Free Republic

Taiwan said Tuesday a Russian bomber entered its airspace in January, amid anger that its air force did not intercept the plane, which could have dropped tonnes of explosives on the island. Taiwanese radars detected the aircraft, a Tupolev TU-95 long-range strategic bomber, 285 kilometres off the island's northeast coast early in the afternoon of January 28, the air force said. "It briefly entered our airspace," air force major general Wang Hsuan-chou told reporters. "Our judgment was that since the unidentified aircraft was harmless, we handled the incident according to the standard operation procedure. We demanded the aircraft leave immediately."...

A new U.S. push for greater Russian military openness collided with Cold War habits last week as Russian long-range bombers flew within 15 miles of U.S. airspace off Alaska, Denver Post website reported. Fully-armed U.S. fighter jets responded, intercepting the two bombers. The Russian Tu-95 bombers on a training exercise Thursday penetrated a North American buffer zone, said a statement Friday from Maj. Gen. Brett Cairns, operations chief for Colorado Springs-based North American Aerospace Defense Command.