Russian bombers resume Cold War sorties

[comiso90]

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"

 

[trackend]

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

 

[comiso90]

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

maybe the Israelis will get to use their nukes

 

[Konigstiger205]

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

 

[timshatz]

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.

 

[Aggie08]

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.

 

[Downwind.Maddl-Land]

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.

 

[syscom3]

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.

 

[Downwind.Maddl-Land]

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.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Penetrator bomber? Nope.

Thats what we have the B-2 for.

 

[Matt308]

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

 

[mkloby]

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

I agree.

 

[The Basket]

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!

 

[Gnomey]

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.

 

[Matt308]

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

 

[pbfoot]

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

 

[Matt308]

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

 

[Nonskimmer]

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.

 

[Matt308]