MSN BS. It was 30 miles. Not 20. That said, that was too close. Our monitoring and response time in this instance was NOT up to par.
Though with this said, there were 8 OLD Russian turboprop bombers in this incursion. We scrambled 2 F-22’s. That was overkill. One F-22 in a real “situation” would take all of them out in seconds.
But, it is more than concerning they got within that range before we reacted.
Could be with all China’s up to in the seas over there Perhaps Russia’s teamed up with XI playing tag on our border.
Not sure our response was all we’re capable of. They are, after all, probing defenses. No sense showing all of our cards.
If it takes a platoon, send a battalion. Another point, it one of the F-22's has a mechanical problem, there are adequate reserves.
The Russian Bears may be old - like the old B-52 they can carry large loads of stand off missiles. They were escorted by SU-35s - air superiority fighters - which, if carrying BVR R-77s, would be more than a match for the 22s particularity with the Beriev A-50 (Russian AWACS) to direct the missiles. I think only a few 22s have been fitted with AIM 260 missiles, but maybe not yet deployed.
So it was not overkill - even match at best.
One report dated 30 miles; this one said 20nm or 26 miles - still too close given the stand off missiles in service these days. Despite the relatively short distance between the border and US air space, those planes should have been waiting for the Russians - indicates to me that there is a problem with US ground radar not functioning correctly or poor USAF radar op training (gafers on facebook?).
One 22 does not carry enough missiles to take out the 2 squadrons, and certainly not before the 35s took it out. In any case it would not have been ‘seconds’.