Executor, the personal flagship of Lord Darth Vader as seen in The Empire Strikes Back. The Executor was the first ship in its class, a Kuat Drive Yards design constructed under tight security at the great shipyards of Fondor shortly after the Battle of Yavin. Here we see the underside of the mighty vessel. The huge “V”-shaped cavity presumably contains docking bays for shuttles, dropships and a multitude of carried TIE starfighters.
That's what the general thinks...
What would the Russian motivation be to tell us if they had violated our airspace/ADIZ? Because they want to help us "improve our security"? They have far better reasons not to tell us: from a diplomatic point of view, it's would be kind of "provocative"; from a strategic military point of view, they might want to save this information for a rainy day.
IMO the Russians may have closed to within the absolute maximum range of their cruise missiles at a time when atmospheric anomalies could have interfered with our early warning radars. Still, why they would publicly admit it is mind-boggling.
The truth is we watched them the entire way, and decided they were no immediate threat, so there was no reason to let them know we were watching.
These Russkis did not come thru Alaska -
http://www.alaska.net/~pmc/experience/radar.html
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/an-fps-117.htm
http://www.missilethreat.com/systems/sbx_usa.html (now in place)
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/wms/findPage.do?dsp=fec&ci=12071&rsbci=0&fti=112&ti=0&sc=400 (no rust here)
Enjoy the links, and know that if anyone tries to sneak in OUR back door, likely as not they will be eyeball to eyeball with an Eagle.
That's scary! Where's our intel going?
Commies up to their old tricks again PING!!!! Possibly Plasma Stealth???
Guys,
Please don't believe everything you read in the news. The Russians announce all of their out of area long range operations to the west. In similar fashion they also announce a window on ballistic missile launches.
These announcements are confidence building measures so that an accident does not happen. The Russians announce to the west through diplomatic channels and the press that an exercise will take place. Within in that announced time frame they conduct their exercise / ballistic missile launch etc.
What you see in the media is simply a commander spinning a story and a journalist tweaks it further.
In reality eight USAF F-15s from Alaska intercepted the four Tu-95MS (BEAR Hs)initially. As the bombers flew on off Canada the Canadian took over with their CF-18s. On the 11th the Russians did a similar long-range flight against Japan.
This is a classic case of don't believe everything you read in the media!
Actually, they kept flying south and weren't detected and interdicted until they landed in Queens and offloaded a container of sex slaves and counterfeit credit cards, but were released because they were just offloading the sex slaves and counterfeit credit cards Amercians couldn't be bothered to offload.
Isn't our SAC disbanded? When the US stopped flying strategic bombers is it possible that we believed the enemy would also? Do we also believe that in an age of ICBMs and cruise missiles that no one would bother with intercontinental strategic bombing missions?
Or, is this the beginning of developing a bombing strategy to deal with Iran? Does the AF argue that we need more AWACs in the air and command and control ships to direct the campaign and the only way to not signal our intentions is to have a plausible reason to put them up, because if they are up KC 135s will have to be up as well as we couldn't launch a mission without them. I don't think this time we would want to signal our intentions in advance.
Just FYI folks, this link from the Canadian Forces official website at www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/news/2006/04/28_e.asp
Full text follows:
NORAD Fighters Always On Alert
WINNIPEG – The Canadian NORAD Region (CANR) deployed CF-18 aircraft to Canada’s Far North just before the Easter long weekend in anticipation that Russian aircraft might be flying close to Canadian sovereign airspace as part of a Russian strategic aviation exercise.
On 13 April, Russian aircraft entered the Canadian Air Defense Identification Zone (CADIZ). Canadian fighters were positioned in Canadian sovereign airspace and were ready to intercept and escort the Russian aircraft if required. At no time did the foreign aircraft enter Canadian sovereign airspace and all aircraft returned to their respective bases without incident.
“CANR maintains a constant state of readiness,” said MGen Charlie Bouchard, Commander Canadian NORAD Region. “We were there ready to take appropriate action. CANR and NORAD maintain a constant state of readiness and this deployment is testament to our continued resolve to ensure the sovereignty of North American aerospace.”
The ADIZ is a buffer zone surrounding North America that facilitates the identification of aircraft well before they come into contact with sovereign North American airspace. It is airspace of defined dimensions within which the ready identification, location and control of airborne vehicles are required.
NORAD is a bi-national Canada-U.S. command responsible for the aerospace defense of North America. The surveillance and control of North American airspace remains a prime mission focus for the men and women of NORAD. The command retains robust air defense capabilities to execute the air sovereignty mission over Canada, Alaska, and the continental U.S.
Prior to Sept. 11, 2001, we were primarily postured to look outward. Since that time, we have increased our emphasis and ability to look inward, while maintaining our ability to monitor and respond to outside threats.
For additional information, contact Maj. Mike Lagace, Canadian NORAD Region Public Affairs Officer at (204) 471-5222.
-30-
My guess is the Russian account is a version of this same incident, spun heavily for domestic consumption, as some posters have suggested already. This is, incidentally, not the first time CF-18s have been deployed north to match Russian long-range aviation movements/exercises. Thought you might find this interesting.