American military planes built for anti-submarine warfare flew back-to-back sorties around Florida on Tuesday as a Russian navy flotilla sailed past the East Coast of the United States.
A time-lapse of aircraft data from the website Flightradar24 showed more than half-a-dozen U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidons—known as "submarine hunters"—converging on the Sunshine State.
Some loitered outside U.S. territorial waters in hourslong flights near the Florida Straits, relieving one another to ensure nonstop surveillance. Publicly available data pointed to operations out of Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
Russia's Defense Ministry is sending a nuclear-powered submarine and three surface vessels to Havana, 100 miles south of Florida's Key West. It is a telegraphed flex by the Kremlin, meant to demonstrate that its ability to project power in the Atlantic remains unhampered despite the ongoing war in Ukraine. Russia's Defense Ministry could not be reached for comment.
The Russian warships conducted tactical drills in the waters to simulate missile strikes on enemy vessels 370 miles away, the ministry said. The flotilla was scheduled to arrive in Cuba on Wednesday before departing on June 17.
The United States has been "actively monitoring the Russian ships as they transit the Atlantic Ocean within international waters," a U.S. defense official told Newsweek. "Air and maritime assets under U.S. Northern Command have conducted operations to ensure the defense of the United States and Canada."
The Navy's Second Fleet, Fourth Fleet, the U.S. Coast Guard and Canada's Joint Task Force Atlantic were conducting "routine operations throughout the Atlantic," the Pentagon official said, "and we will continue to operate and engage from a position of strength."
"Russia's deployments are part of routine naval activity which pose no direct threat or concern to the United States."
On Tuesday, a State Department spokesperson told Newsweek the U.S. expects "heightened naval and air activity near the United States" this summer, before "a global Russian naval exercise this fall."
The four vessels calling on Havana this week include the Yasen-M-class submarine Kazan, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the replenishment tanker Academic Pashin and the tug boat Nikolay Chiker—all in service with the Russian navy's Northern Fleet.
The Gorshkov is armed with the new Zircon hypersonic cruise missile, which is nuclear-capable. However, Cuba's Foreign Ministry said none of the vessels would carry nuclear weapons into port, and that the visit therefore "does not represent a threat to the region."
The port call reflected "historically friendly relations" between the two countries, the ministry added.
P-8A maritime patrol aircraft carry nine crew members and can launch torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship cruise missiles, the U.S. Navy says.
They have an operational range of over 4,500 miles and are equipped for air-to-air refueling. Boeing Defense, Space and Security has built nearly 180 for the U.S. and Indian navies, as well as the air forces of Britain and Australia.
The Poseidons were only one of multiple U.S. Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard assets operating in the area as the Russian ships made their transit. They are likely to have conducted their own mock training exercises.
Open-source analysis suggests the U.S. military had been tracking the Russian ships for well over a week before American and Canadian forces intercepted them off the Florida coast on June 11.
"A pillar of U.S. Navy presence is to preserve peace by protecting international law and safeguarding the inherent right of all nations to the freedom of the seas," the U.S. defense official said. "The United States encourages the safe and professional maritime presence of any nation operating in international waters."
Update 6/13/24, 5 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional comments and context.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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