Posted on 08/09/2007 8:22:48 AM PDT by jhpigott
By Dmitry Solovyov
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's strategic bombers have resumed their Cold War practice of flying long-haul missions to areas patrolled by NATO and the United States, top generals said on Thursday.
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A Russian bomber flew over a U.S. military base on the Pacific island of Guam on Wednesday and "exchanged smiles" with U.S. pilots who had scrambled to track it, said Major-General Pavel Androsov, head of long-range aviation in the Russian air force.
"It has always been the tradition of our long-range aviation to fly far into the ocean, to meet (U.S.) aircraft carriers and greet (U.S. pilots) visually," Androsov told a news conference.
"Yesterday we revived this tradition, and two of our young crews paid a visit to the area of the (U.S. Pacific Naval Activities) base of Guam," he said.
President Vladimir Putin has sought to make Russia more assertive in the world.
Putin has boosted defense spending and sought to raise morale in the armed forces, which were starved of funding in the chaos that followed the fall of the Soviet Union.
Androsov said the sortie by the two turboprop Tu-95MS bombers, from a base near Blagoveshchensk in the Far East, had lasted for 13 hours. The Tu-95, codenamed "Bear" by NATO, is Russia's Cold War icon and may stay in service until 2040.
"I think the result was good. We met our colleagues -- fighter jet pilots from (U.S.) aircraft carriers. We exchanged smiles and returned home," Androsov said.
COLD WAR CAT-AND-MOUSE
The bombers give Russia the capability of launching a devastating nuclear strike even if the nuclear arsenals on its own territory are wiped out.
During the Cold War, they played elaborate airborne games of cat-and-mouse with Western air forces.
Lieutenant-General Igor Khvorov, air forces chief of staff, said the West would have to come to terms with Russia asserting its geopolitical presence around the globe.
"But I don't see anything unusual, this is business as usual ... like it is normal for the U.S. to fly from its continent to Guam or, say, the island of Garcia," Khvorov said, referring to a remote Indian Ocean atoll used as a military base by the U.S.
On Wednesday, young pilots of strategic bombers passed a series of tests, including missile launches. "We fired eight cruise missiles, and all hit bull's eye," Khvorov said.
He said one crew had taken off from Engels in southwestern Russia, hit a target in the north and then flown thousands of kilometers before finally landing in the Far East.
Engels is home to Russia's supersonic Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bombers, in service since 1987 and codenamed "Blackjack" by NATO while called "White Swan" by Russian pilots.
The generals said under Putin long-range aviation was no longer in need of fuel, enjoyed better maintenance and much higher wages -- not the least because the Kremlin leader once made a five-hour sortie as part of a "White Swan" crew.
"The president learned about the pilots' work the hard way," Khvorov said. "This one flight yielded an awful lot."
If my aviation history is correct, I believe the Tupolev Bear is basically a reverse engineered captured WW2 US Superfortress.
Putin hoping Iran’s “ImMadinTheHead” will pull something just as idiotic, but, the consequences to be different from a US response to similar Iranian crap?
Putin hoping Iran’s “ImMadinTheHead” will pull something just as idiotic, but, the consequences to be different from a US response to similar Iranian crap?
Hmmmm. No, I think this is about Russian Ego more than anything else, and the former KGB agents desire to return to the time when the Soviet Union was feared.
It won’t work.
If these ever went to war,they would’nt need to get anywhere near an enemy given they can fire cruise missiles with a range of almost 1,500 miles or new supersonic anti-ship weapons with range of almost 200 miles.
I agree totally with your assessment, including that of Bush vis-a-vis Putin. It seems that the Russkies also are making claim on the North Pole.
You are 100% correct. The Tu-4 Bull was the reverse engineered Superfortress, copied from a plane forced to land in the Soviet Far East in WW2.
Do you think today’s Russian KGB is still feared? I do.
We ought to revive a couple of Tomcats to meet these clowns at some point.
Anyone know if the AIM-54 is being carried by any Navy fighters ?
The Phoenix was retired before the Tomcat itself.
‘Do you think today’s Russian KGB is still feared? I do.’
Not to the extent the old KGB was, with some professional exceptions in Russia (the media in particular).
But outside Russia?
Nope, not even close.
That is a Russian Navy Tu-142 Bear F. The Tu-95MS are new-build airframes. The last one came off the production line in the early 1990s. Their role is stand-off air-launched cruise missile carrier. Incomparison the youngest USAF B-52H came off the production line in 1962.
All the Tu-95MS are new build airframes. The youngest Bear H airframe is approx 30 years younger than the oldest B-52H airframe.
The range of the Bear H is incredible. Its sole role today is ALCM carrier with the longest range ALCMs in any airforces inventory.
The US eventually fixed that shortcoming, but obviously not on the one that the Soviets declined to return.
Looks like the Tu-95s never came close enough to warrant an intercept.
http://www.kuam.com/news/23950.aspx
http://www.kuam.com/news/23941.aspx
Too bad we just finished chopping up our last F-14’s, which were designed to deal with Soviet Bombers.
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