Defence Forces 'hyper aware' as Russian navy expected to conduct drills

The LÉ Samuel Beckett to the quays at Cork City.

The Defence Forces have a surveillance operation in place to monitor Russian navy vessels, which have been tracked off English and French coasts, in the event they enter Irish-controlled waters in the coming days.

Military sources told the Irish Examiner over a week ago that Russian ships were expected to head for Ireland’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for drills as part of its global ‘Ocean’ military exercise.

Experts said the drills in the EEZ have a “strategic” purpose — to show the West Russia’s visible military presence — and a “tactical” purpose — to map subsea cables.

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It comes at a time of escalating global tensions, with Russian president Vladimir Putin warning Western countries at the weekend that if they allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike inside Russia it will mean “Nato countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia”.

In recent days, British and French navies and air forces have tracked the movement of at least four Russian ships and a submarine through the English Channel and into French waters.

RAF fighters were also scrambled to intercept a Russian Bear-F aircraft.

Military sources have said that the expected Russian exercises along or inside Ireland’s EEZ will be “much smaller” than the drills conducted in February 2022, just before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Sources told the Irish Examiner that the Defence Forces are “hyper aware” of any exercises by foreign naval vessels in the EEZ, which extend to 200 nautical miles south and west of Ireland.

It is expected that if the Russian ships or submarines enter the EEZ, the naval service will send out a vessel to the area to monitor the operation.

This will be done in conjunction with the air corps MPA or maritime patrol aircraft. The Defence Forces received two new Airbus C295, boasting modern surveillance technology, within the last year.

The naval service may also receive intelligence from British and French navies.

In a statement, the Defence Forces said exercises by foreign navies outside territorial waters (12 miles), but inside the EEZ are permitted under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as part of the freedom of the high seas.

It added: “Any vessels transiting Irish waters must do so in compliance with international law and may be subject to sighting and observation by the Defence Forces without their innocent passage being infringed.

“The Irish naval service, in conjunction with the Irish air corps, Defence Forces operations and the Irish Naval Service Fisheries Monitoring Centre in Haulbowline continue to remotely monitor vessels in the Irish EEZ on a 24/7 basis.” 

The depleted capacity of the naval service was highlighted again in an Oireachtas report last week, which said it had two-thirds of its sanctioned staffing levels — with a corresponding impact on patrols.