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Posted on 03/23/2010 8:18:49 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Taiwan said Tuesday a Russian bomber entered its airspace in January, amid anger that its air force did not intercept the plane, which could have dropped tonnes of explosives on the island.
Taiwanese radars detected the aircraft, a Tupolev TU-95 long-range strategic bomber, 285 kilometres off the island's northeast coast early in the afternoon of January 28, the air force said.
"It briefly entered our airspace," air force major general Wang Hsuan-chou told reporters.
"Our judgment was that since the unidentified aircraft was harmless, we handled the incident according to the standard operation procedure. We demanded the aircraft leave immediately."
The aircraft turned away and flew in the direction of Okinawa, a Japanese island northeast of Taiwan, he said.
He declined to say why the air force considered the Russian plane, capable of loading 15 tonnes of bombs, harmless.
The air force reaction immediately fuelled criticism from legislators wondering why it had failed to send fighters to intercept the Russian intruder.
Maintaining a high level of alert is one of the Taiwan military's top responsibilities, as the island is only a few minutes' flying time away from old arch rival China.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory, and despite a recent thaw in relations, it has not given up the use of force to bring about reunification with the island.
(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...
EPIC FAIL!
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TESTING, TESTING, 1,2,3...
Strategic bomber? A Bear? Most likely rigged with electronic snooping gear. Dang nuisance that needs just one Mach 1+ pass by a -16 to make it go away.
Am I the only one who feels like we are sitting on the edge of WW3?
Between Asia, Eastern Europe and Isreal vs everybody else, I’m on edge.
Someone had orders NOT to intercept it I’m guessing.
But there were no F-16 sent to visit it.
Bear carries a nasty cruise missile.
“Am I the only one who feels like we are sitting on the edge of WW3?”
“Between Asia, Eastern Europe and Isreal vs everybody else, I’m on edge.”
No. Nothing there is going to happen. Communists run what was your country now. What is coming is worse than war. Financial implosion and Obama becomes FDR/Mugabe.
WWIII has already begun, just a little more subtle then world wars before.
Could’ve been a weird, political, national sovereignty stand-off between Taiwan and the PRC.
Since PRC claims Taiwan, then maybe Taiwan controllers waited to see what the PRC would do about a Russian plane crossing “their” (PRC) air space. Since they did nothing, Taiwan warned off the intruder without assuming an aggressive, “independent” posture (radio message rather than air intercept) that the PRC could bitch about.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Tupolev-95. It’s a good-looking plane but rather anachronistic in appearance, too, with those props. It’s like seeing sails on a powerboat.
But things are gearing up to a open war soon....
Nope.
DOH!
i) the Bear was DETECTED 285 kilometers away.
ii) the Bear can carry 16 cruise missiles
iii) each of those cruise missiles can have nuclear warheads
iv) each of those missiles has a range of 3,000 kilometers
v) once again, the plane was detected 285 kilometers away.
That is a problem, and as a strategic platform the Bear may be old (like the B-52), but it carries some very capable cruise missiles. IF this was a real mission Taipei would have been nuked 16 times over!
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And how 'bout that Putin? Guy can't get no respect. He sends a friggin' bomber over Taiwan. The Taiwanese don't even send up a fighter. "Just a Russian bomber. It's harmless."