Russia Resumes Nuke Bomber Sorties

[American Patriot]

Geez....


Shocking: Russian Bombers Are Circling The Skies Above U.S., Ready To Strike At Moment’s Notice

Major Beth Smith, spokeswoman for NORAD, commented about the...

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F. Peter Brown — August 8, 2014



Russian strategic bombers penetrated US airspace 16 times in the last 10 days, according to US defense officials. The bombers penetrated 16 times into northwestern US air defense identification zones. Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel warned about the heightened possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

US jets scrambled in response to the Russian bombers several times.

Major Beth Smith, spokeswoman for NORAD, commented about the incursions, saying, ” Over the past week, NORAD has visually identified Russian aircraft operating in and around the U.S. air defense identification zones.”


Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon, who broke the story, wrote that the bomber flights are the “latest case of nuclear saber rattling by the Russians.”


Russia also violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987 signed by Reagan and Gorbachev by testing a nuclear cruise missile.


President Barack Obama ridiculed Mitt Romney for saying that Russia was America’s biggest strategic threat in the 2012 election:

A few months ago, when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia. Not al Qaeda; you said Russia. The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because, you know, the Cold War’s been over for 20 years.

Admiral Cecil Haney, head of US Strategic Command, has spoken about the Russian nuclear threat, saying that Russia conducted several large nuclear war games in May.
He said this recently at a defense industry breakfast:

Additionally, we have seen significant Russian strategic aircraft deployments in the vicinity of places like Japan, Korea, and even our West Coast.

He went on to say:

Russia continues to modernize its strategic capabilities across all legs of its triad, and open source [reporting] has recently cited the sea trials of its latest [missile submarine], testing of its newest air-launched cruise missile and modernization of its intercontinental ballistic force to include its mobile capability in that area.

How concerned should the world be about Russia? Is Russia now a significant threat to American interests? Or was Hillary Clinton’s Russian “reset” successful?


Read more at http://www.westernjournalism.com/nuc...uJIe6o0eavE.99

[AGEUSAF]

They are getting ready to fight us. All that needs to be said about this is, PREPARE!

Interesting to note that I have heard that some of our more exceptional aircraft/platforms have been making night time trips assumed to that said hot spot. I think even some of the stuff might have been spotted during the day coming back home in a group. Just to show those that should know that we have not been sitting on our technological in the black hands since the late 80's.

[Ryan Ruck]

Howdy AGEUSAF! Haven't seen you around in a while!

[AGEUSAF]

Howdy AGEUSAF! Haven't seen you around in a while!

Hey Ryan and All, Yea summer in Minnesota is short and last winter was long so outside and outside projects tend to take over free time until next freeze in. I have been lurking, I am probably the king of lurkers on a few forums ....just scan, scan, scan and move looking for slip ups or oportunity to mention something :-)

[Ryan Ruck]

Haha! Completely understandable!

[American Patriot]

Have you caught us slipping up yet? (Cuz, I can name a few times) lol

[AGEUSAF]

Oh I'm sure I have, probably had more go right over my head.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russian Strategic Bombers Near Canada Practice Cruise Missile Strikes on US

September 8, 2014
By Bill Gertz

Two Russian strategic bombers conducted practice cruise missile attacks on the United States during a training mission last week that defense officials say appeared timed to the NATO summit in Wales.

The Russian Tu-95 Bear bombers were tracked flying a route across the northern Atlantic near Iceland, Greenland, and Canada’s northeast.

Analysis of the flight indicated the aircraft were conducting practice runs to a pre-determined “launch box”—an optimum point for firing nuclear-armed cruise missiles at U.S. targets, said defense officials familiar with intelligence reports.

Disclosure of the nuclear bombing practice comes as a Russian general last week called for Moscow to change its doctrine to include preemptive nuclear strikes on the United States and NATO.

Gen. Yuri Yakubov, a senior Defense Ministry official, was quoted by the state-run Interfax news agency as saying that Russia’s 2010 military doctrine should be revised to identify the United States and the NATO alliance as enemies, and clearly outline the conditions for a preemptive nuclear strike against them.

Yakubov said among other needed doctrinal changes, “it is necessary to hash out the conditions under which Russia could carry out a preemptive strike with the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces”—Moscow’s nuclear forces.

The practice bombing runs are the latest in a series of incidents involving threatening Russian bomber flights near the United States. Analysts say the bomber flights are nuclear saber-rattling by Moscow as a result of heightened tensions over the crisis in Ukraine.

A spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command declined to comment on the bomber flights in the North Atlantic.

No U.S. or Canadian fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the Bear-H bombers since the aircraft stayed outside the North American Air Defense Identification Zone.

Additional details of the incident that took place over the Labrador Sea, the stretch of the Atlantic between Greenland and Canada’s Labrador Peninsula, could not be learned.

However, officials said it took place during the NATO summit in Wales that was held Thursday and Friday.

The summit statement criticized “Russia’s aggressive actions against Ukraine [which] have fundamentally challenged our vision of a Europe whole, free, and at peace.”

In response to Russia’s actions, the alliance agreed to create a new Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in Eastern Europe that can deploy military forces in days.

“If required, they will also facilitate reinforcement of allies located at NATO’s periphery for deterrence and collective defense,” the NATO statement said.

U.S. Army troops will lead an international military exercise inside western Ukraine later this month. The exercises, known as “Rapid Trident 2014,” will begin Sept. 15 and include troops from several NATO and NATO-partner states, including Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the United States.

Russian nuclear forces will conduct a large-scale exercise in mid-September, state news agencies reported.

The Tu-95 is a nuclear-capable bomber that is outfitted with six AS-15 nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The missiles have a range of over 1,800 miles.

Google Earth analysis reveals that a Tu-95 launch box located in the Labrador Sea and firing AS-15 missiles would be in range of Ottawa, New York, Washington, and Chicago, and could reach as far south as the Norfolk Naval base.

However, air-launched cruise missiles fired from that location and outside the air defense identification zone would be unable to reach Kings Bay, Georgia—the homeport for U.S. ballistic missile submarines and a key strategic nuclear target.

Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon strategic policymaker and currently senior analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy, said Russian leaders frequently issue public nuclear threats because they regard their nuclear arsenal as the main element of their great power status.

“Putin began what he called bomber ‘combat patrols’ in 2007 and they continue,” Schneider said. “They are designed to intimidate as well as practice nuclear bomber attacks.”

Schneider said that since the Ukraine crisis triggered by Moscow’s military annexation of Crimea, “there have been substantial numbers of all types of standard Russian nuclear threats.”

He said the threats have included nuclear exercises, bomber flights, and public statements, including Putin’s suggestion that NATO ‘not mess with us’ because Moscow remains a nuclear power.

Northern Command has confirmed that Russian strategic bomber flights increased sharply over the past six months.

Last month, at least 16 bomber incursions by the Russians took place within the northwestern U.S. and Canadian air defense zones over a period 10 days. It was the largest number of incursions since the end of the Cold War. U.S. fighter jets intercepted the Russian aircraft and followed them until they excited the defense zone.

In June, Russian bombers flew over the arctic prompting intercepts by Canadian fighters on two occasions. The Canadian government called the stepped up bomber flights a “strategic message” from Moscow amid heightened tensions.

And on June 20, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the test launch of six AS-15 missiles from a Bear bomber during military exercises.

That same month, on June 9, two Russian Bear bombers flew within 50 miles of the California coast in the closest strategic bomber flights near a U.S. coast since the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Admiral Cecil Haney, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, which is in charge of nuclear forces, said last month that he is concerned both by large-scale Russian nuclear exercises and by increased bomber flights near the United States.

“Clearly, we at the U.S. Strategic Command do monitor the strategic environment,” Haney said noting large-scale nuclear exercises during the Ukraine crisis.

“Any nation state has the right to train,” he added. “It’s just interesting how that information [on nuclear forces exercises] is readily available on YouTube. Clearly, the actions associated with Ukraine are problematic.”

On long-range strategic aircraft flights, Haney said: “I will say that the business of them coming close to the United States of America, we take very seriously.”

[American Patriot]

Russian nuclear forces will conduct a large-scale exercise in mid-September, state news agencies reported.

The Tu-95 is a nuclear-capable bomber that is outfitted with six AS-15 nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The missiles have a range of over 1,800 miles.

Oh... Goodie.

Practice before the real thing in February.

However, air-launched cruise missiles fired from that location and outside the air defense identification zone would be unable to reach Kings Bay, Georgia—the homeport for U.S. ballistic missile submarines and a key strategic nuclear target.

Irrelevant civilian nonsense. There are Russian Nuclear submarines current IN the Caribbean, and the North Atlantic, as well as the Pacific. If you think the bombers are the only thing that can "hit anything" you're very, very naive.

[Ryan Ruck]

F-22 Fighters Intercept Russian Military Planes 55 Miles Off Alaska

September 20, 2014

Two F-22 fighter jets intercepted six Russian military airplanes that neared the western coast of Alaska, military officials said Friday.

Lt. Col. Michael Jazdyk, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said the U.S. jets intercepted the planes about 55 nautical miles from the Alaskan coast at about 7 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday.

The Russian planes were identified as two IL-78 refueling tankers, two Mig-31 fighter jets and two Bear long-range bombers. They looped south and returned to their base in Russia after the U.S. jets were scrambled.

At about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets intercepted two of the long-range bombers about 40 nautical miles off the Canadian coastline in the Beaufort Sea.

In both cases, the Russian planes entered the Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends about 200 miles from the coastline. They did not enter sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada.

Jazdyk said the fighter jets were scrambled “basically to let those aircraft know that we see them, and in case of a threat, to let them know we are there to protect our sovereign airspace.”

In the past five years, jets under NORAD’s command have intercepted more than 50 Russian bombers approaching North American airspace.

NORAD is a binational American and Canadian command responsible for air defense in North America.

The fighter escorts are a new thing.

[American Patriot]

Yeah they are prepped and chances are those are loaded with real, live nukes.

[American Patriot]

Mig-31 Intercept Near North America Suggests Russia Changing Offensive Air Ops

September 25, 2014 · by Fortuna's Corner · in Air Force, CIA, DIA, espionage, spying, Intelligence Community, military history, national security, Russia, US Military · Leave a comment

http://www.janes.com/article/43640/m...ensive-air-ops
Military Capabilities


MiG-31 Interception Near North America Suggests Russia Changing Offensive Air Ops


Reuben F Johnson,


Kiev – IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly


23 September 2014


Two MiG-31 fighters were intercepted by Candian and US air force aircraft.


The appearance of two Mikoyan MiG-31 fighter interceptors in a group of six Russian Air Force (VVS) military aircraft intercepted by Canadian and US air force aircraft on 17-18 September suggests a change in Russia’s approach to offensive operations.


According to US officials, the aircraft included the two MiG-31s, two Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers, and two Ilyushin Il-78 tankers – a modified version of the Il-76 military transport. The intercepts were the latest in about 50 such incidents over the past five years.


While fairly common during the Cold War, VVS exercises and simulated attack runs against North America dropped off with the collapse of the USSR. They have picked up again in recent years as relations between Washington and Moscow deteriorated.


The first intercept was at 1900 local time on 17 September by two US Air Force (USAF) Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptors operating about 55 n miles from the Alaskan coast. The second, at 0130 hours on 18 September, was by two Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) McDonnell-Douglas CF-18 fighters about 40 n miles from the Canadian coast in the Beaufort Sea.


Both intercepts were well inside the 200-mile air defense identification zone, although in neither case did the Russian aircraft enter US or Canadian airspace.


A North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Jazdyk, told reporters that the aircraft were scrambled “basically to let those [Russian] aircraft know that we see them, and in case of a threat, to let them know we are there to protect our sovereign airspace”.


The MiG-31 was designed and built during the Soviet era almost exclusively as a defensive weapon system at a time when there were two separate air forces operated by the USSR military: the VVS, and the air defense forces (PVO). Both services operated fighter aircraft, but whereas the VVS mission was to support offensive operations of conventional ground forces and nuclear bomber assets, the PVO was to defend the USSR’s air space and intercept incoming enemy aircraft.


The PVO’s requirements made it a higher priority than that of the VVS, and the air defense service operated what were considered to be more sophisticated aircraft. One of the most famous USSR defectors, Lieutenant Viktor Belenko, who flew his MiG-25 to Hokkaido in Japan, was a PVO pilot and not from a front-line VVS squadron.


Both the MiG-31 and its predecessor, the MiG-25, were designed exclusively for the PVO mission and were not a fit with the VVS’s requirements. “These were two different rival services,” explained a veteran Russian aircraft designer. “Mikoyan was engaged to design the MiG-31 for the PVO because the air defense forces did not want to just be satisfied with purchasing aircraft designed for the VVS – in this time frame the newest and most modern VVS aeroplane was the Sukhoi Su-27 – in the same way that the US Navy do not ever want to procure fighters that were designed for the USAF.”


When the two services were merged in 1998, the VSS found itself in control of assets that it was unfamiliar with and required a review of the post-Cold War security environment to determine how the new combined services roles and missions might need to change.


This resulted in modifications to the aircraft – the MiG-31BM variant – that included a modernization of its NIIP N007 Zaslon radar and avionics configuration and the addition of an air-to-air refueling probe that extends its internal fuel range from 1,450 km to 5,400 km.


The most significant change was the integration of a new missile that is a derivative of the Vympel R-33 (AA-9) air-to-air missile, most recently designated the RVV-BD (Missile Air-to-Air – Long Range).


The RVV-BD was originally intended to take out NATO battle management assets, such as the USAF Boeing E-3 AWACS. It now appears to be envisioned as being employed to intercept incoming cruise missiles or to equip fighters that escort bomber missions flying over the polar regions to attack targets in North America.


Developing a new mission for aircraft such as the MiG-31 took some time “because during Soviet times the two services of the VVS and PVO never conducted joint exercises,” said the Russian aircraft designer, “but this incident shows that it has now been fully adapted for an offensive mission.”

[Ryan Ruck]

Moved the above post over to this thread. The other thread it was in was a locked thread that got generated because the post it was from got published as a front page article.

[American Patriot]

Oh. Huh?

I thought this was where I put it?

Oh well.

[American Patriot]

Russian Intercepts Highlight NATO Air Power in The Baltics

September 26, 2014 · by Fortuna's Corner · in Air Force, CIA, DIA, Europe, Eurozone, Euro, foreign policy, France, Germany, Intelligence Community, military history, national security, NATO, Poland, Russia, US Military · Leave a comment
FiNANCIAL TIMES
September 25, 2014 3:29 pm
Russian Intercepts Highlight NATO Air Power in The Baltics
By Mark Odell
Behind the rising number of intercepts of Russian military aircraft probing the airspace of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania lies a build-up of NATO air power in the region linked to a longstanding agreement to protect the three former Soviet republics.
The so-called Baltic Air Policing arrangement was put in place in 2004 when the three Baltic states joined NATO. It was designed to allow the new members to focus their small defense budgets on building up their armies into rapidly deployed reaction forces rather than spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expensive combat aircraft.
The deal envisaged the more established NATO members providing four aircraft on a four-monthly rotation to protect the Baltic airspace. A former Soviet bomber air base was chosen as the home of the new rapid reaction force – Siauliai in northern Lithuania.
The arrangement was declared indefinite by NATO in 2012 but earlier this year it underwent a sweeping change.
As tensions between Russia and the west rose sharply in March, the US – which took over the Baltic policing role in January – decided unilaterally to send a further six F-15 fighter-bombers to bolster the patrol.
By the time Poland took over the lead role a decision had been taken to further strengthen the number of NATO combat aircraft patrolling the skies over the Baltic states.
Four Polish MiG-29s were joined by four British RAF Typhoons at Siaulia. NATO also activated a second air base at Amari in Estonia to house four Danish F-16s.
At the same time, the French sent four Rafale fighters to a Polish air base at Malbork on the Baltic coast.
“By May we had quadrupled the number of fighters from four to 16,” a NATO official said. He said the move reflected a level of activity by the Russians probing Nato air defenses not seen since the end of the Cold War.
Separately, the US Air Force sent a dozen F-16s to another Polish air base, Lask, for what it described as an “unspecified duration.” The US and Canadians also sent fighters to Romania.
One analyst said this brought an immediate response from Russia. “That Russia took notice was amply demonstrated by the deployment of six Su-27 air superiority fighters to Belarus immediately after the USAF announced its Polish deployment,” Justin Bronk of the Royal United Services Institute wrote in a blog post. He said “numerous” other Russian warplanes were photographed by satellite at the previously deserted Buturlinovka airfield near the Ukrainian-Russian border in early April.
The rotation of the NATO Baltic air patrols continued in September when the Polish, British, Danish and French forces were replaced by the Portuguese, Canadians, Germans and Dutch.

[MinutemanCO]

Interesting development with the MiGs and all. I Just had an illuminating thought. How long would it take for them to launch a series of nuke tipped cruise missiles from the Bears? 5 minutes? That's how quickly one of these situations can upgrade to about as serious as it gets. And, our interceptors could do nothing but watch.

[American Patriot]

I think we've concentrated for so long on ICBMs that we've forgotten the bomber scenario.

In the military, we're constantly getting new, younger blood. They go to college, write white papers on warfare, and forget the old ways - because you know we have technology to fall back on, computers, communications, command and control.

What they forget is that simple is always better.

A close friend who was in Afghanistan tells me, for example, that the way to defeat a convoy of wheeled vehicles is to make sure the tires catch fire. Bombs of homemade napalm thrown from ambush positions can take out the first and last vehicles in an urban environment. This effectively stops most of the convoy from moving through.

When the wheels burn, it doesn't matter how much armor is on the vehicles. The occupants will evacuate, and be shot by snipers.

The point here is simple. The simple methods are usually better because everything else is over-thunk to the point the forest is forgotten and you run into the trees. (What's that old saying? OH, "It's hard to remember your original objective was draining the swamp when you're up to your ass in alligators...")

So - yeah. Our fighters LIKELY can NOT drop cruise missiles in their tracks. And consider this, even if they do, they are nuclear weapons - which if destroyed while won't explode will CERTAINLY drop lots of poisonous plutonium on the heads of innocents who are in the path of the falling debris.

[MinutemanCO]

Unless I'm not remembering correctly, Russian cruise missiles have advanced stealth capabilities. They continue to upgrade their technology with regard to first strike on American soil while it seems we sit and watch.

[American Patriot]

Interesting development with the MiGs and all. I Just had an illuminating thought. How long would it take for them to launch a series of nuke tipped cruise missiles from the Bears? 5 minutes? That's how quickly one of these situations can upgrade to about as serious as it gets. And, our interceptors could do nothing but watch.

So I was looking at something... I found this tidbit for you MMCO.

On 7 October 2012, the Indian Navy successfully test-fired BrahMos from the guided missile frigate INS Teg.[54] This new highly manoeuvrable version was fitted with advanced satellite navigation systems turning it into a "super-rocket" capable of hitting targets over 300–500 km from sea, land and air launchers, and capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

That's from wikipedia. The is a Russian cruise missile, hypersonic, considered the fastest missile on the planet. Capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

As far as I can tell, the current bombers - the non-stealthed ones, are the TU-95 series capable of carrying several long range cruise missiles now.

On Wednesday evening, two Alaskan-based F-22 fighter jets intercepted two Russian IL-78 refueling tankers, two Russian Mig-31 fighter jets and two Russian Bear long-range bombers, according to Capt. Jeff Davis of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

Six aircraft in the flight, two refueling tankers, two MIGs and two Bear long range bombers. These would be capable of hitting about anything along the Alaskan coast, into Canada and probably as far south as LA and possibly as far inland as Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. I can't give exact distances since I'm not 100% sure of the range on the bombers even with refueling or the MIGs all of them being fully loaded.

More than six hours later, early Thursday morning, two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets intercepted two Russian Bear long-range bombers in the Beaufort Sea, Davis said. Those Russian planes came within about 40 nautical miles of the Canadian coastline, he said.


Though the planes did not enter sovereign territory, the statement said, they did enter the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone west of Alaska and the Canadian ADIZ, according to a statement.

Of course, this is the old Soviet came of test, and back off, test and push the envelope. They are doing the old tactics. They are using the old equipment. They are using the old thinking.

This is the Cold War all over again and folks don't see it. This has Putin's hands all over it.

IF this were "for real" there would be many more bombers and MIGs. So it's all part of training and testing their pilots and the resolve of the United States (and Canadian) military.

Intercepting one flight of bombers will be child's play for our guys. Intercepting a hypersonic nuclear war head, quite another form of play.

The chances of Russia firing off nukes is low - unless they intend to take this to the ultimate conclusion, an all out nuclear war. If they fire ONE missile with a couple of warheads... we'll "absorb" the attack. I have NO DOUBT Obama will piss and moan about it and do the liberal-Marxist thing and pretend nothing happened.

If we start intercepting a large number of these flights - then it is time to be strongly concerned about the coming attacks - because they WILL be planning how best to hit us.

You can bet that the USAF and MDA are looking at the exact paths taken, the possible targets and looking into how best to defeat any Russian strategy to hit us in the middle of the night. You can also bet Obama isn't giving one shit about it.

[MinutemanCO]

Aren't the Russians masters of deception? If they are showing their hand in one form of tactical strike, wouldn't it be possible their primary intent is somewhere else?