– Some of them may be intended for the military – E24

Marine equipment from Norway ended up in Russia. Orlog Tor Captain Ivar Strommen believes the lot is reserved for the fishing fleet. – But most of it is equipment that Russian defense will need.

– All this equipment can be used by civilian and military ships, says war scientist and Navy captain Strommen.

He is a doctoral student at the Norwegian Maritime Academy and a master instructor in maritime operations. Strommen also has 15 years of operational service experience in the Navy.

He viewed a list of goods produced in Norway that found their way from Turkey to Russia between 2022 and 2023, as E24 reported on Saturday.

– These are not military materials per se, but all warships carry such materials on board. In addition, it will be possible to use these materials to build advanced marine drones and underwater drones, Strommen says.

The goods are intended for the maritime market and contain, among other things, navigation and communications equipment.

In addition, there are batteries, spare parts and equipment for loudspeaker systems for shipboard advertising.

E24 only knows when the goods arrived in Russia, and has no information on when the goods left Norway or how they reached the Turkish company Conomar in Istanbul.

However, the equipment was purchased by Russian companies Transas Navigator and NTI.

Maintenance of FSB ships

The two companies are related to each other, and each has a history of deliveries to the Russian military industry.

Among other things, Transas has supplied navigational equipment to several border guard boats of the Russian FSB security service.

Orlogkaptain Strømmen also knows the latter.

Transas Navigator is a former subsidiary of the Finnish company Wartsila. Strømmen refers to the company as a serious, big player in selling navigation equipment primarily to the leisure market.

– They are now part of Zora, which is a major player on the Russian Pacific coast within navigation systems, says Strommen.

– Among other things, they deal with the maintenance of border guard ships of the Federal Security Service and the Russian Navy. I therefore consider it likely that some of the material is specifically intended for the Russian military and security bloc.

NTI is headquartered in St. Petersburg, and in 2020 its turnover reached 2.4 billion rubles, according to the Russian business newspaper. Delovoi Petersburg.

NTI LLC is also a company that has several contracts with the Russian Armed Forces, says Stromin.

The recipient will likely be military

Until last year, both companies had the same majority ownership, E24 investigations show.

The fact that both companies have assignments and contracts directly related to Russian defense and the Russian Federal Security Service, and given that Russia has now taken major steps towards a war economy, means that technology in short supply has been prioritized for the armor industry. And defense.

– Thus, we must see that it is likely that some of these materials go to the Russian Armed Forces – either directly or through the delivery of other equipment to them.

In most of the shipments in customs data that E24 has access to, the number is less than ten. Which specific speedometer is used Doppler effectDoppler effectDoppler navigation is a method of navigation in which a person's position is calculated based on velocity measurements that rely on the Doppler effect, i.e. the phenomenon that the frequency of a sound wave depends on how fast the observer and source are moving relative to each other. In ships, the Doppler effect is measured on sound pulses emitted in the water below the ship. Source: SNL To measure the distance to other objects, it was sent three times.

Two of the shipments contained only one speedometer, while one shipment contained five speedometers.

“Because the number of components is relatively low, I think this is for specific customers who already have some of these systems,” says Strommen.

– Such a low number does not indicate that this is included in the mass production of drones, for example, but it may be a material that the FSB or the Navy needs for their few ships.

– The sale of equipment intended for maritime navigation to Russia has been banned since the spring of 2022. Why do such goods not end up in Russia?

– First of all because such goods are necessary to build, equip and modernize warships. Without modern navigational aids, Russian ships will face restrictions in their navigation, which constitutes a tactical disadvantage and reduces the importance of the ship.

In addition, some of this equipment may be suitable for integration into drones – so they can find their targets more easily and with greater accuracy, Strommen explains.

Who is the most likely end user, if this is something the Russian military could benefit from?

Based on the list, the most likely end user for most of the products is the Russian fishing fleet, but most of it could, or is, also equipment that Russia's defense will need, Strommin says.