Posted on 07/20/2007 8:01:35 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
July 20, 2007 (by Lieven Dewitte) - Norway scrambled two of its F-16 fighter jets over the North Sea on Tuesday after Russian Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" bombers got a little too close to their coast for comfort.
It wasn't clear whether the Russian flights were related to escalating diplomatic crisis between Russia and Great Britain, which also sent out jets of its own.
Hours after the Tu-95MS bombers turned back, two Russian Tu-160 "Blackjack" bombers were observed flying westwards, west of the Barents Sea, early this morning, again prompting the Norwegian military to dispatch F-16s. Those flights where in the region between Stavanger and Aberdeen, the heart of the British and Norwegian oil industry.
Although it has been since the end of the Cold War since there were such numerous sightings of Russian aircraft this far south, they didn't do anything wrong. Both times the Russian bombers stayed within international airspace the entire time. It would be pure speculation to guess why they did what they did.
Military officials downplayed the incident, calling the dispatch of Norwegian jets "routine" and the long flights a "natural part of Russian training".
Helge Blakkisrud, a Russian expert from the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), also played down theories the Russians are stoking tensions which have been running high with the British since Russia refused to extradite a key suspect in the poisoning of a Russian dissident living in London. The two countries have since resorted to expelling diplomats.
"It can be a signal that the Russians are rebuilding military might, but I don't think that's linked to the latest crisis," Blakkisrud said in an interview with Aftenposten.no. "As far as I've understood, this was part of a large training mission that's politically approved far in advance."
The British defense ministry confirmed that two of its Tornado jets were also dispatched because Russian bombers were in the area.
From Russian side, a military spokesman today accused British and Norwegian fighters of trying to intercept Russian bombers which were flying over neutral waters near European countries' coastlines.
"The crews of the Tupolev Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers on planned flights over the neutral water area of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans reported that they witnessed Tornado and F-16 interceptors of the British and Norwegian air forces approaching them," Interfax news agency quoted Alexander Drobyshevsky as saying.
"British and Norwegian interceptors approached our strategic bombers four times," the Air Force spokesman said, noting those Russian planes will fly over the neutral water near the coastlines of Britain, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
Two Tu-95MS strategic bombers and two Tu-160 armed with missiles, as well as two Il-78 refueling aircraft were on the flight, which took off on Friday, he said.
Nope, that’s an F-8. F-8 “radomes” (I don’t think F-8’s had radar) were more pointed in shape compared to A-7’s. And I don’t think A-7’s were used for fleet air defense, but the F-8’s were.
The fusalage between the main wing and tail is too short to be an F8.
Is that an “NM” on the tail? If it is that’s the USS Oriskany, CV-34. We had lots of Bears around on the IO cruise.
OK, did some checking, you are right. It’s an F8. VF-194 Red Lightnings, CVW-19, USS Oriskany CVA-34.
(Hey, it’s been 30 years since I’ve seen either an F8 or A7)
Excellent call. A-7’s noses were more rounded.
And he’s carrying an air to air missile. F-8’s kept them tucked up close to the fuselage.
Yeah, they can be easily confused. Never seen an F-8 in flight, but the last time I saw A-7’s was back in Korea in the late eighties. When I talked to guys that were deployed with them, they did not tell us anything about what they were doing there, all hush hush. Years later, I figured out they were with the F-117 unit that also used A-7s for training.
That was a joke, right?
I don’t know. As I said, I have no idea of knowing if it was photoshopped or not. I HOPE it was a fake!
They did.
APG-30 gunsight radar on the F-8A.
APS-67 limited all-weather in the F-8B/C
APQ-83 on the F-8D (the first real all weather version)
APQ-94 on the F-8E
But a better indicator is the fuselage side mounted AAMs
OK, a gunsight radar and weather radar, did not know that. I figured that since it did not carry radar guided missiles and with the small radome, it didn’t have a radar. Thanks.
Also could illuminate for the semi-active radar homing AIM-9C Sidewinder.
You can’t be that dense. That’s a screenshot from a flight simulator.
They’ll have a service life of 100 years.
That looks like a video game.
That’s what I figured, too. Looks like a flight sim to me.
The picture of the bomber over the Pentagon. We would’ve shot it down and probably gone to war with the USSR.
You learn something new every day here on FR.
My favorite line is "Andre, you've lost another submarine?!" The expression on the poor ambassador's face is just priceless.
Can someone tell me how to get on the aviation ping list?
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