Russian bombers test UK patience again

Herald Sun ^ | July 20, 2007 | Wojciech Moskwa

[lizol]

Russian bombers test UK patience again

By Wojciech Moskwa in Oslo

July 20, 2007 09:59pm

TWO Russian Tu-95 bombers made unusually long sorties over the North Sea yesterday, forcing both Norway and Britain to scramble fighter jets to follow the Russian planes, Norway's armed forces said.

The Russian bombers stayed in international air space during their flight, which took them as far south as the region between Norway's Stavanger and Aberdeen in Scotland - centres of the North Sea oil industry.

The incident, the latest of several such sorties in past days, occurred during a period of heightened diplomatic tensions between Russia and Britain over Moscow's refusal to extradite a murder suspect.

“It's a long time since they (Russian bombers) have been that far south,” John Inge Oegland, spokesman for Norway's armed forces, told Reuters.

"I would say that is rather unusual.

“Since they were so far south, the RAF (Britain's Royal Air Force) followed the same procedure and went up to identify them."

When Russian military planes approach Norwegian air space, Norway scrambles fighters to meet and follow them.

Russia's air force commander said this week that such sorties were training flights for the long-range bombers.

“The pilots flew on routes used for international flights,” Colonel Yuri Pomelov, an information officer for the Russian military, said.

"We strictly followed international agreements on the use of airspace."

Cold War

Norway said it was not unusual for Russian military planes to fly over international waters across the Barents Sea and then either turn south into the Norwegian Sea or continue flying west over the Atlantic, before turning around.

Oegland said the apparent increase in Russian sorties along Norwegian air space follows a major exercise by Russia's Northern Fleet in the Russian Barents Sea.

[lizol]

Tu-95

[lizol]

Ping

[From One - Many]

putin, a putin?
don't know, but it sure stinks.

[Crazieman]

Article says the next time around they flew Tu-160s (B1-ski)

[CarrotAndStick]

Norway also scrambled fighters yesterday to follow two Tu-160 Russian bombers, a more modern jet-engine strategic bomber than the propeller-driven Tu-90, which passed near Norwegian air space in the Barents Sea.

Tu-160

[Stallone]

The Evil Empire should be booted out of the G8 toute suite.

[conservonator]

The shape of that bomber looks vaguely familiar....

[UnklGene]

[Hazwaste]

No, it’s an American B-1. Look at the wing where the USAF emblem is mounted.

[Crazieman]

Genuine Tu-160

[Hazwaste]

Always loved the F-101 Voodoo. Didn’t know Canada flew them too.

[CarrotAndStick]

It reminds me of the front of the space shuttle.

[CarrotAndStick]

Lol! My bad! I used Google.

[CarrotAndStick]

I realised! My bad!

[lizol]

Nope, it's B-1B

http://images.google.pl/imgres?imgurl=http://www.jetplanes.co.uk/pictures/b1b/b1b-banking.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.jetplanes.co.uk/lancer.html&h=186&w=283&sz=32&tbnid=ZKMO8HV8A_0f0M:&tbnh=75&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Db1b%26um%3D1&start=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=image&cd=1

This is Tu 160



Anyway - looks like American designers duplicated the Russian plane (LOL! - sarcasm :-)

[MrB]

That bomber has

PROPELLERS?

[ex-Texan]

The Russian Bear growls in the woods. Distraction alert! . . . Ooops!

Meanwhile, three Russkie stealth fighters penetrated deep into British air space

[Never2baCrat]

You are correct in your observation Sir!

[AppyPappy]

That might be a CF100

[bannie]

Putin is pushin’ to see how far he can go.

He’s feeling inconsequential, and he doesn’t like that?