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US F-22 fighter jets intercept Russian bombers near Alaska
- josefresco 8y agoIs there more to this story because ... "A US official previously told CNN that the military sees these flights as routine and said they pose no concern."
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- dguaraglia 8y agoThat's pretty much all there is to it. You'll read this story about Russian bombers being spotted near Alaska every few months. I'm not sure we scramble fighter jets every time they do. In other words: it's nothing to worry about. At least not in the short term.
- 394549 8y ago> I'm not sure we scramble fighter jets every time they do. I thought they did, since scrambling the jets demonstrates to the Russians that the US's air defense network is tight. It also helps keep the pilots from getting lax. The Russians do the same thing with the US files near their airspace.
- josefresco 8y agoThey expect to be intercepted. It's the time of response that is being tested.
- Turing_Machine 8y agoIt's pretty much a given that they'll be intercepted before they reach legal Alaskan airspace, and a dead certainty that they would never manage to reach the contiguous United States. However, I've been told by people in a position to know that the actual game is to attempt to intercept the Russian planes before they get within cruise missile range of Anchorage. The USAF doesn't always manage to do that.
- josefresco 8y agoNeat! (and scary) thanks for sharing.
- Turing_Machine 8y ago> I'm not sure we scramble fighter jets every time they do. They do.
- polotics 8y agoMore precisely this is routine testing of the opponent's readiness.
- petermcneeley 8y ago"A US official previously told CNN that the military sees these flights as routine and said they pose no concern."
- m3kw9 8y agoThey scrambled jets probably because they saw 2 Su-35's flanking the bombers which is unusual.
- dingaling 8y agoFLANKERs flanking! ASCC reporting names had occasional triumphs like that but often they were blocked and had to pick more mundane names. The original Tu-22 was BEAUTY but became BLINDER to sound less appreciative. MIG-15 went from FALCON to FAGOT likewise.
- CodeTheInternet 8y agoRussian bomber runs near Alaska have been ongoing since the Cold War
- Turing_Machine 8y agoTrue enough. The number of incidents went way down during the period between the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Putin, though. Since Putin has been in power, the number of incidents has jumped back up to near Cold War levels.