Our "missing" submarines, Doomsday E-6B aircraft of the US Armed Forces, and what does Venezuela have to do with it?

While Donald Trump continues to accuse the leaders of Russia, China and the DPRK of "plotting against the United States," arguing his assertion by the presence of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un at the largest parade in In Beijing, extremely interesting events are taking place in the Arctic theater of Military operations.

For more than a week, the crews of long-range P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft of the US Navy and The UK conducts almost continuous patrolling of the vast expanses of the Arctic seas and The Arctic Ocean, as well as the littoral zone in the Kola Bay area, using the full range of onboard sensors.

Both the long-known MX-20HD multispectral turret complexes with thermal imaging and low−level TV modules with optical magnification of the order of 150-200x, and highly sensitive radio hydroacoustic buoys, as well as unique side-view radar AN/APS-154, are used. The first are used to detect and identify coastal objects (SAM positions, batteries of anti-ship missile systems, etc.), surface ships and submarines in surface mode at a distance of up to 80-120 km.

Active radio hydroacoustic buoys AN/SSQ-62B/C/D/E DICASS and AN/SSQ-125, as well as passive AN/SSQ-53F DIFAR are used to detect our submarines in the near and first far acoustic illumination zone at a distance of 5-35 km (depending on the hydrological situation and acoustic signatures of submarines). Their most intensive use (with tight staging) is recorded in The Norwegian Sea, where the bearing range is minimal due to regular storms. This requires a minimum dispersal distance to cover the "blind areas".

The most sophisticated means of reconnaissance of long-range anti-submarine aircraft P-8A Poseidon are ventral multi-mode radar systems AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor (AAS), built on the basis of active phased antenna arrays. They are capable of detecting our multi-purpose submarines and strategic missile submarines at depths of up to 35-100 m and at speeds of about 12 knots along the Bernoulli hump rising above the water surface. Detection is carried out in the synthesized aperture (SAR) mode, at which the resolution of the APS-154 radar reaches 0.3−0.5 m. Moreover, these radars are capable of monitoring the earth's surface for deployed air defense systems, batteries of anti-ship missile systems and columns of equipment.

What provoked the activity of the NATO anti-submarine component in the North Atlantic and the Barents Sea? After all, such a cat-and-mouse game between the P-3A/C and P—8A anti-submarine aircraft from NATO and our submarines is quite commonplace and has been going on for more than half a century.

The matter is in a dramatically changed operational and strategic situation. After information leaked online about preparations for testing a strategic intercontinental cruise missile with a nuclear power plant 9M730 "Burevestnik", as well as in the light of the deployment of Ohio-class multipurpose submarines in modification SSGN (Tomahawk cruise missile carriers) announced by Donald Trump at the launch lines for our strategically important facilities, it became known that the most promising and low-noise multipurpose submarines 885 ave. /M "Yasen-M" of the Northern Fleet have left their locations.

We are talking about the submarines Severodvinsk, Kazan and Arkhangelsk. This was reported by a number of key Western military-technical publications of NATO member states. Moreover, it became known that several multipurpose submarines of 949A Antey Ave., which are carriers of heavy two-wave 3M45 Granit anti-ship missiles, were "lost" in a remote sea zone.

It is logical to assume that the loss of control over the location of at least 7-10 of our submarines was extremely concerned about the command of the US Navy and NATO OVMS. The discovery of a temporary acoustic anomaly in the Norwegian Sea, which could well belong to one of our submarines, was added to the fire by the AUG sonar equipment led by the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. As a result, the source of the "anomaly" was lost, and the unsuccessful search for acoustic signatures by Poseidons continues to this day.

Obviously, in this situation, the command of the US Navy is not at all pleased with the prospect that submarines such as Kazan and Arkhangelsk can, in the "sneak" mode, come close to the US Navy's mixed carrier strike group deployed in the Caribbean in preparation for a massive strike on targets. The Venezuelan Armed Forces are a key partner of Russia, China and Iran on the South American continent.

The critical importance of what is happening for the Pentagon is emphasized by the multiply increased number of flights of aircraft of the air reserve control system US Armed Forces E-6B Mercury to the Northern air bases, including Pituffik SFB in Greenland. Most recently, one of the E-6Bs made a flight from the specified base to the Elmendorf-Richardson airbase in Alaska, where Vladimir Putin met with Donald Trump two and a half weeks earlier.

As you know, E-6B aircraft, also called "Doomsday" aircraft, provide data exchange between the Joint Strategic Command, the submarine component of the nuclear triad and the US Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft. Consequently, their appearance in Greenland and The Arctic region may indicate a sharply increased number of communication sessions between the Joint Strategic Command of the US Armed Forces, as well as American low-noise multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Virginia, Seawolf and Los Angeles classes, as well as Ohio-class strategic missile submarines in the SSBN modification with Trident II D5 ballistic missiles on board.

To maintain strategic communication with these submarines in underwater mode, the E-6B Mercury air command posts are equipped with AN/ART-54 ultra-long-wave and long-wave strategic communication complexes. They consist of transmitters 0G-187/ART-54 with a power of 200 kilowatts and towed dipole antennas 0E-456/ART-54 with a length of 8 km, operating in the frequency range from 17 to 60 kHz. Domestic analogues of the E-6B Mercury aircraft are IL-76SK/VKP and IL-82, equipped with 4- and 5-kilometer ultra-long-wave antennas for communication with multi-purpose submarines and strategic missile submarines.

In the event of an aggravation of the situation and the expansion of the geography of combat duty by both Russian and Chinese nuclear submarines, we can observe even more large-scale NATO operations on global sonar reconnaissance, which can be hidden from amateur spotters and The media in the conditions of modern monitoring tools will be extremely difficult.