Nearly a Dozen Russian Jets Practiced an Attack on a Norwegian Radar Base
Russian strike jets practiced a mock attack on a Norwegian radar base in 2018, flying uncomfortably close to the the NATO country’s airspace before turning back. The incident, which took place in February 2018, was only just now brought to light by the director of Norway’s Intelligence Service.
According to the Barents Observer, the head of the Intelligence Service revealed details of the mock attack this week in a speech delivered in Norway earlier this week. Lieutenant General Morten Haga Lunde, head of the Intelligence Service, revealed that 11 Sukhoi Su-24 strike aircraft, known as “Fencer” to NATO, conducted the mock attack. According to Lunde, the simulated attack took place on February 14, 2018 and began with 11 Su-24s taking off from Russia’s Monchegorsk air base.
The Fencers flew out into the Barents Sea and then did a 180 degree turn, settling into attack formation as they bore down on a radar station in the Norwegian town of Vardø. Vardø is Norway’s northeasternmost town and home of the GLOBUS-II satellite tracking radar. As they neared Norwegian airspace, the Fencers suddenly turned back.
The Su-24 is a Cold War era aircraft optimized for long range strike missions. A swing-wing supersonic all weather strike plane, the Su-24 can carry a mixture of up to 16,535 pounds of bombs, missiles, fuel and special mission pods on up to seven hardpoints. The Su-24 can carry Kh-31P/A supersonic anti-radar/anti-ship missiles, which home in on enemy radar emissions to destroy the broadcasting stations. Alternately, the Su-24 can carry unguided bombs, guided bombs guided to their targets by the Russian GLONASS global positioning system, and laser-guided bombs.
Designed to track objects in space, GLOBUS-II was developed in the United States and moved to Vardø, where it is operated by Norwegian personnel. The radar station is located just 40 miles from Russia’s Kola peninsula, where the Fencer jets are based. In 2000, the Norwegian government described GLOBUS-II as, “The only one of its kind in the word. It is an X-band (10 GHz), high resolution, single narrow beam, 200 Kw peak radiated power radar. It has a mechanically steered, parabolic reflector antenna of center-feed type, 27 meters in diameter and housed in a 35-meter diameter radome. Is is mounted on a rotating pedestal and can track objects to geosynchronous altitude, about 41 000 kilometers.”
Russia has reportedly expressed concerns that GLOBUS-II is part of the U.S. ballistic missile defense network, an allegation Norway denies. Norway says that the radar is designed to “monitor, track, and catalogue” objects in space and that it is “technically unsuited” for the ballistic missile defense mission.
Vardø is a tiny fishing village north of the Arctic Circle with a population of just over two thousand. The GLOBUS II’s large dome figures prominently in Vardø’s skyline. The station even has its own Instagram tag, #globusii:
A post shared by Nicodemus Quercus Robur (@niqodeemus) on Oct 4, 2018 at 12:44am PDT
The Royal Norwegian Air Force currently has 56 American-made F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets to defend its airspace. These jets, which date to the 1980s, are in the process of being replaced by 52 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters. Norway currently flies three F-35As.
It would reasonable to expect Russian forces to attack the GLOBUS-II radar site in wartime. It’s reasonable for Russian forces to practice attacks on radar sites, and it’s reasonable for them to practice in the Barents Sea. But it is very unreasonable for Russian jets to practice mock strikes on the actual radar station itself, flying to the very edge of Norwegian airspace.
If the exercise had taken place during a military crisis between Russia and NATO, Norway could have mistaken it for a genuine attack. It’s difficult to see such a deliberately provocative exercise as anything more as an attempt to intimidate Norway, especially as it prepares to host a new, improved GLOBUS-III radar. Russian state media is already rallying against the new installation, which is also being built in Vardø.
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