(Photo Credit: Vadim Savitsky/Russian Defense Ministry)
The tensions between Moscow and Washington continue to escalate.
Two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers, dubbed the “white swan,” was part of a fleet of aircraft that arrived at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maichetia, Venezuela, today after a flight of more than 6,200 miles. Continue reading
Tokyo has lodged a protest with Moscow after it scrambled four fighter jets to intercept a foreign aircraft — believed to be Russian — which briefly violated its airspace, government officials said Wednesday.
The foreign ministry made the protest shortly after the plane entered Japanese airspace off the coast of the northernmost main island of Hokkaido, near a disputed island chain, Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading
Last month Russia held a surprise combat readiness check of the country’s Armed Forces, which also involved Air Force strategic bombers
MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. Two Russian strategic bombers Tu-95MS (NATO reporting name: Bear) accomplished on Tuesday mission on air patrol over the neutral waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.
“The flight route stretched over the neutral waters of the Barents and Norwegian Seas and the Atlantic Ocean,” he said. “The crews of Tu-95MS had refueling in the air provided by Ilyushin Il-78 (NATO reporting name: Midas) aerial refueling tanker. The flight duration was over 15 hours.” Continue reading
MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. About a dozen Russian strategic bombers of the Tupolev-95MS and Tupolev-160 families have delivered strikes at ground targets on testing ranges in the Saratov region where a military exercise is underway, Colonel Igor Klimov, an official spokesman for the Air Force said on Thursday.
The United States is concerned about Russia’s emerging strategic capabilities in nuclear, space, cyber security spheres, Commander of US Strategic Command Adm. Cecil Haney said on Thursday.
“Russia has had more than a decade of investments in modernization across their strategic nuclear forces. This is not about the continuation of the cold war <…>This is about emerging capability at a time of significant concerns in Russians execution of their near abroad strategy,” Adm. Haney said at the event devoted to strategic deterrence in Atlantic Council, Washington, DC. Continue reading
Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov stated that the strengthening of Russia’s nuclear triad will be the top priority for the Russian Armed Forces next year.
MOSCOW, December 29 (Sputnik) — The strengthening of Russia’s nuclear triad will be the top priority for the Russian Armed Forces next year, Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, said on Monday. Continue reading
Earlier aircraft incursions near Alaska and Europe
Russian strategic bombers conducted a third circumnavigation of the U.S. Pacific island of Guam last week as other bombers flew close to Alaska and Europe, defense officials said.
Two Tu-95 Bear H bombers made the flight around Guam, a key U.S. military hub in the western Pacific, on Dec. 13. No U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow the bombers.
Separately, two Canadian F-18s intercepted two Bear bombers that intruded into the Alaska air defense identification zone on Dec. 8 that a military spokesman called “unwanted, provocative, and potentially destabilizing.” Continue reading
Report lists 40 cases of ‘brinkmanship’, including near-collision between Russian spy plane and passenger jet, in past eight months
Close military encounters between Russia and the west have jumped to cold war levels, with 40 dangerous or sensitive incidents recorded in the past eight months alone, according to a new report published on Monday.
The report, Dangerous Brinkmanship by the European Leadership Network, logs a series of “highly-disturbing” incidents since the Ukrainian crisis began earlier this year, including an alarming near-collision between a Russian reconnaissance plane and a passenger plane taking off from Denmark in March with 132 passengers on board.
What made the incident especially dangerous was that the Russian plane did not have on its transponders, the usual method of signalling its presence to other aircraft.
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The encounters have taken place mainly around the Baltic Sea but also in the Black Sea and along the US and Canadian borders. Continue reading
Air force chief announces plans for new air base in Belarus, as well as expansion of existing facilities in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The Moscow Times reports
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The three nations are members of a loose Russia-dominated security alliance known as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which has accelerated efforts to create a unified air defence network as the Ukraine crisis re-energises the West’s military powerhouse, Nato.
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Even before the conflict in Ukraine, Russia under President Vladimir Putin had been making major efforts to re-establish its historical military presence in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Arctic and beyond. Negotiations with Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua to establish bases for Russian strategic bombers are ongoing.
“By 2020… 47 airfields, including in Crimea in the Arctic, will be renovated under the state armaments programme,” Bondarev was quoted as saying by Interfax on Wednesday. By 2025, he added, the Russian air force will have restored and reopened over 100 military airbases.
MOSCOW, July 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russian long-range aviation bases are increasing their presence in the Arctic, the press service of the Eastern Military District reported Thursday.
“The crews of Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers at the Arctic long-range aviation base in Amur Region, have tripled their flying rate this year. By performing these tasks, the crews gain valuable experience in offline piloting over featureless terrain for a long period of time,” the chief of the press service, Colonel Alexander Gordeyev, said. Continue reading
Russian strategic air forces fired six new, precision-strike cruise missiles in test launches Friday amid new tensions between Moscow and the West over the crisis in Ukraine.
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Friday that the missile firings took place during exercises involving eight Tu-95 Bear bombers—the same type of strategic bomber recently intercepted 50 miles off the California coast by U.S. jets.
Russian bombers, meanwhile, continued saber-rattling air defense zone incursions against Canada’s arctic and in Europe over the Baltic Sea.
On Monday, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu announced that Russian military forces had launched a large-scale “surprise” readiness exercise that was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Continue reading
Simferopol (Undefined) (AFP) – Several dozen Russian planes including what appeared to be strategic bombers and fighter jets have been spotted in the sky above the Moscow-controlled peninsula of Crimea, witnesses and experts said.
According to Russian media, President Vladimir Putin is poised to visit Crimea on Friday after overseeing the main military parade on Red Square when Russia celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.
A local aviation expert told AFP on Sunday that he had sighted a number of planes over the peninsula’s main city of Simferopol on Saturday, including supersonic heavy strategic bombers and heavy military transport aircraft. Continue reading
MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian Air Force is preparing to conduct a series of tests of new cruise missiles, as well as carrying out strategic bomber patrols including stops in other countries, the commander of its long-range fleet said Wednesday.
“In 2014 we are planning practice launches of cruise missiles, including new models,” Gen. Lt. Anatoly Zhikharev told reporters, without specifying the missiles to be fired. Russian planes launched 15 cruise missiles last year.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last summer that Russia was planning a 30-fold increase of its cruise missile arsenal by 2020. Continue reading
If they can reach the northern California coast with aged bombers during dry runs, imagine what the capabilities will be in 2020 when over 70% of their forces are modernized.
Russian strategic bombers conducted flights within the U.S. defense zone close to northern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands last week in Moscow’s latest incident of nuclear saber rattling against the United States, according to defense and military officials.
Two Bear H nuclear-capable bombers were detected flying into the military’s Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) near the Aleutians, where a strategic missile defense radar is located, and Alaska’s North Slope region by the Arctic and Chukchi Seas on April 28 and 29, military officials told the Washington Free Beacon.
Lt. Cmdr. Bill Lewis, a spokesman with the U.S. Northern Command, confirmed the fighter intercept of the latest bomber incursion but declined to provide details. Continue reading
While the U.S. continues to “reset”, the neo-Soviet Union continues to restart.
“Treaties are like pie crusts, they are made to be broken” – Vladimir Lenin
Russian nuclear forces hold large exercise involving movement of strategic and tactical warheads
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The exercise raised concerns inside the Pentagon and with the U.S. European Command because it was the largest exercise of its kind in 20 years and involved heightened alert status of Russian nuclear forces.
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The exercises followed a recent surge in Russian strategic bomber flights that include a recent circling of the U.S. Pacific island of Guam by two Tu-95 Bear bomber and simulated bombing runs by Tu-95s against Alaska and California in June and July. Continue reading
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