# Russian bomber patrols in the Gulf of Mexico



## Thorlifter (Nov 13, 2014)

I won't pretend to know much about modern military tactics or political positioning, but this is just bulls**t. To me, they are ON PURPOSE just trying to piss off the U.S. and, to me, it's just because they think they can because of the weak leadership on Pennsylvania Avenue. (OK, no more political talk) 

So if we intercept these bombers, we can't force them away because it could wreck our own aircraft. We can't shoot them down because that will be an act of war. So other than jamming their radar and communications, what can you do?

Russian bomber patrols to reach Gulf of Mexico - Yahoo News

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's long-range bombers will conduct regular patrol missions from the Arctic Ocean to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, the military said Wednesday, a show of muscle reflecting tensions with the West over Ukraine.
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A statement from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu came as NATO's chief commander accused Moscow of sending new troops and tanks into Ukraine — a claim quickly rejected by Russia.

Shoigu said the tensions with the West over Ukraine would require Russia to also beef up its forces in the Crimea, the Black Sea Peninsula that Russia annexed in March.

He said Russian long-range bombers will conduct flights along Russian borders and over the Arctic Ocean. He added that "in the current situation we have to maintain military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific, as well as the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico."

He said that the increasing pace and duration of flights would require stronger maintenance efforts and relevant directives have been issued to industries.

Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers were making regular patrols across the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans during Cold War times, but the post-Soviet money crunch forced the military to cut back. The bomber patrol flights have resumed under President Vladimir Putin's tenure.

The patrols have become even more frequent in recent weeks with NATO reporting a spike in Russian military flights over the Black, Baltic and North seas as well as the Atlantic Ocean.

Earlier this year, Shoigu said that Russia plans to expand its worldwide military presence by seeking permission for navy ships to use ports in Latin America, Asia and elsewhere for replenishing supplies and doing maintenance. He said the military was conducting talks with Algeria, Cyprus, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, Seychelles, Vietnam and Singapore.

Shoigu said Russia was also talking to some of those countries about allowing long-range bombers to use their air bases for refueling.

A senior U.S. military official said that Russia has not previously flown actual bomber patrols over the Gulf of Mexico, including during the Cold War.

Long-range bombers have been in the area before, but only to participate in various visits to the region when the aircraft stopped over night at locations in South or Central America. During the Cold War, other types of Russian aircraft flew patrols there, including surveillance flights and anti-submarine aircraft.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the flights publicly, also said that the pace of Russian flights around North America, including the Arctic, have largely remained steady, with about five incidents per year.

Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to call this a Russian provocation. He said the Russians have a right, like any other nation, to operate in international airspace and in international waters. The important thing, Warren said, is for such exercises to be carried out safely and in accordance with international standards.

Ian Kearns, director of the European Leadership Network, a London-based think tank, said the bomber patrols were part of Kremlin's efforts to make the Russian military "more visible and more assertive in its actions."

The new bomber flights "aren't necessarily presaging a threat," Kearns said. "They are just part of a general ramping-up of activities."

But he said "the more instances you have of NATO and Russian forces coming close together, the more chance there is of having something bad happening, even if it's not intentional."

On Monday, the European Leadership Network issued a report that found a sharp rise in Russian-NATO military encounters since the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea, including violations of national airspace, narrowly avoided mid-air collisions, close encounters at sea, harassment of reconnaissance planes, close overflights over warships and Russian mock bombing raid missions.

Three of the nearly 40 incidents, the think tank said, carried a "high probability" of causing casualties or triggering a direct military confrontation: a narrowly avoided collision between a civilian airliner and a Russian surveillance plane, the abduction of an Estonian intelligence officer and a large-scale Swedish hunt for a suspected Russian submarine that yielded no result.

In September, the report said, Russian strategic bombers in the Labrador Sea off Canada practiced cruise missile strikes on the U.S. Earlier this year, in May, the report said, Russian military aircraft approached within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the California coast, the closest such Russian military flight reported since the end of the Cold War.

Russia-West ties have dipped to their lowest point since Cold War times over the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russia insurgents in Ukraine. The West and Ukraine have continuously accused Moscow of fueling the rebellion in eastern Ukraine with troops and weapons — claims Russia has rejected.

Fighting has continued in the east despite a cease-fire agreement between Ukraine and the rebels signed in September, and Ukraine and the West accused Russia recently of sending in new troops and weapons.

U.S. Gen. Philip Breedlove said Wednesday that in the last two days "we have seen columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defense systems and Russian combat troops entering into Ukraine."

Breedlove, who spoke in Sofia, Bulgaria, wouldn't say how many new troops and weapons have moved into Ukraine and wouldn't specify how the alliance obtained the information. The Russian Defense Ministry quickly rejected Breedlove's statement as groundless.

Breedlove said that the Russia-Ukraine border is "completely wide open," and "forces, money, support, supplies, weapons are flowing back and forth across this border completely at will."

"We need to get back to a situation where this international border is respected," he said.


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## Wildcat (Nov 13, 2014)

Seems they're flexing their muscles everywhere, our forces are keeping an eye on Russian Naval vessels that have popped up in our part of the world. 



> Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed the Government is monitoring Russian naval vessels currently travelling through international waters north of Australia.
> 
> Russia has stationed four warships in Pacific waters near Papua New Guinea, with president Vladimir Putin due to arrive in Australia on Friday for the G20 summit in Brisbane.
> 
> ...


Russian naval vessels north of Australia being monitored, Abbott says - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


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## Gnomey (Nov 13, 2014)

Not much you can do really. Certainly a display of strength and aggression but no doubt no real intent of war.


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## Torch (Nov 13, 2014)

Escort them,don't give away any jamming etc technology we have,We mess with them too,how often with this administration I don't know.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Nov 13, 2014)

This is not really anything new. Both the US and the Russians have been doing this since the cold war days. It never stopped after the Cold War ended. It only gets attention now because of everything that is going on.

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## vikingBerserker (Nov 13, 2014)

Nothing more than a bunch of noise. This past week while traveling for work I read _For Your Freedom and Ours: The Kosciuszko Squadron - Forgotten Heroes of World War II_ by Olsen and it went into detail about the Soviets reasoning for invading Poland. Putin is nothing more than Stalin 2.0 wannabe.


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## GrauGeist (Nov 13, 2014)

After the Soviet Union went under, the typical sub games and the bomber/recon flights slowed in frequency but they were still there. With Putin's new game, he's just upping their visibility is all. 



vikingBerserker said:


> ...Putin is nothing more than Stalin 2.0 wannabe.


He's also taking plays out of Hitler's Leibensraum playbook, vowing to "protect" any Russian speaking populations, no matter where they may be.


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## FLYBOYJ (Nov 13, 2014)

Brighton Beach NY

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## fubar57 (Nov 13, 2014)

Geo


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## GrauGeist (Nov 13, 2014)

We actually have a large Russian speaking population here in California...one place is in Los Angeles, the other is in Sacramento. Plus a few smaller communities in the northstate that goes back to the days of the Russian Fur Traders.

And then, there is Alaska...


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## GregP (Nov 13, 2014)

We could CERTAINLY do what they used to do to us. They uised to send fighters up to intercept our C-5's and other transports and they'd get RIGHT in front and dump fuel into the engine inlets, disrupting the engines quite badly. They would also get right in front and light afterbirners to piss us off. Maybe we should do the same back to them?

I would, especially after it happened to me. It DIDN'T, but one of our volunteers is the base commander of the reserves at March AFB and it happend to him. He has movies of it and they are chilling ... with a Soviet fighter 25 feet in front of the C-5 dumping fuel into the left side engines ... One thing is for sure, a C-5 can't out-maneuver a Soviet fighter, so "getting away" isn't an option unles you are escorted by you own fighters, and they weren't, even after reporting same to the higher-ups. Today he flies C-17's and loves them, they stand a very good chance of getting out of the way of a Russian fighter ... when empty. When loaded, not so much.

Personally, I'd call that an act of war, but I'm not in charge of that sort of thing.


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## Torch (Nov 18, 2014)

Actually they can have NYC and Kali...


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## GrauGeist (Nov 18, 2014)

Cali is a city in Columbia...Kali is a bloodthirsty goddess from ancient times


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## Torch (Nov 19, 2014)

Lol, because of the left wing politics of California we call it Kali here,just like we call Boulder the Republic of Boulder.


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## Capt. Vick (Nov 19, 2014)

I say good. Let them pile tons of hours on to an already aging, no longer in production airframe, as well as burning through spares and for no military value. (What are they looking for in the gulf? Oil slicks?) Maybe we will hear a few maydays before too long. This guy Putin is realizing the full limits of being a despot in a country that never has to apologize.


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## Totalize (Nov 19, 2014)

GrauGeist said:


> Cali is a city in Columbia...Kali is a bloodthirsty goddess from ancient times




Remember the geat KALI from Raiders of the lost Ark?..... sorry the great Kali was a wrestler Kali was from Raiders...


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