Russian jets swoop over U.S aircraft carrier

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=326635

The Pentagon has confirmed that two Russian TU-95 Bear bombers flew over a U.S aircraft carrier on the weekend.

U.S defence officials say the incident occurred in the western Pacific.

Four F-18 fighters jets were launched to intercept the Russian bombers, but not before they had flown across the deck of the USS Nimitz at an altitude of 2,000 feet.

The F-18s escorted the bombers out of the area.
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I've been watching the Russians and they are proving a point
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dq1pUfd1MM8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vC7ZiTKt0lI

and now this

The point their Bombers capable of carrying Nukes can bomb us UNDETECTED
Thanks Republicans and BUSH

In a war game situation that means the Nimitz was just sunk.

Why we continue to play war games is beyond me.

Though I do think aircraft carrier defenses against Russian bombers have degraded; the "Super" Hornet doesn't have anything close to the legs the now-retired F-14s had. The F-14 and Phoenix missile combination were tailored specifically to counter the threat from long-range Soviet bombers launching antiship missiles.

we just didn't shoot them down.

Is that what you'd suggest?

It's not like they just showed up unexpectedly on the skyline.

because the article didn't say we saw them on radar and they said F18's???

Love to see your source

I'm keeping track of these episodes

and I can tell you those Bombers have tested our ground radar, ship radar, and have penetrated without being detected

In a Preemptive strike

we would have been KABoOMSIE

"The Russian bombers were detected several hundred miles away and fighter jets intercepted them 50 miles from the Nimitz, the Pentagon said."

You were right about them being F-18's. I "misremembered" those facts.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aqFlXFDM3H6s&refer=germany

I think the Russians are provoking the U.S. There is quite clearly an escalation of provcations.

Putin said as much, just last week. He said in a speech that the U.S. was involved in increasing hostilities, and they had no choice but to respond in kind.

We should expect to see a lot of this in the near future. There will be lots of "baiting", "waving the flag before the bull" type of thing. It will be glossed over, Russia will claim that it was a "mistake" or "they are exaggerating" etc etc.
But behind the bravado is a deadly seriousness.

The problem with the U.S., is it has so many enemies right now. They are basically taking on the entire world and you can only fight so many battles.

All of the strong leaders in Russia are former Communist leaders. They're still spying on us, and they're still doing this kind of provoking stuff. Seems like they still think the Cold War's on. We might want to get on board with that.

:scared:

*snort*

Sure, Bush has broken the Army and Marines, but the claim that the Navy failed to detect the bombers is ludicrous. It contradicts what the Navy's top admiral said about the overflight and makes zero sense if you look at the technologies involved.



The first link in the OP has zero credibility with me when it can't even get right the fact that the Russian aircraft were not jets! (Go ahead and Google up some images of TU-95 Bear bombers...). It's pretty hard to be stealthy with all that exposed whirling metal.

The Russians are definitely doing more things like this, but it's mostly part of their asserting themselves again militarily. The wrong reaction is to make too much of this kind of posturing; as someone else pointed out, there's nothing folks in Cheney's circle would like better than an excuse to crank up the old Cold War arms race again.

and want to come out to play. Nothing really nefarious about it.

remember they were the ones who made that pieced together film of Iran's dangerous boats coming toward its ships

Those Iranian tug boats are scary and the Russian nuke carrying Bears aren't

Believe what you want but the navy Admiral has a poor track record

I certainly agree that the Navy doesn't automatically tell us the truth. What makes the Navy account credible is not so much the source as the well-known capabilities of aircraft carrier battle groups and Russian bombers.

At any rate, there's nothing special about overflying a ship in this era. Were the Russians to attack an aircraft carrier their planes would fire antiship missiles from many, many miles away. If our ships are vulnerable now then they were always vulnerable, and this overflight changes nothing.

They should have known about the bombers a hundred miles out...pathetic.

It's a big, noisy, Turboprop bomber.



And cruising at 2000 feet is "swooping"?

Much ado about nothing.

Old technology.

Those Bears overflew the US Carrier because the US Carrier let those Bears overfly it.

Have no doubt about this.

I remember reading about Bear's in Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising 20 years ago.

They were past their prime then, I think Clancy had the Russians use them as a diversion.

Good book that Red Storm Rising. I learned a lot reading it.

but if the TU-95's are still in active service and flying pseudo-recon missions, the Russians are in deep shit.

The Tupolev Tu-95 (NATO reporting name Bear) is the most successful Tupolev strategic bomber and missile carrier from the times of the Soviet Union, still in service as of 2006 and expected to remain in service with the Russian Air Force until at least 2010 <1>. The Bear is powered by four Kuznetsov turboprop engines, each driving contra-rotating propellers, and remains one of the fastest propeller-driven aircraft ever built. To date it remains the only turboprop-powered bomber to have been deployed. A naval version is designated Tu-142.For a long time, the Tu-95 was known to Western intelligence as the Tu-20. While this was, in fact, the original Soviet Air Force designation for the aircraft, by the time it was being supplied to operational units, it was already better known under the Tu-95 designation used internally by Tupolev and the Tu-20 designation fell out of use. Since the Tu-20 designation was used on many documents acquired by Western intelligence agents, the name continued in use there

Like its American counterpart, the B-52 Stratofortress, the Tu-95 has continued to operate in the Russian Air Force while several iterations of bomber design have come and gone. Part of the reason for this longevity was its suitability, like the B-52, for modification to different missions. Whereas the Tu-95 was originally intended to drop nuclear weapons, it was subsequently modified to perform a wide range of roles, such as the deployment of cruise missiles, maritime patrol (Tu-142 Bear-F), AWACS platform (Tu-126) and even civilian airliner (Tu-114). During and after the Cold War, the Tu-95's utility as a weapons platform has only been eclipsed by its usefulness as a diplomatic icon. When a patrolling Tu-95 appears off the coast of the United States or one of its allies, it may not be the technological menace that it was in its heyday, but it is still a potent and visible symbol of the Russian capability to project military power over great distances.

The Soviet Union did not assign official "popular names" to its aircraft, although unofficial nicknames were common. Unusually, Soviet pilots found the Tu-95/Tu-142's NATO reporting name, 'Bear,' to be a fitting nickname, given the aircraft's large size, 'lumbering' maneuverability and speed, and large arsenal. It is often called Bear in Russian service. An anecdotal story states that it was actually a Russian crew who had the privilege of assigning the NATO reporting name; during the aircraft's Paris Airshow debut, a Western reporter asked the crew what the plane's name was. The pilot responded, "it can't be anything but a bear."

*****************************

So how could a Big Ole Bear lumber so close to a carrier??? thats the question

They let it.

We aren't at war with the Russians. Is it not at all possible that the Aircraft Carrier was in contact with them and they let them do a fly over as a simple courtesy? Long patrol flights must be lonely and boring as hell. Let the guy drop down to FL20 and have a look at the flattop. Big effin deal. The guys on the ship probably got a kick out of it as well.

ve fly ofer to remind imperialists ve are still here.

You haf Moose and Squirrel?

Sorry, just in a mood. Not really a joking matter, unless you're a dark, twisted fuck like me. :)

"We'll meet again..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gb0mxcpPOU

If the aircraft carrier was in US waters, I'm sure the article would make mention of this.

The Russian Bears have a right to fly around in international airspace.

How do we know the aircraft carrier didn't sail into the flight path of the Bears?

If multiple Russian nuclear subs were parked off both of our coasts, then that's a different story. But ICBMs have long range, so they actually don't need to be parked off our coast.

"Flown across the deck"

Parallel or perpendicular?

Maybe because aircraft are much faster than ships?

The incident occurred in the "Western Pacific," which definitely rules out anything in US territorial waters under any definition, and is much closer to the Russian's backyard than ours.