The Russians Are Coming!

[Hawk MMS 0]

Stirring the pot I guess...

 

 

 

Associated Press

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.

[+Gocad 26]

I fail to see what's the big deal with this. If the Russians want to burn some fuel over international airspace, let'em do it. If it makes them them happy, feel more important, or else, so be it.

 

Or is it still considered a miracle if the Russians manage to get their birds airborne?

[triplethr3at 0]

I fail to see what's the big deal with this. If the Russians want to burn some fuel over international airspace, let'em do it. If it makes them them happy, feel more important, or else, so be it.

 

Or is it still considered a miracle if the Russians manage to get their birds airborne?

I think you highly underestimate Russian power. They can accoplish several things by these flights. The first and most obviouse is training their bomber crews. However they accomplish several other things too. Second they are able to accuratley asses enemy response times as well as the number of aircraft sent up in response to such probes. I think that things may get close to the cold war once again. Russia is not out of the fight by a long shot.

[+Typhoid 231]

I fail to see what's the big deal with this. If the Russians want to burn some fuel over international airspace, let'em do it. If it makes them them happy, feel more important, or else, so be it.

 

Or is it still considered a miracle if the Russians manage to get their birds airborne?

 

what is making it to the press is a LOT LESS than what the Russians have actually been flying and sailing this summer. The increasingly complex ops and the scale of those ops month after month is what is catching a lot of people's attention.

 

the good old days with a predictable opponent!

 

We'll need a Wings over the Arctic flight sim version soon.....

 

[Guest Saganuay82]

Wings Over the Arctic? Thats been done, Its called Danger Bering Straits.

[Viggen 644]

How many Sub patrols and naval exercises have there been? Also I suggest that you all get a copy of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising. The increase in sub and Bear along with Blackjacks(!) has really got my atttention and is making me reread it for a second time!

[+Gocad 26]

How many Sub patrols and naval exercises have there been? Also I suggest that you all get a copy of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising. The increase in sub and Bear along with Blackjacks(!) has really got my atttention and is making me reread it for a second time!

 

You think Ivan is planning to grab the Arabian oil fields?

 

But seriously, I stand to what I have posted previously. Russia may be recovering, but they are still lightyears away from having the military capablities the might have had during the Cold War era. Putin is keen to play the 'strong Russia' card and underscore that they want to be global power once again, but their military simply is not up to this.

 

These flights are just a show to demonstrate their own people: "Look, our mighty bombers take to the sky and everyone in the West panics."

 

But I doubt that this is the case. It's not like the Russians have done something nobody was prepared for.

Edited September 7, 2007 by Gocad

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

How many Sub patrols and naval exercises have there been? Also I suggest that you all get a copy of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising. The increase in sub and Bear along with Blackjacks(!) has really got my atttention and is making me reread it for a second time!

 

I ordered mine more than a month ago! Just waiting it for me to arrive...

 

As for the events themselves, well, I just hope this gets Thirdwire thinking of making a near-future sequel for WoE...

[Viggen 644]

You think Ivan is planning to grab the Arabian oil fields?

 

But seriously, I stand to what I have posted previously. Russia may be recovering, but they are still lightyears away from having the military capablities the might have had during the Cold War era. Putin is keen to play the 'strong Russia' card and underscore that they want to be global power once again, but their military simply is not up to this.

 

These flights are just a show to demonstrate their own people: "Look, our mighty bombers take to the sky and everyone in the West panics."

 

But I doubt that this is the case. It's not like the Russians have done something nobody was prepared for.

 

Not Arab out oilfields so much as the Live Fire Exercises.

[JediMaster 451]

Second time? Bah, I've read RSR at least 4 times!

 

Anyway, having the resources to fly a few bombers around is a far different matter than being able to field a combat-ready wing.

[+NGHENGO 14]

Tk must to re-edit his game soon..........Anders is right.......the game miss for much more Electronic warfare...and dedicated plane to give the real taste of the cold war I think to EC-121K....to Actually Awacs....And more, try to giva a little bit more of complexity....And what about of a real oversear war......The navy fought a "real" almost hot war all over the world for decades.....

Try to give a meaning in recon missions...tactical or strategic......and so on. All this things could' Give much realism and new target to protect or to hunt.......Target that could give add point to each one of the opposite forces in a campaign game.

 

Mau.

[+Typhoid 231]

Second time? Bah, I've read RSR at least 4 times!

 

Anyway, having the resources to fly a few bombers around is a far different matter than being able to field a combat-ready wing.

 

Why do you think that putting elements of two combat ready wings of over 20 aircraft up at once over different parts of the Arctic is insignificant?

[Hawk MMS 0]

Russia is putting up the planes and putting out the subs in order to make us look in another direction. Russia and China will prevent (veto) any UN resolutions re: Iran as the administration has lost the diplomatic front (Germany has bailed out) and military action is next. The US would be hard pressed to fulfill its NATO obligations if Russia decided it wanted its Eastern Europe Empire back while we are in Iraq and involved in a large scale air assault on Iran's air defences, military installations and eventually their nuclear sites. Just wait until after the primaries...

[Viggen 644]

Today they tested bomb 4 times more powerful then the MOAB. They dropped it from a Blackjack. Also he dissmissed one of his KGB cronies.

[JediMaster 451]

Why do you think that putting elements of two combat ready wings of over 20 aircraft up at once over different parts of the Arctic is insignificant?

 

 

Over "20"? That number IS insignificant, especially spread out over that area. If it was 20+ in a single spot, heading for a NATO exercise or something, that would be. If it was closer to 100 planes, it would be.

[+Typhoid 231]

Over "20"? That number IS insignificant, especially spread out over that area. If it was 20+ in a single spot, heading for a NATO exercise or something, that would be. If it was closer to 100 planes, it would be.

 

 

you perhaps don't realize that 20 LRA bombers could vaporize all of the major cities in North America and turn it all into radioactive rubble?

[IguanaKing 0]

you perhaps don't realize that 20 LRA bombers could vaporize all of the major cities in North America and turn it all into radioactive rubble?

 

Assuming any of them made it anywhere near their targets. ;)

[+Gocad 26]

Assuming any of them made it anywhere near their targets. ;)

 

You do know that the Russians are aware of the concept called 'Cruise Missile'.

[eraser_tr 29]

Assuming any of them made it anywhere near their targets. ;)

 

Assuming we had more air cover than on 9/11.

 

Major US cities being radioactive rubble is not in russia's best interest. They're no longer isolated from the global market with a command economy. When New York sneezes, the whole world catches a cold, if New York became radioactive rubble, the world economy would be rubble too. We'd have to go back to trading glow in the dark donkeys and crops.

 

That, and we have enough missiles still that could probably hit every inch of russian soil in retaliation.

[+Typhoid 231]

Major US cities being radioactive rubble is not in russia's best interest. They're no longer isolated from the global market with a command economy. When New York sneezes, the whole world catches a cold, if New York became radioactive rubble, the world economy would be rubble too. We'd have to go back to trading glow in the dark donkeys and crops.

 

That, and we have enough missiles still that could probably hit every inch of russian soil in retaliation.

 

true, its not and no one thinks that is likely. But to brush off a resurgent strategic capabilty is also not a smart approach if one is charged with the nations' air defense.

 

"Assuming we had more air cover than on 9/11."

 

meaning what? meaning perhaps that after a decade of meat axe budget cuts our air defense over the entire North American airspace of only 20 fighters on air sovereignty alert was perhaps a bit thin?

Edited September 13, 2007 by Typhoid

[+Typhoid 231]

You do know that the Russians are aware of the concept called 'Cruise Missile'.

 

of which, by the by, there is almost no effective defense once they are launched. We will know they were launched by counting the nudets........

[Viggen 644]

of which, by the by, there is almost no effective defense once they are launched. We will know they were launched by counting the nudets........

 

What about Phanlanx and Aegis? Of course Phalanx couldn't choose a missle in Red Storm Rising and was the reason the Tico sank!

[+Typhoid 231]

What about Phanlanx and Aegis? Of course Phalanx couldn't choose a missle in Red Storm Rising and was the reason the Tico sank!

 

not very many of those positioned around the continent. Tough to sail an Aegis ship into the interior.......

 

its an issue of deployed systems and coverage, both weapons and surveillance against a low RCS and low altitude high speed target.

 

deterrence remains our primary defense. That works against semi-rational players like Russia with something to loose. Against Insane Jihadists hiding in caves...........

[JediMaster 451]

If you know there are cruise missiles incoming, there are F-15Cs, Super Hornets, and Raptors equipped with the latest AMRAAM model optimized for cruise missile defense available. However, if you DON'T know...

 

Besides, the biggest threat is going to be a cruise missile launched from an innocuous-looking ship off the coast. Open a cargo container, reveal the launcher, fire away. It's all about deterrence and threat of retaliation. The problem is we're rarely facing a nation that can be retailated against directly nowadays.

[TX3RN0BILL 3]

I've heard the russians were developing some kind of rocket torpedos allegedly called something like "shkval", meaning "squall", and it's supposed to be the s**te... If russian subs carrying such torpedos got near a carrier group and would be able to lock onto the carrier... Man... those things are supposedly able to carry nuclear warheads even...