Posted on 07/18/2007 1:16:31 AM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
RAF fighter jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian strategic bombers heading for British airspace yesterday, as the spirit of the Cold War returned to the North Atlantic once again.The incident, described as rare by the RAF, served as a telling metaphor for the stand-off between London and Moscow over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko.
While the Kremlin hesitated before responding to Britain’s expulsion of four diplomats, the Russian military engaged in some old-fashioned sabre-rattling.
Two Tu95 “Bear” bombers were dispatched from their base on the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic Circle and headed towards British airspace.
~ snip ~
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Force them down if they enter British airspace. Make Putin negotiate for the release of the people. (Keep the aircraft).
Amazing.
Russia just continues to get more belligerent.
This has to be raising red flags all over Europe and the Pentegon.
I really don’t see how this plays in Russia’s favor, seems really stupid to me.
“The Russians turned back before they reached British airspace,” an RAF spokesman said.
another piece of no-news news.
russian bears are subhunters and reckon planes - as long as they are in international airspace there’s no news.
This is all about the poisoned, Russian spy... but I’m sure that the rooskies also see Gordon Brown as a gutless, panty waist.
“another piece of no-news news.”
Seeing as this is “described as rare by the RAF”, and given current events, it at first glance looks like more than a routine sortie. But it’s not worth losing sleep over, I agree.
Umm the bear can launch nuclear tipped cruise missiles.Like our B-52.
Go Russian and blow them out of the sky!
LLS
No we need the practice. Shoot them down.
A couple of Bears on a “tweak the lion’s tail mission” guaranteed to raise aggrevation but nothing else.
These are turboprop birds. Huge, slow, ungainly and utterly defenseless to any fighter aircraft manufactured after WWII.
Now if they had done this with a couple of Backfires it might have been a different story.
Kind of like the B52..
LMFAO
That was a master plan - send 2 bears to nuke london. Then sit back and wait for the nuclear end of days.
BTW TA52 had to be carried under the wings.
I guess the very moment some ruskie mechanic gets the order to bolt one of these under the wings of a bear there’s a hundred of pagers going of in every western government.
I really strongly hope we wouldn’t have to wait until a norwegian F16 jokey detected them visualy.
You recon 950 km/h is slow ?
But I guess they are on the first western radar the moment they roll out of their hangars.
If they don’t use hangars I guess they are always on radar.
The rise of Russia after militant Islam’s rise to infamy is not a coincidence.
BUMP
Speed is relative......gotta compare it to something.
Compared to a plane designed to intercept Bears, the F106 at 2560 km/h, the Bear moved like pond water.
These actions are unnecessary and insane on Russia’s part. If these bombers actually had nukes on board, this could have gone terribly wrong and over what?
Keep pressuring the bullies, GB. You have to bully a bully.
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