Britain says fighters intercept Russian aircraft approaching Baltic states

[uhnope]

Source: Reuters

British Typhoon fighter jets have intercepted three Russian military transport aircraft approaching the Baltic States, the defense ministry said on Thursday.

The British fighters, scrambled from the Amari air base in Estonia, intercepted the Russian aircraft, which were not transmitting a recognized identification code and were unresponsive, the ministry said.

"We were able to instantly respond to this act of Russian aggression - demonstration of our commitment to NATO’s collective defense," Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-russia-jets-idUSKCN0Y32DR?il=0

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Putin's childish-but-dangerous games of provocation & macho display. The Baltics are lucky to be in NATO; too bad Ukraine wasn't.

[FLPanhandle]

1. Russians testing air defense systems

They've been doing since the 1950's. Tracking where they were detected, how long it takes for fighters to appear, at what point to they intercept.

Classic cold war games.

[braddy]

3. Are you saying that these aren't new, and took place from 1991 through 2014 or so?

[FLPanhandle]

5. They have always been common

The Russians are getting more aggressive now though. Not just going to the borders of airspace but penetrating other countries airspace which is new.

[braddy]

6. You ignored my question entirely, are you saying that these are not new, and that these have been

taking place continuously for the last quarter century?

[One_Life_To_Give]

7. It's an old game to those of us who remember the cold war

They didn't have the money to play for a few years. But seems we are right back to where we were when Brezhnev passed.

[braddy]

9. My point is that this is not an "old game" or a continuation, we defeated the the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics empire of slavery and conquest.

Today we are facing a new enemy, Russia and Putin, this aggression and bluffing and posturing is new and has not been going on for the last 25 years and people need to quit thinking of Russia as the Soviet Empire, those slave states are free now and most are part of NATO, Putin needs to be looked at and treated as Putin, not as the leader of the world's most powerful empire but as the leader of Russia only.

[One_Life_To_Give]

11. And how does Putin view himself?

Does he not see himself as the one to restore Russia to it's former glory?

[braddy]

12. I just said that, Putin and Russia is a new threat, this is not a continuation of the Cold War

and the USSR.

[One_Life_To_Give]

13. And the 2nd and 3rd Punic Wars were not the First

Technically true but it is often times hard to tell where one conflict ends and the next begins. As the predecessor is pro-log of the next.

[braddy]

16. It isn't in this case, not if you were there or remember the Cold War. Putin can be nipped in the

bud if we show resolve and unity, regardless of how murderous or delusional he is and longing for his old KGB glory of the USSR.

We have to protect our NATO alliance and not allow him to start invading and reconquering the smaller NATO nations.

Putin is actually weak, but he keeps bluffing his way to military and territorial gains.

[PersonNumber503602]

19. To be fair, Putin/Russia hasn't taken over any NATO countries.

I'm not entirely convinced we'll see that happen either. Although, I suppose we could see situations similar to Ukraine in which a Russian backed separatist group takes parts of such countries. I actually think that's what they are most concerned with, and not so much the idea of Russian tanks rolling through their capitals.

[braddy]

20. Putin is invading up to NATO's borders and is clearly trying to reconquer the empire.

Putin is verbally and militarily threatening everyone in the region and the United States, the close calls with aircraft, the threats to turn countries into nuclear ash, the moving now of THREE divisions to the borders is getting into invasion level of forces.

""The bulk of those forces will be deployed to Russia’s Western Military District, which sits along the borders with Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states and Finland, Mr. Shoigu said.""

Even Finland and Sweden are forced to have to consider joining NATO because of Putin's verbal, and now Army Division level threats to them. Putin is building his political image in Russia based on his military aggression and we should have never shown the weakness that gave him that option. A strong NATO years ago would have led Putin to adopt other avenues to win over the Russian people, by his concentrating on Russia's economy and improving the quality of life. and trade deals, etc, rather than focusing on what he naturally started seeing as the low hanging fruit of of the tiny European nations that he coveted.

[doc03]

2. Thanks Britain for standing up for us, what do we do

send them a strongly worded letter.

[christx30]

4. If they flew over the Arctic circle

they would been spotted by NORAD and intercepted by USAF planes.

[doc03]

10. I was shocked when they were able to fly 30 feet from our ship a

a few weeks ago. I thought if anyone would attempt such a move that they would have been shot down before they
got anywhere near that close. What if it was a real bombing run our guys would have been dead. Putin has been
flexing his muscles a lot lately and all we do is say you shouldn't do that.

[hack89]

15. You can't simply shoot down planes that are not exhibiting hostile intent.

flying close is not reason enough.

[hack89]

14. We intercept Russian aircraft in the vicinity of Alaska all the time. nt

[Nihil]

17. Yep ... works both ways too (but that's never reported in the "headline press"). (n/t)

[braddy]

18. What are some recent examples of us buzzing Russia?

[Blue_Tires]

8. Well, at least the Typhoons get a workout....

[daleo]

21. Where were they approaching Estonia from?

According to my atlas, Russia borders Estonia. So, they were likely in Russian airspace when this occurred, so this is hardly an aggressive move on the part of the Russians.