Posted on 05/12/2018 6:15:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers were intercepted in international airspace off the coast of Alaska yesterday and escorted out of the U.S. air defense zone.
The Russian long-range bombers flew into the Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends approximately 200 miles off Alaska's western coast.
"At approximately 10 a.m. ET, two Alaskan-based NORAD F-22 fighters intercepted and visually identified two Russian TU-95 'Bear' long-range bomber aircraft flying in the Air Defense Identification Zone around the western coast of Alaska, north of the Aleutian Islands," NORAD and USNORTHCOM spokesman Canadian Army Maj. Andrew Hennessy said in a statement.
The Russian aircraft were "intercepted and monitored by the F-22s until the bombers left the ADIZ along the Aleutian Island chain heading west," and never entered US airspace, according to the statement.
The last such intercept of Russian aircraft by US jets took place on May 3, 2017.
Russia has constantly been testing our air and sea defenses, but rarely so close to U.S. airspace. There have been numerous instances of U.S. intercepts of Russian aircraft in the Baltic, where Vladimir Putin has been putting pressure on Eastern European countries like Poland and the Czech Republic.
And there have been several instances of Russian fighters buzzing U.S. warships in that region.
Putin isn't so much "testing" U.S. air defenses as he is reminding the U.S. that Russia has a powerful military as well with the ability to strike the U.S. at any time.
Two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers were intercepted in international airspace off the coast of Alaska yesterday and escorted out of the U.S. air defense zone.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I am having a hard time processing the powerful military (an old prop bomber) in comparison to the King of the Skies that intercepted it..... an F-22
I think there is a 6 generation difference there. Just saying.
P.S. - the Bear is still a pretty effective aircraft in some respects, but they can’t even see an F-22 until the pilot waves at them.
I once talked with Norwegian F-16 pilots who regularly intercepted Bears. They said they could hardly hear radio calls with their head set on because of how loud the engines were on the Bears.
But, but, Trump and Putin are in cahoots! /s
I suppose if you wanted to test your hardware ability to detect F-22s at a distance, you might send in your TU-95 to attract attention and draw them in.
A friend of mine flew F-106’s for the Alaskan Air Command many years ago. He said you could hear the TU-95’s for miles.
Intelligence gathering like this is nothing new. The bomber was probably packed full of electronics.
Well, since you commented, here’s some stuff from our side:
http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2012/July%202012/0712berlin.aspx
Read it. 44 years, over 10,000 missions and no casualties. Impressive.
The C-130s were modified out of Ontario, CA which is now abandoned.
Damn! This is the 4th or 5th time today.
Flush the Bombers out of Elmendorf. Get me the President on the horn!
Putting rearing his head in Alaska, and also in the Med.
How many decades has this cat and mouse game been going on.
Sort of like the cold war all over again.
that was stationed up in the Aleutian Islands back in the mid-70s and I had about a mile walk to work, that is if I chose to walk, and one day as I was walking to work I heard a jet in the distance and jets weren’t that common out there. You would hear turboprops occasionally but a jet was a different noise, and the Jet appeared and it was a black jet or a dark-colored jet, and it had a red star painted on its tail. it overflew the island and circled back and overflew again, headed Westward and then cracked the sound barrier. It was about three minutes later that two American fighters came screaming by. Classic cold war cat and mouse.
I much suspect that the main purpose on such is to test new Russian radar designed to detect, which they and Chicoms are developing. Report: China's anti-stealth radar can detect U.S. fighter jets - UPI.com
Somewhere in Russia there are old airmen homes where everyone is saying, “What did you say?” Kind of like the homes for radiated submariners in Russia.
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