AndrewUber From United States of America, joined Jul 2003, 2528 posts, RR: 44 Posted (4 years 3 months 3 weeks 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 5846 times:
The Russian Air Force seems to be getting more and more bold these days:
"Fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a Russian bomber in the Arctic as it approached Canadian airspace on the eve of President Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa last week, Canada's defense minister said Friday."
SASD209 From British Indian Ocean Territory, joined Oct 2007, 633 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (4 years 3 months 3 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 5774 times:
BBC has a pic of a Bear...so what was it? A -95 or a -160? I can't see the Russians sending a Blackjack on what is by all accounts a recon/patrol mission.
Severnaya From Russia, joined Jan 2009, 1390 posts, RR: 1 Reply 3, posted (4 years 3 months 3 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 5679 times:
It's rather old news already, i remember reading it a few days ago already and according to the Russians it's just:
Quote: "The Canadian defense minister's statements concerning the flights of our long-haul aircraft are totally unclear... This was a routine flight. The countries adjacent to the flight path had been notified and the planes did not violate the airspace of other countries. In this light the statements by the Canadian Defense Ministry provoke astonishment and can only be called a farce," the source said."
SASD209 From British Indian Ocean Territory, joined Oct 2007, 633 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (4 years 3 months 3 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 5409 times:
Oh, so it was a TU-160.....I hope the Canadian pilots got some good photos!! FWIW, also sounds like a non-event on a slow news day.
KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11742 posts, RR: 51 Reply 5, posted (4 years 3 months 3 weeks 11 hours ago) and read 5402 times:
Our Canadian friends may have given the TU-160 all the ELINT information it was trying to collect. Of course, our RC-135s do the same thing.
ThePointblank From Canada, joined Jan 2009, 1115 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (4 years 3 months 3 weeks 9 hours ago) and read 5308 times:
Quoting KC135TopBoom (Reply 5): Our Canadian friends may have given the TU-160 all the ELINT information it was trying to collect. Of course, our RC-135s do the same thing.
They are just F/A-18A's upgraded to block C...
And even then, they were vectored in by ground control... radar stay off unless they need to turn it on.
EBJ1248650 From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 1932 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (4 years 3 months 3 weeks 7 hours ago) and read 5245 times:
Maybe it's the fact that Obama was present nearby that made a non-event a world shaking event. The media grasping for any kind of news is nothing new. And they certainly don't want to be looking like they're not aware of what's going on, whether directly or indirectly related.
GDB From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 12735 posts, RR: 79 Reply 8, posted (4 years 3 months 2 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 5098 times:
Interesting article on the Russian AF in this months Air International .
Aside from the fact that previous 10 year modernization plans have never even got close to delivering the levels of aircraft and upgrades intended, the latest one beginning in 2006 looks to do the same so far.
But the most stark fact is that though the formerly dismal annual flying hours have improved some, they are still very low by NATO standards. It seems that only more senior officers do better in this respect.
The aircraft brought down in Georgia last year, where crews were identified, all were more senior officers, this is also true for crews on deployments such as the one to Venezuela last year (with TU-160's) and also presumably for these missions around NATO airspace.
This means that in regard to having properly experienced crews, any kind of sustained operations will be impossible to do.
More evidence that these sorts of things are Putin willy waving?
KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11742 posts, RR: 51 Reply 9, posted (4 years 3 months 2 weeks 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 4528 times:
Quoting ThePointblank (Reply 6): Quoting KC135TopBoom (Reply 5):
Our Canadian friends may have given the TU-160 all the ELINT information it was trying to collect. Of course, our RC-135s do the same thing.
They are just F/A-18A's upgraded to block C...
And even then, they were vectored in by ground control... radar stay off unless they need to turn it on.
That's what I meant, the GCI radar, not the aircraft radar.
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