanished into the sea is soon in the making. The new dry dock will be based on two existing dry docks located in yard No 35 in Roslyakovo and will be used to do work on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.

– Guardian – Russia launched a nuclear-powered icebreaker on Saturday, part of an ambitious programme to renew and expand its fleet of the vessels in order to improve its ability to tap the Arctic’s commercial potential.

– National Interest – An unsigned Russian naval analysis demonstrates acute stress points in Moscow’s naval development program. Decrying corruption and waste, this insider critique aims squarely at the Kremlin.

– Guardian – Marine experts in Norway believe they have stumbled upon a white whale that was trained by the Russian navy as part of a programme to use underwater mammals as a special ops force.

– War Zone – What we can see so far highlights the “special projects” submarine’s deep-sea intelligence gathering capabilities.