British jets scrambled over Russia bombers

LONDON (AFP) - Royal Air Force fighter jets were scrambled after two Russian bombers were intercepted off the coast of Norway, the defence ministry said Wednesday, after reports they were heading for British airspace.


Two RAF Tornados from Britain's rapid reaction force took off from RAF base Leeming in northern England on Tuesday after two Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16s intercepted two Tu95 "Bear" bombers, it said.

A defence ministry spokesman, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, told AFP: "We did scramble the jets but they did not intercept the Russians.

"As I understand it, the Norwegians actually intercepted the Russian aircraft off their coast. They didn't come into British airspace." Britain and Norway are separated by the North Sea.

He said there was no connection between the rare incident and Britain's plans to deport four Russian diplomats because of Moscow's refusal to extradite a key suspect for the murder of outspoken dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

Russia has promised a "targeted and appropriate" response to Britain's decision.

The Times on Tuesday also said there was nothing to suggest a connection with the diplomatic stand-off, but it smacked of "old-fashioned sabre-rattling" by Russia and revived "the spirit of the Cold War" in the North Atlantic.

"Any link between that activity and what's happening in London just now is pure speculation," the spokesman told AFP.

Russia, which runs regular aircraft patrols from a base near the northern port city of Murmansk in the Arctic Circle, was equally firm in denying any connection.

Air force colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky was quoted by the news agency Interfax as saying: "Claims that Russian bombers were headed for British airspace don't correspond with reality.

"Long-distance planes were making planned flights over international waters. These kind of flights have been and are carried out to train long-distance flight crews."

Air force general-colonel Alexander Zelin told Interfax that long-distance planes hold regular flight exercises, including bomb and rocket launches.

But he added: "We plan our bomber flights in international airspace according to our military preparation programme at least six months in advance. And we warn the relevant countries in advance.

"These aren't shows of force or sabre-rattling, but planned military preparations. What's more, we make timely applications to use international air corridors
new cold war tension brewing up?normally these kind of new only goes headlines in 60/70ties:coffee:

mpaduan79 said:

"Long-distance planes were making planned flights over international waters. These kind of flights have been and are carried out to train long-distance flight crews."

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Why are they incapable of making long-distance training over Russian airspace, or in international airspace not on a direct path towards Scotland/off the Norwegian coast?

It's such a silly excuse.

AFAIK the whole ´incident´is fairly routine.

Russia has stepped up her ´Bear´patrols in the region west/north-west of Norway in the last couple of years but they are nowhere near cold war levels and they apparently inform Oslo about their activity in advance.

The real news is that this kind of non incident makes headlines in The Times. Probably some guys in Whitehall are already ´spinning their stories´again!
Both governments in Moscow and London would act in the best interest of their respective people if they would stop their immature and infantile blaming games immediately. Possibly the very important political and economic relationship between Europe and Russia could be damaged or even derailed and if this would indeed occur Paris, Rome and Berlin would be very upset.

Violet Oboe said:

AFAIK the whole ´incident´is fairly routine.

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Just because it's "routine" doesn't mean it helps Anglo-Russian relations.

The real news is that this kind of non incident makes headlines in The Times.

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So if Japan kept flying planes towards Beijing, as part of "training", the Chinese government, Chinese media and indeed the Chinese members of this forum would regard it as a "non-incident"?

Somehow I doubt that very much. It would be widely reported and discussed, even if it became as you describe "routine".

Since the "Bears" are maritime recce planes, I guess it makes sense to hold long endurance exercises over water. Hence they have to fly outside of russian airspace.
And I also guess the russian govt. might want it's military to show a little more presence in the west lately. So the patrols/exercises over the north sea. Now if you come out of northern russia and have to stay in international airspace while your destination is the north sea, one has to bypass the north cape and roughly head for a point between england and island.
I don't know how close they actually came this time and if or if not a slight provocation was intended. But I guess if that diplomats issue would be happening right now, this incident would not have made in to the news.

from winkipedea-

The Tu-95RT variant in particular was a veritable icon of the Cold War as it performed a vital maritime surveillance and targeting mission for other aerial platforms as well as surface and submarine cruise missile launch platforms. It was identifiable by a large bulge radar under the fuselage that was used to search for and target surface ships particularly aircraft carriers. The US Navy placed high priority in intercepting the Tu-95RT aircraft at least two hundred miles from the carrier with their F-14 Tomcat interceptors, which would stay in an escort position ready to down their prey if Rules of Engagement were satisfied. The tail gunner position typically kept the twin cannon pointed upwards as to not antagonize the intercepting fighters. Similarly, NATO ROE for interceptions restricted aircrews from locking up the Tu-95 with their fire control radar lest it be misinterpreted as a hostile act. During operations in Vestfjord in 1985 as part of the NATO exercise Ocean Safari, USS America operated under the shelter of the steep sides of the fjord precisely to avoid the I-band search radar of the patrolling Tu-95RT aircraft sent to target the America Battle Group, which had played "cat and mouse" for weeks with the Tu-95RTs sent daily to locate the battle group after it arrived in the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom/GIUK gap. America's Tomcats demonstrated an ability to intercept the sections of Tu-95RT aircraft at ranges up to 1000 miles from the Battle Group. During the height of Cold War, the long range of the Tu-95 was demonstrated weekly as a pair of Tu-95 would fly from the Kola peninsula to Cuba down the east coast of the United States while being escorted continuously along the way

As late as 1999, Russian Tu-95s, usually flying in pairs, have come within striking distance both of the Iceland/Greenland route of North Atlantic and Alaska/Bering Sea route of North Pacific. In June of 1999, the Tu-95s, along with two Tu-160s turned back after being intercepted by US fighters, this happened again in September but the Tu-95s turned back without making contact.

On September 29, 2006 NORAD scrambled Canadian CF-18s from CFB Cold Lake in Central Alberta and American F-15s out of an airbase in Alaska to intercept "a number of the Russian Tu-95 Bear heavy bombers participating in an annual Russian air force exercise near the coast of Alaska and Canada." This launch was a result of the bombers penetrating the North America's Air Defense Identification Zone

Bear D (Tu-95RTs - Razvedchik Tseleukazatel') - Variant of the basic Bear A configuration, redesigned for maritime reconnaissance and targeting as well as electronic intelligence (ELINT) for service in the Russian Naval Aviation. This aircraft was featured in Tom Clancy's techno-thriller Red Storm Rising.

maybe that type that flew over north sea:coffee:

U.S. aircraft carriers are actually tracked by Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites. These type of satellites are much better than using reconnaisance planes. Russia have been using SAR satellites since the early 80's. China, so far, have launched 2 of them in the last couple years.

Russian incursions into NATO-aligned airspace is not that uncommon, in fact, in North America, they occur at an almost daily rate. Most of it does not get reported in the news however.