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NATO Patrol Aircraft Chase Russian Sub as U.S. Carrier Operates off Norway

A Yasen-class sub assigned to Russia's Northern Fleet, 2021 (Russian MOD)
A Yasen-class sub assigned to Russia's Northern Fleet, 2021 (Russian MOD)

Published Aug 27, 2025 7:11 PM by The Maritime Executive


A substantial share of the NATO maritime surveillance aircraft fleet has been engaged in tracking a Russian submarine off the coast of Norway. The movements of Russia's attack subs are of interest every day, but this one has attracted extra attention because it is in the same region as the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which is currently operating alongside Norwegian allied forces in the North Sea. 

According to the UK's Daily Express, P-8 surveillance aircraft from the UK, the U.S. and Norway have saturated a search area near the Ford Carrier Strike Group since last week. 

More than two dozen sorties have been flown so far, including at least eight flown by the UK's Royal Air Force. Some of the capacity originated from an airbase in Sicily, on the other side of Europe, suggesting a high priority for diverting assets to this mission. A UK defense source told The Sun that the operation was "highly unusual," and several British sources called it a show of force from NATO. “It is telling Russia: ‘We see you,'” former Royal Navy Commander Tom Sharpe told the outlet. 

The Barents Observer has reported that three Yasen-class Russian attack subs departed the pens at Severomorsk earlier this week, based on satellite imagery.

USS Gerald R. Ford and her escorts departed the Mediterranean earlier this month and transited through the English Channel to reach the North Sea. On arrival, the Ford strike group met up with Norwegian units to conduct joint drills. The exercise is part of Ford's deployment to the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations, and is intended to demonstrate the "U.S. Navy's ironclad commitment to the stability and security of the European theater." 

Separately, Russian fighters intercepted a U.S. Navy P-8A over the Black Sea on Wednesday, and the pilots filmed an interaction with the U.S. Navy plane. This particular P-8 had extended its rarely-spotted AESA radar, the Advanced Airborne Sensor pod - a powerful air and surface search device. The P-8 was on a mission to patrol the waters off Novorossiysk, the Russian Navy's bastion in the northeastern corner of the Black Sea.