USNI News Illustration
USNI News: Positions of Two NATO Ships Were Falsified Near Russian Black Sea Naval Base
The tracking data of two NATO warships was faked off the coast of a Russian controlled naval base in the Black Sea while the actual ships were moored 180 miles away, USNI News has learned.
The U.K. Royal Navy’s HMS Defender, a Type-45 Daring-class destroyer, and the Royal Netherlands Navy’s HNLMS Evertsen, a De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate, pulled into Odessa in Ukraine on June 18. The group had been monitored by Russian warships while exercising in the Black Sea, according to U.S. Navy photos dated on June 17.
According to an automatic identification system (AIS) signal, which transmits position details to improve maritime safety, the pair left Odessa just before midnight on June 18. The data shows that they sailed directly to Sevastopol, approaching to within two nautical miles of the harbor entrance. The strategic port houses the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: It looks like the Russian military does not rely on the automatic identification system (AIS) to track naval warships. Because if they did, the presence of NATO destroyers 2 or 3 kilometers away from the entrance of a major Russian naval base would have resulted in a massive military response.
But the big question remains unanswered. Why was the tracking data so off? Was it done deliberately, or is there something wrong with the platform?
