4 ms·

looking back, it's interesting that the US casually flew planes over the USSR I can't think of any other situation where the US has violated airspace regularly

looking back, it's interesting that the US casually flew planes over the USSR I can't think of any other situation where the US has violated airspace regularly like that while not being in a state of war. Seems incredibly dangerous/provocative. For instance the US doesn't fly over North Korea or Iran even though I'm sure it could. We had a couple Chinese balloons over the US and it was a major diplomatic incident that ruined relations for about a year I find it hard to believe the US can go back to flying planes over Russia/China/etc. without stirring up some major issues Can you imagine if at their whim Chinese supersonic jets flew over LA or NYC? It'd be basically a declaration of war

a4000 3y ago
They were definitely flying drones over Iran in the recent past and probably still do https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93U.S._RQ-170_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93U.S._RQ-170_incid... Also there is the 'RQ180' that has been spotted flying near the Philippines that is most likely spying on China to some extent. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/09/07/americas-new-stealth-drone-appears-to-be-operational-near-china/?sh=245c4e9a1621 https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/09/07/americas-ne...
jasfi 3y ago
Satellites make fly overs redundant, especially of the quality the US must have today.
- sgt101 3y ago
  Not so flexible though (not saying that an SR-72 would be either), counter measures might be feasible as well I guess.
  - 123pie123 3y ago
    hence the space vehicle x-37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37
    - sgt101 3y ago
      Yes more flexible. Very strange though, why does it need to be reusable? It clearly is a sensible platform as it looks like the Chinese have built a similar thing, but I just don't understand what it's really doing and why it has to be done that way. V.interesting!
      - david-gpu 3y ago
        > Very strange though, why does it need to be reusable? Some people speculate that it is designed to take foreign satellites offline. Perhaps part of that mission is bringing them back to Earth to be analyzed. Pure speculation, of course. Removing their solar panels so that they fit in the bay and then actually getting them inside seems complicated.
        sgt101 3y ago
        Also those craft might not be built to be "co-operative" when this kind of intervention is made...
      - vsnf 3y ago
        > It clearly is a sensible platform as it looks like the Chinese have built a similar thing Don't be too confident in that statement. The Russians built a copy of the space shuttle despite the inherent unreasonableness of that platform. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)
- Tommstein 3y ago
  No they don't, satellite flyovers are predictable, planes can unexpectedly roll up on you and catch you with your pants down whenever they feel like it.
sgt101 3y ago
Worth reading this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_Open_Skies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_Open_Skies
hef19898 3y ago
Wasn't there an open airspace agreement for recon flights so that each couls make sure disarmament agreements where adhered to? Hence all the wing clipping of bombers and whatnot in the Mojave?
- sidewndr46 3y ago
  It has to be done in advance, but yes one of the reasons is to confirm arms reductions: https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/openskies https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/openskies I don't think that US & Russia has any arms reductions treaties still in force, but the Open Skies Treaty is still there.
onetimeuse92304 3y ago
> I can't think of any other situation where the US has violated airspace regularly like that while not being in a state of war. US flew its planes over pretty much all of Middle East, while not being in a state of war with any of the countries. And probably many, many other countries that did not have technology to even know they are being overflown.
- contrarian1234 3y ago
  Mmmm, they have military bases in most countries in the middle east so I assume they have permission more or less. Are they regularly flying over Syria? The Iranians jammed and stole a drone (lol) but from what I understood it was flying near the border and not over Iran They flew over Yemen and bombed their own citizen, but Yemen doesn't have a functioning government
  - pmayrgundter 3y ago
    The US has been bombing Syria for the past decade https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Inherent_Resolve https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Inherent_Resolve
    - contrarian1234 3y ago
      Okay but that's like the Yemen situation. It's a lawless area and they're bombing IS who they're at war with
paulmooreparks 3y ago
Reportedly, the SR-71 never actually flew directly over the USSR. It stayed outside the airspace and "peeked over the fence," so to speak.
- contrarian1234 3y ago
  Interesting.. I guess you go high enough and you can look down on half the country. So they fired missiles at it while it wasn't over the USSR? Well at least the U2 did fly over.. unless Gary Powers' parachute caught a nasty updraft
- sgt101 3y ago
  They lobbed the D-21 drone into China and USSR though I think.
- tomatotomato37 3y ago
  Yes, a part of that was the USSR actually did have a plan for intercepting it, it just required a whole lot of MiG-25s doing zoom climbs on stopwatch precision along the SR71's flight path to get a radar lock.
ThinkBeat 3y ago
U2: Countries and regions where the U2 is known to have operated. Some of these were friendly, somewhere hostile, some were at a time of war, The Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Norh Korea Cuba Afghanistan Iraq Poland East Germany Malta Cyprus Egypt Israel Indonesia India Horn of Africa https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/29/archives/us-spy-flights-over-china-ended-to-avoid-incident-missions.html https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/29/archives/us-spy-flights-o...
TMWNN 3y ago
>looking back, it's interesting that the US casually flew planes over the USSR Only the U-2, and only while it was a secret program. The Soviets could have protested the overflights at any time before shooting down Gary Powers, but didn't because not being able to get aircraft or missiles near it embarrassed them.

a4000 3y ago

They were definitely flying drones over Iran in the recent past and probably still do https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93U.S._RQ-170_incident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93U.S._RQ-170_incid... Also there is the 'RQ180' that has been spotted flying near the Philippines that is most likely spying on China to some extent. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/09/07/americas-new-stealth-drone-appears-to-be-operational-near-china/?sh=245c4e9a1621 https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/09/07/americas-ne...

jasfi 3y ago

Satellites make fly overs redundant, especially of the quality the US must have today.

sgt101 3y ago
Not so flexible though (not saying that an SR-72 would be either), counter measures might be feasible as well I guess.
- 123pie123 3y ago
  hence the space vehicle x-37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-37
  - sgt101 3y ago
    Yes more flexible. Very strange though, why does it need to be reusable? It clearly is a sensible platform as it looks like the Chinese have built a similar thing, but I just don't understand what it's really doing and why it has to be done that way. V.interesting!
    - david-gpu 3y ago
      > Very strange though, why does it need to be reusable? Some people speculate that it is designed to take foreign satellites offline. Perhaps part of that mission is bringing them back to Earth to be analyzed. Pure speculation, of course. Removing their solar panels so that they fit in the bay and then actually getting them inside seems complicated.
      - sgt101 3y ago
        Also those craft might not be built to be "co-operative" when this kind of intervention is made...
    - vsnf 3y ago
      > It clearly is a sensible platform as it looks like the Chinese have built a similar thing Don't be too confident in that statement. The Russians built a copy of the space shuttle despite the inherent unreasonableness of that platform. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)
Tommstein 3y ago
No they don't, satellite flyovers are predictable, planes can unexpectedly roll up on you and catch you with your pants down whenever they feel like it.

sgt101 3y ago

Worth reading this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_Open_Skies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_Open_Skies

hef19898 3y ago

Wasn't there an open airspace agreement for recon flights so that each couls make sure disarmament agreements where adhered to? Hence all the wing clipping of bombers and whatnot in the Mojave?

sidewndr46 3y ago
It has to be done in advance, but yes one of the reasons is to confirm arms reductions: https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/openskies https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/openskies I don't think that US & Russia has any arms reductions treaties still in force, but the Open Skies Treaty is still there.

onetimeuse92304 3y ago

> I can't think of any other situation where the US has violated airspace regularly like that while not being in a state of war. US flew its planes over pretty much all of Middle East, while not being in a state of war with any of the countries. And probably many, many other countries that did not have technology to even know they are being overflown.

contrarian1234 3y ago
Mmmm, they have military bases in most countries in the middle east so I assume they have permission more or less. Are they regularly flying over Syria? The Iranians jammed and stole a drone (lol) but from what I understood it was flying near the border and not over Iran They flew over Yemen and bombed their own citizen, but Yemen doesn't have a functioning government
- pmayrgundter 3y ago
  The US has been bombing Syria for the past decade https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Inherent_Resolve https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Inherent_Resolve
  - contrarian1234 3y ago
    Okay but that's like the Yemen situation. It's a lawless area and they're bombing IS who they're at war with

paulmooreparks 3y ago

Reportedly, the SR-71 never actually flew directly over the USSR. It stayed outside the airspace and "peeked over the fence," so to speak.

contrarian1234 3y ago
Interesting.. I guess you go high enough and you can look down on half the country. So they fired missiles at it while it wasn't over the USSR? Well at least the U2 did fly over.. unless Gary Powers' parachute caught a nasty updraft
sgt101 3y ago
They lobbed the D-21 drone into China and USSR though I think.
tomatotomato37 3y ago
Yes, a part of that was the USSR actually did have a plan for intercepting it, it just required a whole lot of MiG-25s doing zoom climbs on stopwatch precision along the SR71's flight path to get a radar lock.

ThinkBeat 3y ago

U2: Countries and regions where the U2 is known to have operated. Some of these were friendly, somewhere hostile, some were at a time of war, The Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Norh Korea Cuba Afghanistan Iraq Poland East Germany Malta Cyprus Egypt Israel Indonesia India Horn of Africa https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/29/archives/us-spy-flights-over-china-ended-to-avoid-incident-missions.html https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/29/archives/us-spy-flights-o...

TMWNN 3y ago

>looking back, it's interesting that the US casually flew planes over the USSR Only the U-2, and only while it was a secret program. The Soviets could have protested the overflights at any time before shooting down Gary Powers, but didn't because not being able to get aircraft or missiles near it embarrassed them.