Analyst: Russian MiG-29 and Su-27 Top American F-35

 

Can Soviet-era fighter jets like the one above, the twin-engine MiG-29 Fulcrum, or the bigger one below, the Su-27 Flanker, outperform the newest American design, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter?

Yes, according to Bill French, a policy analyst with the National Security Network, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank favors progressive defense policies. He’s the author of a report released Tuesday by the organization. It’s titled, “Thunder without Lightning: The High Costs and Limited Benefits of the F-35 Program,” a pun on the jet’s official name, Lightning II.

Russian Fighter Jet Gives US Recon Airplane “Top Gun”-Style Interception

Over the past year, NATO has flooded the media with over 100 reports of its aircraft intercepting Russian spy and warplanes over neutral territory which supposedly were getting too close to native soil for comfort and in urgent need of an escort. Last week, however, the roles were reversed when a US RC-135U reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted in very close proximity by a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet over the Baltic Sea near Russia’s Kaliningrad Region.

The Pentagon promptly accused the Russian pilot of coming dangerously close to the US aircraft.

German Typhoons have intercepted 7 Russian Air Force combat planes over the Baltic Sea today

 

NATO Baltic Air Policing mission is quite busy these days….

According to the Latvian military, on Oct. 28, the German Air Force Eurofighter jets on QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) at Amari, Estonia, to provide NATO Baltic Air Policing were scrambled to intercept seven Russian Air Force planes flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.

Russia Simulated A Large-Scale Aerial Night Attack On Sweden

Almost everyone is unprepared when it comes to fending off the Russian bear. So long as everyone continues to believe Russia is a backwards country, coupled with country leaders that continue to make concessions (i.e. Obama administration), this will continue to happen. Eventually, they will have first strike capability — if they don’t already. Every so often, and more often during the last few years, the ‘intelligence community’ is caught by ‘surprise’ about a new capability from countries such as Russia, China, Iran, etc…

According to the Svenska Dagbladet, after midnight on Mar. 29 (Good Friday),  the Swedish radars detected six fast planes  coming from the east, originating from the St. Petersburg area and overflying  the Gulf of Finland.

In reality, the route the aircraft were flying wasn’t suspect: Russian bombers periodically fly across the Baltic Sea to reach the Russian  exclave of Kaliningrad, located between Lithuania and Poland.

However, on Mar. 29, the two Tu-22M3  Backfire heavy bombers, capable of carrying cruise missiles and nuclear  weapons, and their four Su-27 Flanker fighter jets escort got dangerously close to the Swedish airspace and, at 2 AM local time, they skirted Gotland island,  some 30-40 kilometers off the Swedish territorial waters.

Russian Air Force Readies for Massive Drills

From the Soviet state-run (KGB/FSB) propaganda outlet, RIA Novosti:

MOSCOW, March 19 (RIA Novosti) – More than 70 aircraft and some 1,000 troops will be deployed in a series of tactical drills in preparation for a large-scale exercise next week in northwest Russia, military officials said on Tuesday.

Preparations for the exercise, codenamed Ladoga-2013, have begun in the Republic of Karelia, and the Leningrad, Smolensk and Tver regions with tactical drills by fighters, bombers and army aviation.