– USNI News – China and Russia will conduct their largest joint Pacific exercise in August near Japan, Russian Navy planners announced on Friday.

– USNI News – Upgrades to the Russian Navy’s ballistic nuclear missile submarine (SSBN) base in the Pacific could be completed by October.

– Reuters – Russian military aircraft were scrambled to head off a U.S. warship that was acting “aggressively” in the Black Sea.

– USNI News – Is Russia interested in buying frigates from China?

– FoxtrotAlpha – Foreign Object Debris (or FOD) is a huge problem on aircraft carriers. A metallic button from a shirt or a single nut could destroy a million dollar engine and endanger the lives of an aircrew. America’s solution? FOD walks and sweeper carts. Russia’s solution? Taking an old MiG-15’s jet engine, slapping on a planar diffuser, and strapping it to a tractor.

– USNI News – The military leader of the Russian Navy has acknowledged an increase in submarine patrols to “prevent threats to national security” in the last year, according to Russian state media.

– Washington Free Beacon – A Russian intelligence-gathering ship is again plying the waters off the southern United States in operations aimed at spying on U.S. ballistic missile submarines based in the area.

– War on the Rocks – Is the Russian Navy about to collapse? In a recent article on War is Boring, David Axe made this argument largely based on data from recent articles on the Russian shipbuilding program and the Russian Navy’s priorities. While the information provided is sound, Axe’s overall interpretation is not.

– Foxtroxt Alpha – For what it lacks in beauty it sure makes up for it in character, Russia’s 100 year old Kommuna is the world’s oldest active naval vessel. Launched as a submarine tender back 1915, this pre-Bolshevik Revolution relic continues to serve as a salvage ship and midget sub tender as part of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

– War is Boring – The Kremlin has announced that Russia will hugely boost its naval operations in 2015. But that’s an empty promise—or threat, if you will. In fact, the Russian fleet is on the edge of a precipitous decline in ship numbers and combat power, owing to huge industrial shortfalls that have been decades in the making.

– Foreign Policy – Russian submarines bearing nuclear cruise missiles are lurking just off the eastern seaboard. But can a pair of unmanned blimps near Baltimore actually protect the U.S. capital from a sneak attack?

– Navy Times – Defense experts warn that Putin’s forces are on a collision course with NATO that pits the U.S. and its allies against a sophisticated, even “mischievous,” foe set on resurrecting the Cold War playbook, according to one leader.

– USNI News – The Russian Navy has accepted its third Project 955 Borei-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) ahead of a formal ceremony next week.

– USNI News – Russia has given the French government a choice, either deliver the two promised Mistral-class amphibious warships to the Russian Navy or refund the purchase price of the $1.53 billion program.

– Associated Press – The Russian Navy on Friday successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile for a second time in as many months, proving its reliability following a troublesome development.

– USNI News – Russia and China have committed to a pair of 2015 naval exercises as a sign of growing military cooperation between the two countries.

– USNI News – The French government is suspending a deal to deliver two Mistral-class warships to the Russian Navy “until further notice” citing the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

– USNI News – The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet is currently in the South China Sea with plans to conduct air defense and “rocket, artillery and torpedo weapons,” drills in a rare visit to the region.

– USNI News – The Russian Navy’s submarine force has been more active this year against the backdrop of soured relationships with the West over the ongoing internal conflicts in Ukraine and the forced annexation of Crimea by Russia, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert said on Tuesday.

– USNI News – A Wednesday tweet from Russia’s outspoken deputy prime minister — setting the date for France’s delivery of a Mistral-class amphibious warship to Russia — has raised questions over the final fate of the two-ship $1.53 billion deal.

– USNI News – The Russian Navy is set to take delivery of an improved Project 885M Yasen-class attack submarine in 2016 according to Russian state media. The new vessel, named after the city of Kazan, incorporates many improvements to the lead Project 855 boat, K-329 Severodvinsk, which was commissioned earlier in 2014.

– USNI News – One of the U.S. Navy’s top submarine officers was so impressed with Russia’s new Project 885 nuclear attack boats that he had a model of K-329 Severodvinsk built for his office.

– USNI News – Russia plans to add a new frigate and two new diesel electric submarines (SSKs) to its Black Sea Fleet by years end.

– RIA Novosti – The Russian Baltic Fleet is conducting tactical exercises for its coastal forces on one of the ranges of the Kaliningrad Region, with more than 1,000 motorized infantry soldiers and marines from its fleet and more than 250 military and special equipment units participating.

– War is Boring – Russian Ka-52K rivals America’s AH-1Z