Thursday, February 9, 2012

Russian Bombers Were Not Alone Over Japan on Feb 8

More on the 2 Russian bombers over Japan from The Voice of Russia (2/9/2012):

Russian "bears" fly over Pacific

Two Russian long-distance aircraft of the TU-95MS class have carried out a routine patrol mission over a neutral area of the Pacific Ocean, a Defense Ministry spokesman has told reporters.

At various stages, the “bear” bombers were accompanied by Su-27 jet fighters and A-50 reconnaissance planes. All the flights were in strict compliance with international regulations on the use of airspace over neutral waters, the spokesman said. Earlier, the Japanese media rang the bell over 5 Russian warplanes spotted near Japan’s border.

(IF)

There was absolutely no mention of jet fighters and reconnaissance planes in Japanese news. I wonder how many Japanese jet fighters they "escorted" this time. (In December 2010, the Russian long-range bombers "escorted" 10 Japanese jet fighters.)

(H/T anon reader)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonder if they collected air samples..and if the information could be shared?

Anonymous said...

RIA Novosti gave us more exactly informations:

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120209/171225017.html

Su-27 (air superiority fighter) not in action.

Su-24 (all-weather attack aircraft) two of them were in action.

Tu-95 (strategic bomber, missile carrier) two of them were in action.

A-50 (airborne warning and control system) one of them in action.

Does anyone believe they will attack japan?

netudiant said...

Interesting mix.
The Su 24 is a long range strike aircraft, somewhat similar to the American F 111 that was just recently retired by the Australian Air Force.
Russia has not normally deployed these strike aircraft on recon missions such as these.
Furthermore, including an Awacs type aircraft in the package allows for a complete record to be kept of the Japanese reaction, which aircraft were scrambled and when, as well as all the radar and communications signals generated.
This is really a well structured military data gathering exercise. I think it has nothing to do with Fukushima.

Post a Comment