Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for NORAD, told Washington Free Beacon reporter Bill Gertz that a pair of Tu-95 Bear H aircraft maintained by Russia came close to US airspace during practice bombing while four of the planes were conducting bombing runs near Alaska. According to Nuclear Threat Initiative nonprofit organization, Russia has 29 Tu-95 MS6 Bear H6s and 30 Tu-95 MS16 Bear H16s, which are equipped to fire both traditional and nuclear payloads at targets from the air.
David told the Beacon that this weeks incident occurred on Monday afternoon and was caught quickly by radar systems that monitored American air defense zones. The radar spotted all four Russian aircraft, he said, and two F-22 fighter jets used by the US Air Force were then mobilized to intercept the bombers. After tracking the bombers as they flew eastward, two of the four Bears turned around and headed west toward the Russian Far East, Gertz wrote. The remaining two nuclear-capable bombers then flew southeast and around 9:30 P.M. entered the US northern air defense zone off the coast of Northern California.
A Russian TU-95 bomber
Those two aircraft, he added, made it within 50 miles of the coast before turning around. The pilots, Davis told the Beacon, appeared to have acted professionally and that their behavior was on par with activity thats not unusual for long-range aviation training missions typically conducted by Russia during the summer months. Indeed, in recent weeks other Russian-owned Tu-95 bombers skirted UK airspace and have come close to US property in both Guam and California, The Aviationist reported last month. In March, Russias daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta, said the nations Strategic Missile Forces began a three-day drill to make sure there was sufficient readiness to conduct a nuclear offensive. We assess this was part of training, David added of this weeks incident, And they did not enter territorial airspace.
In spite of its age, David Cenciotti wrote for The Aviationist, the Tu-94 still represents a significant strategic weapon in Putins arsenal. Earlier this week, Russian drills intensified when the nations military began exercises in the Baltic that the Defense Ministry said was a response to recent exercises in eastern Europe conducted by NATO forces. Allied nations currently maintain a presence there, much to the chagrin of Moscow, as tensions along Ukraines border with Russia remain high. The US State Dept. reported last year that Russia may have an arsenal that contains as many as 1,400 operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 894 deployed and non-deployed launchers.
http://rt.com/usa/165588-russia-nuclear-bombers-california/
Russian bombers may be flying nuclear strike drills over the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea, current and former U.S. Air Force officers believe. At the very least, these officers tell The Daily Beast, the Russian Air Force is aggressively probing what NATO calls European airspace in an effort to gauge the reaction times of the western alliance’s defenses. Since Oct. 28, NATO air defenses have detected and monitored four groups of Russian combat aircraft over the Baltic Sea, North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Black Sea. Norwegian F-16 fighters intercepted one particular group of Russian aircraft on Oct. 29 that included four, nuclear-capable Tupolev Tu-95 Bear H strategic bombers and four Ilyushin Il-78 aerial refueling tankers. Once intercepted, six of the Russian aircraft headed for home while the two remaining Tu-95 bombers continued southwest, parallel to the Norwegian coast, before eventually turning back towards Russia.
The giant, propeller-driven Tu-95 is a launch platform for the 1,600 nautical mile range Raduga Kh-55 nuclear-tipped cruise missile. The weapon carries a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead; by comparison, the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki was a mere 21 kilotons. Some active-duty and retired U.S. Air Force officials told The Daily Beast that the Tu-95s might have been flying to certain predetermined launch points for their nuclear missiles. “That could certainly be the case,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the service’s influential former intelligence chief. “It is not farfetched that at some point within the next two years [Russian President Vladimir] Putin makes a more aggressive move in Eastern Europe and uses a nuclear threat to deter a NATO response.”
Of course, every nuclear capable air force runs exercises to practice its so-called “strategic deterrence.” It’s the pace and scale of these current flights that have military observers concerned. “Our bomber crews regularly fly training sorties for their full range of potential missions, including strategic deterrence practice missions,” Mark Gunzinger, a former B-52 pilot and current air power analyst the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said. “[The Russian Air Force] has never stopped flying training sorties, but it’s apparent that the scope of this one is catching people’s attention.” Asked if at least some of these flights were nuclear drills, Gunzinger responded, “that is probably the case.”
Another former Air Force officer—one with extensive experience with Russian tactics—cautioned not to interpret either the European or Alaskan flights too darkly. “A probe to test western responses, yes,” the former officer wrote in an email. “More activity than in the recent past, yes. Nuclear strike rehearsal, unlikely. Capabilities are easy to measure. Intent is not.” Analyst Rebecca Grant, president of IRIS Independent Research, said that the recent display of Russian air power was just another provocation in a long line of similar antagonistic moves by Russia. The Russian strategic bomber foray into the Atlantic is also reminiscent of a September incident where two nuclear-capable Tu-95s bombers, two Il-78 tankers and two MiG-31 Foxhound fighters were intercepted near Alaska. “This reminds me of the exercises Russia has been flying in the Pacific for a few years now, just transferred to the European theater,” Grant said. “I don’t read this as a specific nuclear or conventional scenario practice, rather an exercise in long-range navigation and provocation. It’s clearly designed to annoy NATO but from a purely tactical perspective, this was still a pretty small display of airpower.”
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Doesn't make me wonder this at all, we didn't have a system built to intercept planes coming from inside the US.
Hey Los Angeles. On my list. If Russia could take out the west coast and the east coast including DC the rest of the country would be habitable or could be made habitable.
The U.S. Department of State responded Thursday to Russia's announcement that it will deploy long-range bombers to patrol the Gulf of Mexico off U.S. shores. "While we recognize the need for routine military training activity, we have noticed an increase in the number of these flights near North America in recent months," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that the bombers would be deployed as part of "drills." "In the current situation, we have to maintain military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific, as well as the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico," he explained. That explanation falls short, the State Department said in response. "We don't see security environment as warranting such activity," Psaki noted.
A Russian Air Force Tu-95 "Bear" bomber is pictured in an undated file photo. Russian Air Force commanders insist their resumed strategic bomber patrols over the North Atlantic Ocean comply with international law.
Routine military training, she added, "must be consistent with international law and conducted with due regard for the rights of other nations and the safety of other aircraft and of vessels."
The State Department did not go so far as to accuse Russia of violating international law, and it is unclear what recourse, if any, the U.S. would pursue in response to the Russian bomber drills. In the past year, Russia has also been criticized for maneuvering warplanes into restricted air spaces, including in Colombia, Finland, Japan, Ukraine, and the United States.
U.S. questions Russia s rationale for bomber drills in Gulf - UPI.com
