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Russia's nuclear strategy still relies upon flying Bear bombers to the launch box and deploying cruise missiles. NORAD still sorties fighter aircraft to interce

Russia's nuclear strategy still relies upon flying Bear bombers to the launch box and deploying cruise missiles. NORAD still sorties fighter aircraft to intercept these bombers somewhat regularly. Obviously not bombers actually launching cruise missiles, but ones doing test runs of the same. It would have had a critical role for decades.

tolien 6y ago
Cool, but the Tu-95 now carries missiles like the Kh-55 with a range of 1600 miles while the Arrow was expected to have a range of 360 nmi. The Bear could have dropped its missiles and been long gone before the Arrow got anywhere close to it, never mind that the Sparrow II never worked.
- hn_check 6y ago
  The Arrow was circa the late 50s. You claimed it would be a white elephant when finished, yet now the measure is that it wouldn't be relevant today, sixty years later? The Arrow was specifically built as a far North interceptor aircraft, a role later filled by a variety of aircraft over the years (which in a probable war state would effectively rotate in constant sorties to the far North) -- the F106, F15, F16, F18, etc. It's a sled to move a missile closer to a target and not much more.
- nickff 6y ago
  The KH-22, with a range of 300 miles would be a more fair example, as it would have been a contemporary of the Arrow (1960-1980). The KH-55 was first produced in 1981.
  - tolien 6y ago
    Yeah, I was going to mention the Kh-20 (similar period, 240-370 mi range) - the Kh-22 was used (AIUI) in an anti-shipping role so probably wouldn't have been used in a scenario where it would be intercepted by an Arrow.
    - nickff 6y ago
      You're correct, I meant to put in Kh-20, and made a mistake, but will leave it as-is. Here are the Wiki pages for any other readers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-22
valuearb 6y ago
No chance the fuel hog Arrow could intercept anything that wasn’t flying over it’s airfield.

tolien 6y ago

Cool, but the Tu-95 now carries missiles like the Kh-55 with a range of 1600 miles while the Arrow was expected to have a range of 360 nmi. The Bear could have dropped its missiles and been long gone before the Arrow got anywhere close to it, never mind that the Sparrow II never worked.

hn_check 6y ago
The Arrow was circa the late 50s. You claimed it would be a white elephant when finished, yet now the measure is that it wouldn't be relevant today, sixty years later? The Arrow was specifically built as a far North interceptor aircraft, a role later filled by a variety of aircraft over the years (which in a probable war state would effectively rotate in constant sorties to the far North) -- the F106, F15, F16, F18, etc. It's a sled to move a missile closer to a target and not much more.
nickff 6y ago
The KH-22, with a range of 300 miles would be a more fair example, as it would have been a contemporary of the Arrow (1960-1980). The KH-55 was first produced in 1981.
- tolien 6y ago
  Yeah, I was going to mention the Kh-20 (similar period, 240-370 mi range) - the Kh-22 was used (AIUI) in an anti-shipping role so probably wouldn't have been used in a scenario where it would be intercepted by an Arrow.
  - nickff 6y ago
    You're correct, I meant to put in Kh-20, and made a mistake, but will leave it as-is. Here are the Wiki pages for any other readers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kh-22

valuearb 6y ago

No chance the fuel hog Arrow could intercept anything that wasn’t flying over it’s airfield.