USAF and CAF intercepts Russians in ADIZ

[spuwho]

Per Associated Press:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — 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.

[Dog Walker]

Shades of the Cold War!

[Rob68]

Looks like maybe they are testing the waters and stiring the pot of conflict on the world stage...hes such a bastard.... ill bet he has a tiny teenie..lol.

[Ocklawaha]

Don't worry 'Dear Leader' has probably drawn another of his erasable lines in the sand tundra. No sweat, he'll draw it out at Little Diomede Island, he'll threaten the train and arm the Iñupiat, then as the MIG's close in he'll redraw the line at Nome. As the Russians start operating out of their new bases at Clear, Elmendorf and Eielson Air Force Station's he will be all the rage on news making his stand near Juneau. About this time he'll figure out that arming the Iñupiat was probably as mistake as it was the Aleut, Yupik and Alutiiq (and James Boyle) that could have saved Anchorage... And we get two more years of this BS!

[fsquid]

Putin simply thinks Obama is a paper tiger.

[goldy21]

You guys realize this is fairly routine, right? Military jets enter the identification zones regularly. Not really as huge of a deal as the headline suggests.

[BridgeTroll]

You guys realize this is fairly routine, right? Military jets enter the identification zones regularly. Not really as huge of a deal as the headline suggests.

This is true.  The ADIZ is NOT our territory.  They have as much right to fly there as we do to intercept them.  That said... the practice of penetrating an ADIZ is a "show the flag" and modicum of intimidation.  The flight should be intercepted and observed... nothing more.

[spuwho]

What makes it different?

No diplomatic protest filings of unprofessional pilot behavior when the aircraft were intercepted.

[spuwho]

I might add that if an adversary needed to get a close up operational view of a new aircraft technology, or wanted to assess their abililty to monitor someones defense communications, an ADIZ pass through is a great way to do so.

The Ilyushin tankers serve many purposes, where in this case one of them may have been a signals intelligence aircraft, similar to an USAF Rivet Joint.

The Russians do not perform ADIZ fly throughs without a significant purpose.

[BridgeTroll]

As I have done so... many times... the purpose is to...

A: Show the flag
B: measure responses... ie radars, communications, response times, tactics
C: Divert attention from something else
D: Establish a pattern... then deviate from it... to measure response

Rinse and repeat... 

[spuwho]

As I have done so... many times... the purpose is to...

A: Show the flag
B: measure responses... ie radars, communications, response times, tactics
C: Divert attention from something else
D: Establish a pattern... then deviate from it... to measure response

Rinse and repeat... 

I agree. In this case it was mostly about B and D.

Usually they only use 2 Bears for an Alaskan ADIZ event. This time 2 Bears, 2 tankers and a couple of MiG's for cover is definitely outside the pattern.

[spuwho]

Further review of the recent ADIZ events....can almost be translated into a hissy fit...or a "you aren't taking us seriously" moment.

One defense official said the Russian bomber activity appeared timed to the visit to the United States and Canada by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The Ukrainian leader was in Ottawa for meetings with Canadian leaders on Wednesday. He met with President Obama on Thursday.
Ukraine is locked in a battle with Moscow over the Russian military annexation of Crimea and continuing backing of pro-Russian Ukrainian militias in eastern Ukraine.

Continuing....

Over Europe on Tuesday, two Bear H bombers conducted practice strategic bombing runs on Tuesday and were met by interceptor jets from Norway, Denmark, Britain, and Netherlands, defense officials told the Free Beacon.

"NATO jets ... were scrambled to visually identify unknown aircraft approaching allied airspace," said a NATO military officer who confirmed details of the incident.

"The approaching aircraft were identified as two Tu-95 Russian Bear H bombers," he said. "The Russian flights originated in the Barents Sea and went through international airspace down to the North Sea off the Dutch coast."

Oh, the saber rattling was even larger...

In a related development, Sweden's military on Friday confirmed that two Russian Su-24 fighter-bombers violated the country's airspace on Wednesday. A Gripen jet fighter was scrambled to intercept the jets.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt called the Russian jet incident "the most serious aerial incursion by the Russians during my years as foreign minister," Sweden's news outlet The Local reported Friday.

Russia's strategic aviation forces have sharply increased flights in recent months in Asia, near Alaska, Canada, and the United States and Europe.

And what does our military think about these events?

"They are having a very aggressive nuclear readiness exercise now as a show of force," McInerney said. "Whereas the U.S. has been on a path of nuclear zero which they think is ridiculous."

McInerney added: "The Russians sense weakness in American leadership and they are trying to intimidate us and show us that our nuclear deterrent forces are vulnerable to Russian nuclear forces."

Other recent Bear bomber incidents included a practice cruise missile attack by two bombers off the coast of Canada earlier this month. That incident appeared timed to the NATO summit meeting in Wales.

[BridgeTroll]

The incident in Sweden is a much more serious action as Russian fighters actually penetrated the airspace of Sweden...