Posted on 08/10/2007 5:29:55 PM PDT by blam
US denies Russian jets buzzed Pacific base
By Paul Willis and agencies
Last Updated: 11:19am BST 10/08/2007
America has rebuffed claims by Russia that two of its warplanes buzzed a US military base on the Pacific island of Guam, claiming the bombers were at least 300 miles away.
Russia claimed yesterday that US fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the two Tupolev-95 warplanes as they resumed the Cold War era practice of flying over Western offshore military installations.
A 1999 encounter between an F15 Eagle and a Tu-95 Bear
Seen as an attempt by a resurgent Russia to show off its military might, the head of Russia’s air force claimed his pilots had exchanged smiles with the Americans during the incident before turning home.
Today the American fleet commander in the Pacific poured cold water on the claims, however, insisting the Russian bombers never got within 300 miles of Guam.
"US planes went to an orbit point in preparation for an intercept that never occurred because the Bears didn't get close enough," said Admiral Robert F. Willard, employing a slang term for the Russian planes.
Capable of carrying nuclear bombs, the Tu-95 was the Soviet Union's aviation icon. A lumbering beast, it was instantly recognisable to every US fighter pilot who had to escort the aircraft on its regular sorties down the American east coast.
During the Cold War, Soviet bombers routinely flew far over the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
In Soviet days, American fighter jets would fly out to "escort" the planes, said Admiral Willard. However, he said the practice of flying over military installations had not happened for a long time.
Last month RAF Tornado fighters were twice forced to scramble after Tu-95 bombers flew close to British airspace.
The return of the airborne games of cat-and-mouse is likely to raise concern in Western capitals, where military chiefs will be puzzling over how to respond to Russia's increasingly frequent displays of defiance.
East-West relations also came under renewed strain after the United States appeared to blame Russia for a missile strike against Georgia on Monday that took the diplomatic crisis between the two ex-Soviet neighbours to new depths.
This Buzzed Haiti. :)
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/08/10/video-the-freaky-deakiest-ufo-clip-evah/
LOL!
They should be escorted further in, shot down and made to disappear from the face of the earth, IMO (taken apart and buried).
“The return of the airborne games of cat-and-mouse is likely to raise concern in Western capitals, where military chiefs will be puzzling over how to respond to Russia’s increasingly frequent displays of defiance.”
I suggest directed energy weapons.
Their ancient planes will just fall out of the sky.
Official NATO callsigns don't equal "slang".
I love this.
Their stupid air force is forced to stand down for what... 15 years? No money for fuel. No money for maintenance. During that time, their main “enemy,” which would be us, doesn’t lift a finger to threaten them, much less invade them or take their natural resources.
Then when they begin to get up off their backs economically, they’re right back at it again, saber rattling to show us how tough they are.
What’s the point?
Maybe they just want to be noticed.
No Russian jets came anywhere near the base - Tu-95s are turboprops.
Remember how well it worked for them last time?
OTOH, my B52s “buzzed” the former USSR (now reduced to strictly Russian) ships and bases at will.
Or better yet, shovels them millions to clean up their loose nukes, and puts their scientists on the payroll designing crappy space stations.
“US planes went to an orbit point in preparation for an intercept that never occurred because the Bears didn’t get close enough,” said Admiral Robert F. Willard, employing a slang term for the Russian planes. ==
But it is “close enough” - 300 miles. Bear may shoot all its missile payload and distruct whole base from this distance. Bear needs not to get over base until its airdefense isn’t suppressed.
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