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Author Topic: U.S. jets escort Russian bombers off Alaska coast  (Read 16888 times)

Offline kyle172

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U.S. jets escort Russian bombers off Alaska coast
« on: March 27, 2008, 01:32:48 AM »
 U.S. jets escort Russian bombers off Alaska coast



    * Story Highlights
    * U.S. radar picks up the Russian planes about 500 miles off the Alaska coast
    * The Russians entered an air exclusion zone
    * They are escorted out of the area without incident
    * Russian planes last came near the U.S. coastline in February
    * Next Article in U.S. ยป

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two U.S. Air Force F-15s escorted two Russian Bear long-range bombers out of an air exclusion zone off the coast of Alaska, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.
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Two U.S. Air Force F-15s were dispatched to meet the Russian bombers.

U.S. radar picked up the Russian turbo-prop Tupolev-95 planes about 500 miles off the Alaska coast.

The U.S. fighters from Elmendorf Air Force Base were dispatched to meet the bombers and escorted them out of the area without incident, the officials said.

The United States maintains the air exclusion zone off the coast of Alaska, barring unidentified aircraft or aircraft that don't file flight plans inside that area.

The last case of Russian aircraft approaching the U.S. coastline or ships in the Pacific was in February.

Then, four Bear bombers flew near the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, with one of them flying about 2,000 feet from the Nimitz's deck.

Russia's Defense Ministry said at the time there was no violation of flight regulations during the incident. A ministry official described the flights as standard operating procedure for air force training.

Meanwhile, U.S. military officials say the incidents are not a concern. They say it's the Russian military flexing its ability and presence



Offline Lezam

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Re: U.S. jets escort Russian bombers off Alaska coast
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2008, 06:16:20 PM »
Again? Whatsup with the russians...

Offline tyketto

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Re: U.S. jets escort Russian bombers off Alaska coast
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2008, 07:35:57 PM »
Gonna sorta date myself here..

This reminds me of an episode of Airwolf, a year or so before the Berlin Wall came down, and we all thought we were close to WWIII with nukes.

Anywho, Airwolf had to go pick up some guy (can't remember if he was Yankee or Russian), but had to go pick him up in the USSR. While everyone assumed the USSR was so far away, it hit everyone to realize that USSR/Russia/Siberia/whatever_it's_named_now is only 60miles off the last of the Aleutian Islands. 60 miles between the USA and Russia!

So I can see how this could happen, and honestly, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often between any Russian plane (military/commercial/general) coming into US airspace. It's definitely because these were military planes that this caught any media attention..

BL.

Offline mhawke

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Re: U.S. jets escort Russian bombers off Alaska coast
« Reply #3 on: April 01, 2008, 09:49:08 PM »
The closest point of contact between the Russian Federation (formerly USSR) and the US are two islands in the Bering strait.  the islands called diomede are only 2 miles apart.

The  Russian planes are just sabre ratling that has not happened for along time. 

I was in the Navy (submarines) during the end of the cold war.  Always made for interesting times, either with planes, or in my case submarines playing games with each other. (We say games, but the torpedo tubes were always loaded with war shots).

Offline bcrosby

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Re: U.S. jets escort Russian bombers off Alaska coast
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2008, 03:20:49 PM »
This happens with Canada too..

I remember recently we had to escort a Tu-95 up near the the north pole