[Sax]

Tu-95 Bears are turbo props, not jets. Basically, cruise missile launching platforms. The Brits just intercepted a few for the first time in many years about a week or two ago. Russia's looking to get a little of their Cold War swagger back.

[WBL 1952]

Russian military demanding that they be allowed to train for “whatever” or what is their purpose.

Means nothing.

[Sax]

Here’s the article of British fighters picking up a few wandering Bears:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/19/wrussia419.xml

[Little Ray]

They are not really used for launching cruise missiles - they are used as recon platforms to provide midcourse info to the cruise missiles.
They have a radar cross section like a skyscraper. There was some joke about this “We have sighted the enemy - dos vadanya, Motherland!”

[P-40]

Maybe now the U.S. will reopen its Alert Sites so for the next 9/11 we will have more fighter planes to put in the air, armed planes, and ones that are ready to go at a moment’s notice.

[Thrownatbirth]

I miss the Atlantic Morning Bear in the 70s and 80s that would fly down the east coast to Havanna every morning. You could set your watch by the sonic booms from US chase planes.

[TChris]

[FormerACLUmember]

Is has to be weird for the US crews.... They must feel like they are at a vintage aircraft show when they see these things coming. You'd expect to see some old dude, in an old leather bomber jacket sitting at the controls. :)

Crack Russian pilots in their scary Tupolev Bear.

[FormerACLUmember]

Obsolete bluster. The turboprop Tu-95MS bomber is so unbelievably noisy that the crews are all stone deaf in no time. It is so loud, that submerged submarines recognize its sound signature on sonar.

[mkjessup]

Slow moving target practice for the F-22, nothing more nothing less.

[ArtyFO]

We should send up some old F4c’s up to meet them when they fly by.