# Russian bombers resume Cold War sorties



## evangilder (Aug 9, 2007)

> By Dmitry Solovyov
> 
> MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's strategic bombers have resumed Cold War-style long-haul missions to areas patrolled by NATO and the United States, top generals said on Thursday.
> 
> ...



Russian bomber jets resume Cold War sorties | Reuters


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## timshatz (Aug 9, 2007)

Great. Back to the future. Are these guys slow learners or something?


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## Glider (Aug 9, 2007)

I like this phrase _"Yesterday we revived this tradition, and two of our young crews paid a visit to the area of the (U.S. Pacific Naval Activities) base of Guam," he said_
I wonder just how close they got


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## FLYBOYJ (Aug 9, 2007)

I wonder what their FMC rate is and how many other TU-95s got canabilized to get that one in the air?!?!?!?


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## Enforcer57 (Aug 9, 2007)

I think the Ruskie general has a point....they really stopped flying around so much because they were broke. Best way to get some tactical training, and those Navy guys probably thought it was a real hoot to get scrambled to intercept a Bear. Used to be great sport. Was only a matter of time before they were gonna be a bit more active. They still are a long way from being able to compete with us like they used to.....but I'm still keeping one eye open.


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## evangilder (Aug 9, 2007)

Agreed. They were down, but certainly not out. I was waiting for Putin to start rattling the old sabre again.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Aug 10, 2007)

Yeah I reported on this a few weeks ago. They have been intercepted by Norwegian and British Tornados and F-16s several times in British Airspace over the last few weeks.

Cold War 2....

But hey guys get ready for the Anti US posters saying this is all the US's fault...


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## Soundbreaker Welch? (Aug 10, 2007)

I guess another country's plane flying over a US airbase is not something the US will complain about?


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## lastwarrior (Aug 10, 2007)

I wonder how good they are...


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## Konigstiger205 (Aug 10, 2007)

Its for the best not to underestimate the ruskies....you never know what they are planning to do...I know that I will sleep more good at nigh as soon as the whole world gets rid of communism.


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## Lucky13 (Aug 10, 2007)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> But hey guys get ready for the Anti US posters saying this is all the US's fault...



Yep....it's ALL President Bush fault.


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## timshatz (Aug 10, 2007)

Konigstiger205 said:


> Its for the best not to underestimate the ruskies....you never know what they are planning to do...I know that I will sleep more good at nigh as soon as the whole world gets rid of communism.




Given that you're country has had direct experience with the Comrads in living memory, I think you're on to something.


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## timshatz (Aug 10, 2007)

Konigstiger205 said:


> Its for the best not to underestimate the ruskies....you never know what they are planning to do...I know that I will sleep more good at nigh as soon as the whole world gets rid of communism.




Given that you're country has had direct experience with the Comrades in living memory, I think you're on to something.


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## comiso90 (Aug 10, 2007)

Konigstiger205 said:


> Its for the best not to underestimate the ruskies....you never know what they are planning to do...I know that I will sleep more good at nigh as soon as the whole world gets rid of communism.



Here in the West we hear about the rampant inflation, blackmarket, crime, mafia, corruption and unemployment in many parts of the former eastern block.

From your point of view, is the fall (or weakening) of communism worth all the strife since the void was left?


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## trackend (Aug 10, 2007)

I personally dont see a second cold war happening, too many in positions of power have tasted the afluence of a relitive free economy and that makes it very hard to regress back to the old ways.


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## syscom3 (Aug 10, 2007)

trackend said:


> I personally dont see a second cold war happening, too many in positions of power have tasted the afluence of a relitive free economy and that makes it very hard to regress back to the old ways.




The political situation and attitudes of what made the cold war dangerous simply do not exist anymore.


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## timshatz (Aug 10, 2007)

Russia's beligerence will rise and fall with the price of oil/natural gas. They are a one product economy.


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## comiso90 (Aug 10, 2007)

timshatz said:


> Russia's beligerence will rise and fall with the price of oil/natural gas. They are a one product economy.



I more concerned with China and Iran. China has sold equipment to Iran for years. Now Iran is trying to develop their own arms industry which is bound to pay some technology dividends.


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## trackend (Aug 10, 2007)

I think the best thing that happened with China (other than Moa kicking the bucket) was regaining Hong Kong it gave them an instant ecconomic resource that was the real instigator of their incredible growth. As an arms supplier they fall well short of what the west has supplied to many very dubious nations.


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## comiso90 (Aug 10, 2007)

timshatz said:


> Russia's beligerence will rise and fall with the price of oil/natural gas. They are a one product economy.



If that is true, I wonder how the new discoveries of huge deposits of gas methane hydrates on the ocean floor will impact their position.


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## comiso90 (Aug 10, 2007)

trackend said:


> I think the best thing that happened with China (other than Moa kicking the bucket) was regaining Hong Kong it gave them an instant ecconomic resource that was the real instigator of their incredible growth. As an arms supplier they fall well short of what the west has supplied to many very dubious nations.



It's a good thing for us too (short term until they bury us economically in 60 years). Giving them a closer look at Capitalism had to soften some of the red hard-liners.

The west has supplied to dubious nations but none with the lofty aspirations of Iran.. They want to return to the "Golden Age of Persia"


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## trackend (Aug 10, 2007)

comiso90 said:


> The west has supplied to dubious nations but none with the lofty aspirations of Iran.. They want to return to the "Golden Age of Persia"



Thats alright Comiso we,ll soon pull the rug out from under them sorry


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## comiso90 (Aug 10, 2007)

trackend said:


> Thats alright Comiso we,ll soon pull the rug out from under them sorry



maybe the Israelis will get to use their nukes


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## Konigstiger205 (Aug 11, 2007)

Pray that no country will get to use their nukes....ever!


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## timshatz (Aug 11, 2007)

trackend said:


> Thats alright Comiso we,ll soon pull the rug out from under them sorry



Any time a movement/nation talks about "Returning to the Golden Era of.....", it's a loser. On the down side, it usally initiates a fair amount of trouble before it tanks.


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## Aggie08 (Aug 16, 2007)

As it is with the Middle East, it will also take a fair amount of tanks to cause the trouble.

I can imagine that the young pilots felt like they won the lotto to see a Bear up close and personal. The older pilots, maybe not so much.


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## Downwind.Maddl-Land (Sep 16, 2007)

Just to resurrect this thread. Eight Bears were intercepted by RnoAF F-16s and 4 x RAF Tornado F3s on 6 Sep 07 (must have been nearly all of the serviceable F3s!). See picture below. The intercepts took place outside the UK Air Defence Region and the UK ADR was not penetrated by the Bears. This incursion actually made the UK Television News channels and everyone of less than ‘a certain age’ got quite excited/upset/paranoid/had to put their analysts on Danger Money* until the latest exploits of some Soccer nonentity displaced the item!

Good job they didn’t hear about the VVS penetrating the UK ADR in 1976 (or was it ’77?) with 36 of the little tinkers! That was quite an ‘interesting’ night for the Interceptor Alert Force at RAF Leuchars………

*delete as applicable.


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## syscom3 (Sep 16, 2007)

I actually dont see the Bear (or the B52 for that matter) as being much of a strategic threat these days.

Radar technology has so vastly improved since the cold war days, that no ammount of ECM or ECCM could hide them.

Maritime strike? Still usefull. tactical bomber? Still usefull.

Penetrator bomber? Nope.


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## Downwind.Maddl-Land (Sep 16, 2007)

Its those nasty little 'Kent' things that they carry that do the penetrating - its still as potent a strike aircraft as the B-52 in that respect. Our worry is that that their defence expenditure is on the increase whilst our Armed Forces have been worn down to the bone, then over-extended and made the butt of every treehugging, open-toed sandel wearing, PC lefty influenced agenda that you can think of; and then some.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 16, 2007)

syscom3 said:


> Penetrator bomber? Nope.



Thats what we have the B-2 for.


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## Matt308 (Sep 16, 2007)

But admittedly, the Bear with those huge Turboprops are absolutely beautiful, if not effective.


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## mkloby (Sep 16, 2007)

Matt308 said:


> But admittedly, the Bear with those huge Turboprops are absolutely beautiful, if not effective.



I agree.


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## The Basket (Sep 17, 2007)

No one is living in the bunker and the flights are just bluster.

Now...Backfires and Blackjacks doing supersonic dashes towards the UK air defence would be quite something. That would be proper provocation. Escorted by Flankers!


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## Gnomey (Sep 17, 2007)

Yeah the Bear's are good looking aircraft. Still I see no real threat from these sorties just yet, Russia is just notifying everyone that she is still around and a could be a threat.


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## Matt308 (Sep 17, 2007)

And the ELINT aspects of the mission do serve some purpose for probing western tactics.


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## pbfoot (Sep 17, 2007)

Alls they are doing is checking out the reaction times of tghe various systems and probing for weak spots in radar coverage due to atmosperhics. Its an easy way to figure out the attack systems and frequencies and such


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## Matt308 (Sep 18, 2007)

Yep. And they get some hours for the logbooks to boot.


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## Nonskimmer (Sep 21, 2007)

pbfoot said:


> Alls they are doing is checking out the reaction times of tghe various systems and probing for weak spots in radar coverage due to atmosperhics. Its an easy way to figure out the attack systems and frequencies and such


Bingo.


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## Matt308 (Sep 21, 2007)




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