Defence Forces Monitor Offshore Foreign Warships
Amid the public interest in Russian naval activity in the Atlantic, the Irish Defence Forces have this week been monitoring foreign military vessels transiting beyond Ireland’s territorial waters. This has involved the LE Samuel Beckett and The Air Corps’ Casa 252 from Baldonnel with stops at Cork Airport each way. Above, the large bubble observation windows on the Air Corps Casas facilitate photography and visual search operations. Crew members photograph anything of interest for later analysis. Photo – Irish Air Corps.
Casa CN235 no 252 departs Cork for its four hour Atlantic patrol. Photo – Gabriel Desmond.
Stoikiy is a Steregushchiy-class corvette of the Russian Navy. These warships are 104m long and carry one Kamov KA-27 naval helicopter. Its distinctive co-axial rotors are counter-rotating and eliminate the need for a tail rotor. This layout maximises fuselage capacity while minimising overall length, useful design features in the confined space of a warship. Photo – Irish Air Corps.
A patrol work station on Casa 252. The operator has access to the databases and communications used in the enforcement of the EU Fisheries Policy and other maritime surveillance. Photo – Irish Air Corps.
USS Roosevelt DDG-80. The US Navy operate about seventy of these 155m-long guided-missile destroyers which can carry two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters. Photo – Irish Air Corps.
Defence Forces crew board Casa 252 at Cork. Photo – Gabriel Desmond
About the Author
Gabriel Desmond Cork based Gabriel Desmond has been documenting aviation in Ireland and around the world for over 50 years. A regular contributor to Flying in Ireland, his photographs and articles have been used in a wide range of aviation publications as well as news and corporate media
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