Two Nuclear Capable Russian Aircraft Entered American Airspace Before Being Intercepted By U.S.

[TomCADem]

Source: Newsweek

Two nuclear-capable Russian aircraft encroached close to American airspace on Friday, forcing Canadian and U.S. fighter jets to scramble and intercept the planes.

The Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers entered an area patrolled by Canada’s Royal Air Force on Friday, close to Alaska, The Independent reported. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) revealed the incident on Saturday, saying that two U.S. F-22 and two Canadian CF-18 intercepted the Russian planes, escorting them away from the zone.

* * *

Similar encounters have increased between NATO aircraft and those of the Russian military in recent years, according to Radio Free Europe. Under President Vladimir Putin’s leadership, Russia has worked to expand its military power and pushed back more strongly against the U.S. and NATO.

Tensions remain high between Washington and Moscow over a range of international issues. The U.S. is also poised to officially withdraw from the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which was signed in 1987 between former President Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev. Washington and NATO have alleged that Moscow’s 9M729 nuclear-capable cruise missile system violates the terms of the deal. Russia has disagreed and refused to destroy the defense system.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/nuclear-russian-aircraft-encroached-american-airspace-1306831

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I wonder whether Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders still want to scale back NATO or have Russia be invited to be part of NATO because it is too expensive?

[Pobeka]

1. You should fix the post title. "Entered" is waaay different from "encroached close to" n/t

[TomCADem]

2. That is the title...

In all caps no less: "TWO NUCLEAR CAPABLE RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT ENTERED AMERICAN AIRSPACE BEFORE BEING INTERCEPTED BY U.S., CANADIAN FIGHTER JETS"

[Pobeka]

3. Sure enough, I see it on newsweek like that too. Sorry...

[Pobeka]

5. The implication of entered vs encroached is not a subtle difference in this case.

I just wanted to make sure it was correct

[denbot]

10. It is easy to be flippant CG.

Bare in mine the Russian’s shot down a civilian Korean passenger plane (Ironically Flight 707) that
DID NOT encroach into internationally recognized Russian air space, but the did stray into claimed Russian air space. The end result hundreds died.

But hey, you do you, and side with Putin, and the Donald.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

7. Sorry, but the difference between the two terms is NOT insignificant.

This retired NAVY air traffic controller can tell you that the two words mean very different circumstances. Frequently, MSM throws out words that make us military folks squirm because it sends the wrong message out there.

If the Russians has actually ENTERED our (or Canadian) airspace, it would be a much bigger news story than "encroached close to" trust me.

But Putin is still playing a dangerous game.

[denbot]

9. Howdy ho, I was former USN OS, that did a little CAP control.

Which in reality meant I gave them a vector from our EW’s, even though it was almost certain the WSO had already reported it to the pilot. You could almost hear them snickered at my “Control”.

At that time an OS had to have at least 12 years sea time before we could switch rates. Controller seemed like a pretty cool MOS.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

24. Well, hail matey.

Pilots --ooops, I'm sorry, Naval Aviators (Now THERE is something to chuckle over!) could be a bit over the top at times. My inclination was - get snarky with me and you'll be given the "go round." "Sorry, there seems to be some activity on the flight deck . . . " Worked every time. But, yeah, I can imagine the flak you caught.

[moriah]

18. Tell Newsweek. LBN articles must be posted with exact titles.

I'm just relieved the poster was able to make it not all caps.

[denbot]

8. If they actually entered our air space, splash them.

That is a red line that must not be crossed. And if anyone here wants to side with the Russian bots on this site bare in mind, they would not hesitate to fire on any U.S./NATO that entered Russian air space.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

12. Same old cat and mouse games...

... this went on for decades, the rate of occurrence was often dependent on how much money Russia/USSR had to fuel the planes. I am supposing if we should make any hay out of this, it is that, "suddenly Russia has money for these cat and mouse games, again".

[Dopers_Greed]

13. Or... they want to invite Russia into NATO because Putin pays them

[KY_EnviroGuy]

14. Newsweek blew the headline (then contradicted itself in text)

I searched several other news sites, and none stated the Russians entered our airspace.

To clarify, here's an article in Global News/Canada....

Canadian jets intercept 2 Russian bombers near North American coastline: NORAD
By Staff
The Associated Press

Read more here: https://globalnews.ca/news/4894339/norad-russian-bombers-canada/

An E-3 AWACS, 2x F-22, 2x CF-18 fighter jets from NORAD positively identified 2x Russian Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers entering the Canadian Air Defense Identification Zone on January 26, 2019. Bombers remained in international airspace and did not enter sovereign territory pic.twitter.com/utKe26SRBB

— NORAD & USNORTHCOM (@Norad_Northcom) January 26, 2019

Newsweek, watch your words....... ..........

[Girard442]

27. Seriously.

In this context, "encroached" is like driving down your street eyeballing your house whereas "entered" would be like walking into your frickin' living room.

[Scruffy1]

15. Sounds like they are trying to create some distractions.

I don't think for a minute things like this happen without Putins bring in the loop.

[EarthFirst]

16. Maybe a strategic butterfly net could be deployed...

Perhaps the next tantrum we bear witness to could be for giant nets to be strategically deployed for aircraft interception.

[mickswalkabout41]

17. Stop. Please.

We both do this all the time and have for decades. This is straight up fear mongering

[bearsfootball516]

28. Exactly. Russia isn't dropping nuclear bombs on the United States.

[hunter]

19. These days an unmanned inflatable raft is "nuclear capable."

Games like this have been going on for decades.

[Farmer-Rick]

20. Would Trump have allowed the air force to do anything to a Russian plane?

I just wonder if they had Entered our airspace would Trump have allowed an attack. Traitor Trump seems to be ok with escorting them off though. Well he doesn't control Canada so there is always that.

[EX500rider]

21. we had no problem killing several hundred Russin military contractors in Syria recently nt

[Farmer-Rick]

22. Good point

[EX500rider]

23. And by supplying lethal weapons to the Ukrainian's we are killing some more Russians.

Well, Russian "volunteers", the kind of volunteers that can take their tanks and weapons on vacation..lol

https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-announces-sale-anti-tank-missiles-ukraine-russian/story?id=53450406

[Blue_Tires]

25. Blackjacks? They're showing off the fine silverware this time...

Last edited Tue Jan 29, 2019, 01:50 PM - Edit history (1)

It's usually just TU-95 Bears or Su-24 Fencers

[Anon-C]

26. K&R for popcorn thread!

[Baclava]

29. Russians call the Tu-160 the 'White Swan'