Article

2008-02-12 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Russia surprised by U.S. reaction to bomber flights

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Free Radical 2008-02-12 06:46|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 Probably just wanted a few hi-res pics is all.

Posted by gorb 2008-02-12 08:03|| 2008-02-12 08:03|| Front Page Top

#2 Get an F-18 to practice touch-n-go landings in the Bear. Be sure to give the landing gear a good workout.

Posted by ed 2008-02-12 08:15|| 2008-02-12 08:15|| Front Page Top

#3 Is this the same incident or a seperate one?

A Russian strategic bomber briefly entered Japanese airspace over the Pacific south of Tokyo Saturday, prompting 22 Japanese military aircraft to scramble, officials said.

Russia denied the incursion, but the Japanese foreign ministry said it lodged a strong protest with the Russian embassy in Tokyo.

"We have asked the Russian government to make a thorough investigation into the matter," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

The Soviet-era Tupolev Tu-95 bomber flew over the rocky isle of Sofugan, some 650km south of Tokyo, for about three minutes from 7:30:36, the defense ministry said. The air force scrambled 22 planes, including F-15 fighters and an E-767 airborne early warning and control aircraft, a defense ministry statement said.

They gave "a notice, then a warning and another a notice and a warning," the statement said. "There was no response." The Russian bomber then flew back north toward the Russian island of Sakhalin, it said.

Russia denied the incursion. "Russian air force planes carried out their mission according to plan. Japanese military airspace was not breached," Alexander Drobyshevsky, a spokesman for the air force, told ITAR-TASS.

The bomber flights "were carried out in strict accordance with international rules on flying over neutral waters, without violating the border between the two countries," Drobyshevsky said.

Japan said it was the first Russian violation of its airspace since January 2006.

Posted by tu3031 2008-02-12 08:34|| 2008-02-12 08:34|| Front Page Top

#4 Apparently bombers buzzing and fighters scrambling in response happened all the time during the Cold War, without being considered newsworthy. Any thoughts from those who know?

Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife 2008-02-12 08:37|| 2008-02-12 08:37|| Front Page Top

#5 Back then wife, the were considered normal "training missions" for both sides. The Bears opened their bomb doors once the US fighters came up along side to show that they were empty.

However, the MSM is now surprised that an ex-KGB thug is running the country like it used to be when he was a KGB thug and react like it. The Soviet Union is back, but in far worse shape than before. He is trying for an arms race with a GDP that is less than what the US spends on its own military in two years.

samizdata.net has a good snark about it.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-02-12 09:17|| 2008-02-12 09:17|| Front Page Top

#6 This is the action of lower primates who flash genitalia to 'impress' others in their hierarchy order.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-02-12 09:23|| 2008-02-12 09:23|| Front Page Top

#7
Apparently bombers buzzing and fighters scrambling in response happened all the time during the Cold War, without being considered newsworthy. Any thoughts from those who know?

During Cold War there were well defined rules about what was allowed and not allowed in order to not accidentally trigger WWIII. Buzzing an aircraft carrier was one of the not to do things. Also, in times of the F14 who was a real interceptor the Bear would have never been able to close so much. THe F18 is not an interceptor.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-02-12 10:29|| 2008-02-12 10:29|| Front Page Top

#8 The F18 is not an interceptor.

No she isn't! And that sad fact is going to cost us dearly in the not too distant future.

Posted by Angeager McCoy5898 2008-02-12 10:34|| 2008-02-12 10:34|| Front Page Top

#9 We should have buzz'd them with some AA.

Posted by Thromosing the Rasher of Bacon5030 2008-02-12 12:04|| 2008-02-12 12:04|| Front Page Top

#10 one hopes we return the favor. a 117 momentarily appearing over Vladivastok and then disappearing might be appropraite.

Posted by Thirong Henbane3790 2008-02-12 12:28|| 2008-02-12 12:28|| Front Page Top

#11 The F18 is not an interceptor.

Ugggh... that is NOT what I wanted to hear. I have been led to believe that the super-hornet is SOTA. JFM, could you elaborate on your statement? If it is long, maybe the mods would allow you to post it on the 'opinion' page. I am certainly interested, and have no first-hand knowledge to contradict you.

Posted by Free Radical">Free Radical 2008-02-12 12:35|| 2008-02-12 12:35|| Front Page Top

#12 The Navy has a great interceptor - the SM-3...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2008-02-12 13:16|| 2008-02-12 13:16|| Front Page Top

#13 Don't be getting USN, Ret. riled up about the F/A-18. You know how he feels about Lawn Darts!

Posted by SteveS 2008-02-12 13:42|| 2008-02-12 13:42|| Front Page Top

#14 The US needs to develop a super-sturdy bumper car plane that can land on carriers. That way when someone gets too close we clip them, damage them, blame them for flying into the heavily congested area around a carrier, and laugh as they now pay to fix their expensive bomber.

The Chinese would get the hint as well and wouldn't pull that nonsense they did in 2001.

Posted by rjschwarz 2008-02-12 14:05|| 2008-02-12 14:05|| Front Page Top

#15 can an A-10 land on a flattop?

UACVs could bump all they wanted.

Posted by 3dc 2008-02-12 14:17|| 2008-02-12 14:17|| Front Page Top

#16 Ugggh... that is NOT what I wanted to hear. I have been led to believe that the super-hornet is SOTA.

The super-Hornet could be all the SOTA what you want it is still not an interceptor. The F14 had greater speed Mach 2.34 vs 1.8), tactical range (500 nm vs a ridiculous 150 nm). Also due to F14's wing behaving as a supersonic delta she had a far greater range at supersonic speeds. That means that in emegencies the F14 can reach the target well before the superhornet. Compound to that the very long range F14 missiles: by the time the F18 gets into a shooting position the F14 has already reached and shot a second intruder tens of miles away. Did I mention the long range radar and its very wide angle? And that I am comparing the latest and greatest F18 versus a twenty year old F14. Now imagine if the F14 had been upgraded too.

It is very possible that the F18 beats the pants of the F14 for the task of dueling enemy fighters but that is not the job of an interceptor. An interceptor's job is to destroy enemy bombers before they get into firing range: a single of the missiles carried by the Bear can literally blow a destroyer out of the water and would do major damage on a carrier. The sooner you intercept the Bear the better.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2008-02-12 15:22|| 2008-02-12 15:22|| Front Page Top

#17 How much is an unmanned drone, could be wroth launching a few and really crapping on the Soviet windshields.

Posted by rjschwarz 2008-02-12 17:13|| 2008-02-12 17:13|| Front Page Top

#18 OK Steve S, you called it! The Lawn dart is Not the do all end all the figther attack mafia in DC claims it to be. (that is all)

TW, back during the cold war, whenever an unkniwn was inbound to the boat, fighters were launched to escort the bogie away. the good guys were always between the bogie and the boat.

I would be interested in knowing why the CO allowed the Bear to get that close. sounds a lot like an airborne version of the Chinese sub that snuck up on the Kitty Hawk a while back. Are the boat CO's that hamstrung by stupid ROEs that it is going to get one sunk before we let go of our ankles?????

At Steve's request, i will refrain from any more Lawn Dart bashing. ( Must. Breathe. Slowly.)

Posted by USN,Ret. 2008-02-12 18:06|| 2008-02-12 18:06|| Front Page Top

#19 So, JFM - we are STILL fighting the last war?

I love to watch Dogfights on the History Channel, and the F-4 used in Vietnam didn't even have guns - they were designed to down Russian Bombers, not dogfight. There were some dogfights in the 1991 war, so apparently, the Lawn Dart is a reaction to that war?

Posted by Bobby 2008-02-12 18:12|| 2008-02-12 18:12|| Front Page Top

#20 PRAVDA > PUTIN INSISTS ON A NEW SCENARIO FOR RUSSIA. Speech - Putin admits that ONE IN EVERY SECOND RUSS MALE WON'T SEE AGE 60, + RUSS LABOR PRODUCTIVITY REMAINS DANGEROUSLY VERY LOW IN THE LIGHT OF INTENSIFYING GLOBAL COMPETITION.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-02-12 20:24|| 2008-02-12 20:24|| Front Page Top

#21 Some WAFF.com Posters are specul that Russ is retaliating for the flyby of a US F16 o'er their carrier a while back.

ION, GUAM K57/KUAM NEWS > A USN EA6B PROWLER EWS REPORTEDLY CRASHED OFF GUAM's ANDERSEN AFB YESTERDAY, All 4 crew survived and have been success retrieved, recovering. RELATED INCIDENT TO BOMBERS???

OTOH, GLOBALRESEARCH > THE US-NATO NUCLEAR PREEMPTIVE DOCTRINE: STARTING A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST IN THE MIDDLE EAST TO SAVE THE WESTERN WAY OF LIFE?

RUSS definition of CONVENTIONAL AGGRESSION > broadly includes any [major?] terror attacks agz Russ as originated or launched by Terror group(s) from the sovereign territories of any and all foreign powers/states, and with or without the foreknowledge or consent of the local sovereign Govts. RUSS IS GIVING ITSELF THE RIGHT TO ATTACK TERROR GROUPS OR TERROR-CONTROLLED AREAS IN FOREIGN SOVEREIGN STATES, IN RESPONSE TO ANY AND ALL TERROR ATTACKS AGZ IT, WIDOUT NEED OF INFORMING OR SEEKING THE CONSENT OF LOCAL GOVT AUTHORITIES.

NOT THAT THEY WON'T ASK, BUT AFATAC THEY DON'T NEED TO ASK IFF THEY DON'T WANT TO. RUSS NATIONAL SECURITY = MANIFEST DESTINY = FOREIGN POLICY = MIL/MILPOL-LED ANTI-TERROR, etc.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-02-12 21:24|| 2008-02-12 21:24|| Front Page Top

23:54 JosephMendiola
23:49 trailing wife
23:43 Rambler in California
23:40 Rambler in California
23:27 trailing wife
23:25 Glenmore
23:22 Mizzou Mafia
23:18 Old Patriot
23:16 Rex Mundi
23:07 trailing wife
23:07 Rex Mundi
23:05 trailing wife
23:03 Rex Mundi
22:59 trailing wife
22:54 GK
22:53 Liberalredneck01
22:52 Frank G
22:40 Old Patriot
22:31 Old Patriot
22:30 trailing wife
22:29 Frank G
22:26 Frank G
22:21 Frank G
22:21 trailing wife