Russian Overflights

[ccheese]

OFFICIALS: NORWEGIAN, BRITISH FIGHTERS SCRAMBLE TO MONITOR RUSSIAN BOMBERS
Thursday, September 06, 2007

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OSLO, Norway — Norwegian and British fighters scrambled twice Thursday to monitor eight Russian bombers that neared the Nordic country's territory in the latest show of air power by the Kremlin, defense officials said.

Lt. Col. John Inge Oeglaend, of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, said the Tupolev-95 strategic bombers, also called Tu-95MC or Bears, neared but did not enter Norwegian air space in the far north.
British defense officials said four Royal Air Force fighters also scrambled to monitor the flight, which did not enter British territory.

"They followed a normal route in international air space," Oeglaend said by telephone from the western Norway port of Stavanger. He said they flew near Norway's northern tip over the Barents Sea, then over the North Atlantic and back.

Oeglaend said two Norwegian F-16 fighters were sent up both times that the Russian aircraft approached Norway, in keeping with normal practice.
Norway, a member of the NATO alliance, and Russia share land and ocean borders in the Arctic, including the vast Barents Sea.

According to Oeglaend, this is the third time Norwegian fighters have scrambled since mid-July to monitor a rising number of Russian military air exercises.

A British Defense Ministry spokesman, speaking on traditional condition of anonymity, said, "I can confirm that in the early hours of this morning four F3s launched from RAF Leeming and RAF Waddington to intercept eight Russian Bears, which had not entered U.K. airspace."

Russian news agencies quoted air force spokesman Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying Thursday that Russian long-range bombers had begun patrols of distant areas of the globe late Wednesday, in accordance with plans announced by President Vladimir Putin for a resumption of the flights.

"In accordance with the confirmed plan, 14 Tu-95MC strategic bombers on Wednesday evening began regular air patrols over the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans involving in-flight refueling," ITAR-Tass and Interfax quoted Drobyshevsky as saying.

He said the flights were not violating international regulations and that the planes "are flying over neutral waters, not approaching close to the air borders of foreign countries," according to ITAR-Tass.
Drobyshevsky said that "practically all (the bombers involved) are being shadowed by NATO jets," the reports said.

In mid-August, Norwegian fighters scrambled to monitor a flight of 11 Russian bombers exercising off western Norway in the biggest show of Russian air power over the Norwegian Sea since the early 1990s.


This from Fox News....

Charles

[Clave]

Cold War 2...?

This seems futile, in that bombers would not feature that highly in an all-out war, and it only aggravates potential allies. What are they trying to prove?

[Konigstiger205]

They're just showing off....

[Matt308]

Putin has a small penis...

[DOUGRD]

Originally Posted by Clave

Cold War 2...?

This seems futile, in that bombers would not feature that highly in an all-out war, and it only aggravates potential allies. What are they trying to prove?

I suspect they are trying to aggravate potential enemies and enemies allies. The Russians have been "Back Burnered" since the end of the Cold War and they are starting to flex their muscles just to remind everyone else that they are still a force to be reckoned with.

[Konigstiger205]

There's no need to remind everything...all eastern Europe knows what they are capable of....

[comiso90]

>>eight Russian bombers

8... that is not reconnaissance!
Me thinks the saber rattling is a calculated move to curry support on the home front. The Russian people have had little to be proud of in the past few years. Giving the West the finger is good politics on the home front.

[Glider]

Originally Posted by comiso90

>>eight Russian bombers

8... that is not reconnaissance!
Me thinks the saber rattling is a calculated move to curry support on the home front. The Russian people have had little to be proud of in the past few years. Giving the West the finger is good politics on the home front.

Have to agree with this. Personally I am not impressed that the best they can come up with is a aircraft I don't know how many years old. It proves nothing, achieves nothing apart from some headlines.

At the end of the day Russia doesn't have the ability to be the Superpower it once was and they have not and/or will not recognise it.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

That does not mean they will not try and they have the nuclear capability to cuase another cold war.

[Glider]

Originally Posted by DerAdlerIstGelandet

That does not mean they will not try and they have the nuclear capability to cuase another cold war.

True, but there on their own now. The WP does not exist and with that gone, the numbers are against them. If they want to go down that route, then all they will do is repeat the mistakes and bankrupt themselves on the alter of Military might. Might that has no use as the whole world would turn against them, including China, which is a much greater threat to Russia than USA or Europe.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Originally Posted by Glider

including China, which is a much greater threat to Russia than USA or Europe.

With that I agree and to the whole world as well I believe.

[mkloby]

Originally Posted by Glider

True, but there on their own now. The WP does not exist and with that gone, the numbers are against them. If they want to go down that route, then all they will do is repeat the mistakes and bankrupt themselves on the alter of Military might. Might that has no use as the whole world would turn against them, including China, which is a much greater threat to Russia than USA or Europe.

It will be very interesting to see the paths that Russia and China choose. I think China's top priority is going to be to secure future power sources. In that end, I think that China and Russia can have a symbiotic relationship.

[Glider]

No one knows, but time is on the side of the Chinese. Russia has a population of around 160 million, USA around 300 million, Europe around 450 million, China around 1,320 million and Russia's population is FALLING by 800,000 a year.

[comiso90]

Originally Posted by Glider

No one knows, but time is on the side of the Chinese. Russia has a population of around 160 million, USA around 300 million, Europe around 450 million, China around 1,320 million and Russia's population is FALLING by 800,000 a year.

Well, it looks I got my work cut out for me. I'm off to Russia with a crate of blue jeans, nylons and cigarette lighters. I'll do what I can to raise the birthrate if I personally have to screw every girl between 20 an 35 and under 135 pounds.

All in the name of world peace of coarse!

.

[Matt308]

Of coarse

Another ugly American that I must love and by beers for...