Russia To Test Fire Cruise Missiles For First Time Since 1984

Russia began the most ambitious test of its strategic bomber fleet in almost a quarter of a century today.

Up to 20 bombers are being sent into the air with full combat payloads to carry out live firing exercises of their cruise missiles. It is the largest display of Russian air power since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Officials said that the bomber runs would test Russia's readiness to deploy its nuclear deterrent. The week-long drill, part of a broader military exercise codenamed Stability-2008, takes place against the background of heightened tensions with the West after Russia's war with Georgia in August.

"During these exercises, for the first time in many years, the crews of Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers will fly missions carrying the maximum combat payload and fire all the cruise missiles on board," Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Drik told RIA-Novosti news agency.

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Lieutenant Colonel Drik said that the latest exercises in Russia's northern regions were unprecedented in scope and would also involve Tu-22M3 Backfire strategic bombers, fighter jets, and interceptor aircraft.

A former Air Force commander, General of the Army Pyotr Deynekin, said that Bear bombers had carried out live-firing tests of their entire cruise missile capabilities only once before, in 1984, at the height of the Cold War. Blackjack bombers had never previously conducted such tests because it was too expensive, he said.

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In a move that threatens a re-run of the 1962 missile crisis, Russia's military has recently talked up the prospect of opening a base in Cuba for its strategic nuclear bombers as a response to the setting up of America's anti-missile shield in eastern Europe. Two Blackjack aircraft landed in Venezuela last month for the first time in what its anti-American president Hugo Chavez called a "warning" to the US.

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TIMES UK: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4891656.ece