When I was in the Navy back in the 70’s this was a common occurrence. What’s the big deal? At a moments notice we could have cleaned the skies of theses pests, back in the day.
In this day and age, with our updated capabilities, they are playing with fire.
Of course back then we had a set.
And now Obama is bringing us back to those wonderful Jimmah Carter years?
that is what I was thinking.. But what was our response back then? We just play games back or what?
Your last sentence answers as to why it is such a big deal.
LLS
Yup. They know they don't stand a chance.
Precisely, we would never have let them get that close and that low, at least not with 2-6 Tomcats or Phantoms all over their a$$.
BTW, their capabilities are upgraded too. They, IL-38s have gotten an entirely new digital avionics refit, for example. I suspect they, like the P-3 they are comparable to, can carry anti-ship missile, not to mention just plain old bombs.
Of course it would be suicide to use them, they'd never get away. But then Obami would apologize for the loss of the aircraft, no matter how much of a smoking mess they left on the carrier.