exactly, this was Russia probing different countries to see how fast they could mobilize against an attack !

Putin is a sneaky bastard !

They're just checking our response times. Been doing it for decades. We even have bilateral procedures on how to deal these incidents. "Sedlo, sedlo, sedlo...."

Vladamir promised he would rejuvenate use of the Bears once he was in charge again. I think he would be happy to spark up a new cold war just to drain us financially.

Russia sending its old ancient Bear bomber over.

Their pilots have a lot of guts getting into one of those old crates.

.

Yep,

They're just reconnaissance birds--heavy with electronic surveillance equipment. Checking us out. We do the same thing to them all the time.

US76

How old is a B 52?

@roc1960...
The first prototypes of the Boeing B52 dated from about 1954-56...

When I was in the USAF the joke was the B-52 was older then its pilots, now they can say older then the pilots parents

Thought it might have been Russians putting their bombers into readiness in response to the meteor strike. However, the article says sometime "earlier this week." So unless the source is being deliberately vague about something in the last 24 hours, probably not.

Why do we have both houses and the President and vice sitting in one room? Wouldn't that be the time to attack?

The noise from one of those counter rotating turbo prop bombers can make you puke and pass out from over a mile away.. I can't see how the Russian crew could stand a 36 to 48 hour flight unless they are all deaf and drugged.. Some crew members have gone insane back in the 1960's and 1970's.. Sounds like a shell game.. Get us to look at the decoy bombers while a soviet satilite or sub probes our network somewhere else.. They are flying a prototype stealth aircraft sometimes too..

Could be they were just doing a practice run on North Korea.. The cruse missile deployment point would not be far away from where they were..

It's really not the bombers anyone should worry about, it's the Russian 'Boomers' or the ballistic missile carrying subs with their multiple independently targetable reentry warheads......Those are the ones you should be worried about. I'm surprised the Ruskies have any flight worthy bombers. They certainly are the farthest thing from stealthy. That's for sure.

roc1960...Or grandparents ! Imagine 3 generations of pilots might well have flown the same plane !

Maybe they will convert them all to drones and fly them for another 25 years !

discgolfdave - Already the extreme right wing is figuring out how to triple defense spending. We are so far ahead of Russia in our military there is no comparison. But leave it to the military industrial complex to try to convince us we have to spend much more.

Where'sWaldo - It's really not the bombers anyone should worry about, it's the Russian 'Boomers' or the ballistic missile carrying subs with their multiple independently targetable reentry warheads......Those are the ones you should be worried about. I'm surprised the Ruskies have any flight worthy bombers. They certainly are the farthest thing from stealthy. That's for sure.

As USUAL:

Too many voters embrace feel-good propaganda that they want to hear instead of learning the basic facts about issues they care about. They should do a better job of calling out dishonest politicians -- and shunning media outlets that stoke political food fights.

http://money.msn.com/investing/11-things-wrong-with-congress

discgolfdave,

Your mommy and daddy are screaming at you to get off their computer.

You know your mommy and daddy that are of the almost hundred Million overpaid too expensive "Fair and Living Wage" US Civilians of the US Defense Industrial Complex, that pay all your bills, food, you living in their basement, etc..

Where'sWaldo,

Why do you keep DUMBING DOWN Newsvine's "Get Smarter Here".

In the Anti Submarine Warfare Role Bear Bombers have been and still are the biggest threat against US Submarines. You show me a non propellor driven aircraft that can fly slow enough to track a Submarine or show me a Submarine that can go over 500 MPH.

Tu-22M - 1972. 490

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ussr+tu-22&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=ussr+tu-22&sc=0-21&sp=-1&sk=#view=detail&id=995AA1A6D5D4B5D0691BAD1E7CAE8CCF425F05A5&selectedIndex=11

Tu-160 - 1987. 34

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=tu-160&qs=ds&form=QBIR#view=detail&id=BEEC315CEDC2878495AE08D8BDD1E3BEF649F943&selectedIndex=3

B-1 - 1986. 100

http://www.bing.com/images/results.aspx?q=b-1&form=MSNH14&pq=b-&sc=8-2&sp=-1&qs=n&sk=#view=detail&id=E89DAE3E61706D3DC1974C5BFE665E71438C61F8&selectedIndex=2

B-52 -1955. 85 most are non operational

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=b-52&FORM=HDRSC2#

The newest B-52 is almost 51 - it was made in June 1962 (of course, they have been rebuilt several times)

MM

The planes flying now are 50 plus in age.

templar says: Why do we have both houses and the President and vice sitting in one room? Wouldn't that be the time to attack?

Answer. Theoretically, yes, but... first, at SOTU time, one Cabinet member is always assigned to be somewhere else, to take over as President just in case. Second, no actual nation is likely to be so stupid as to attack us, even N.Korea or Iran, as they know they'd be dusted if they do. Islamist leaders don't mind sending idiots on suicide missions but they don't actually want to be killed themselves. Capitol security is pretty good, and I'd like to think that after 9/11 our USAF would take out any rogue plane before it can hit DC.

Big explosion over Russia..... bombers in the air..... yeah, that makes sense to me......

Ray - you're right a military is expensive but it's good to remember that un unsustainable drain on the Russian exconomy is what doomed it. How can a nation survive when so much rin the way of the country's resources are wasted on something that brings ndiminished returns even if the war is won?>

Me, I'm glad we have a leafrt weho undferstands the difference between diplomacy and bluster.

Don't for

get the KC-135; almost as old as the B-52 and each airframe must have many more hours given the support they've flown over the years including Southeast and Southwest Asia. They give the legs to the bomber and fighter force in theater as well as during deployments. I spent over 1500 hours in them (my favorite airplane) and our squadron (310th) received the second to last block models (1964 contract year) in 1965.

They're just flexing their muscles after what N Korea did & claim the capabilities that they have with ballistics/nuclear. They figure that we have been so focused on that situation, that they just want to remind us that we're not all that.

At least,.... that's what they want us to think anyway... Bring it on!.....

Rog

The "Tanker" Boys are the unsung heroes

Crew Chief Here

Just testing the waters for Mr. Obama's action concerning his comment:

• "I have will flexiby after the election" (whisper, whisper)

I love UnitedStates1776's comment about the "ancient" Bear aircraft. As if the B-52s stationed at Guam are not ancient? They are like 50+ years old. Not sure I would want to fly in that.

Something tells me our fighters were there faster than they expected

F-15 has been around since the 70's, Im sure Russia is well aware of its capabilities by now.

While everyone comments on the age of the B-52 and it's age is all for naught. The writers of this article made a slight mistake with one little number. It is the B-2 stationed in Guam. Much newer and advanced than the B-52. NBC makes yet another mistake.

There are now less than 90+operational B-52 and there are only about 30+other US long range bombers...

The B-52 was first flown in 1952 and they stopped production in 1962. During Vietnam the USA had over 740+...

NONE of these bombers are still in production. In other-words they rely on retired/crashed bombers for major airframe parts...

In 2012 it was announced that USAF engineering studies suggest that the life span of the B-52 could extend beyond 2040.^[186]

These are the ONLY viable reusable nuclear delivery systems, that can be reloaded/reconfigured and flown again in hours. All the other platforms have to return home for resupply. Unless you want to count making a Foreign Port call...

BTY - The Russia Navy has about 32 of these bombers and/or their variants...

Good thing Dick Cheney wasnt running that interception. By the way. I still want to know what country was it that pulled up alongside Los Angeles and shot off a missile??????

And yet, we trust the Russians to ferry our astronauts into and out of space since Baby Bush decided that would be cheaper. Typical Republican "money saving" strategy.

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. How many times have our aircraft encroached on someone else’s territory? Many, many times!!

I wonder how Russians would react to our “fly-bys” near their sensitive territory. Not very favorably, I suspect.

How many times have our aircraft encroached on someone else’s territory? Many, many times!!

actually the Russians never encroached on our airspace, they just buzzed around it.

and were escorted away by the F-15s , I'm sure.

Don't have a lot of money..so I'll just bet $5..the freaking idiotic Russians thought that meteor in their country was an attack by us..so up went their nuke bombers.

Suprise suprise suprise..next time we'll give you one bullet for your gun..but put bullet in your pocket only!

Mike-

The two Russian Bear bombers flew near Guam at about the same time President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union message. Military officials refused to speculate about the timing.

This bomber cruise happened days ago; this had nothing to do with the meteor...

. ^ . @David475776 how-did-you-know d i s c g o l f d a v e is all you said he is; P.S. close only counts for horse-shoes, hand-grenades and atom-bombs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

David 475776 - You are so far off the mark I have to LMAO. It's people like you who want to take us back to the cold war. What if other countries thought like you do. I can understand Russia and China being paranoid about us, we outgun them to the extreme. But people in the USA who feel that way are just paranoid, ignorant of the facts, or making lots of money in this business. And no, an overzealous military build-up is not good for the country. It has a very low job return rate for money spent, not to mention that the product does not generate a higher standard of living. It's nice to be the best defended country in the world. It's not nice to multiply that several times over any other country when that money can be put to a much better use.

No, we do not "outgun them to the extreme". You don't know what you're talking about. Together, Russia and China can field a much larger ground army and a comparable navy. They both have a stronger overall economy from a military standpoint, and both have a stronger will. We have a lot more aircraft but those are support weapons platforms. Air superiority by itself isn't enough. Our military is also spread out pretty far. We're on every continent. If we concentrated our forces to fend off a combined attack, it would leave quite a few untended fires. We are still the biggest kid on the block, but not overwhelmingly so. We haven't really won a war in decades.

Now, do I think an attack like that is likely? No. Do I think we need to spend ruinously on our military? No. Do we need to maintain our edge? Adamantly yes. Our politicians, on both sides, have made us hated throughout the world. None are innocent. If we show too much more weakness, somebody is going to try us.

Russian planes circling Guam - Seems like a good time to cut back on military spending Mr. President.

The article was very unclear as to how we handled it. Professional in what way? Did we remind them of the air space they happened to be flying in or did we tell them in no uncertain terms to turn around? Did we show some serious force or just a tap on the tail to let them know we see them?

Russia is The Worlds Second Most advanced Military Might.

Russia Has a Bold way of doing Recon, Gathering Data from Multiple Nations for Military reasons

Russia also has one of The worlds Most advanced Nuclear Weaponry arsenal on hand

Every Nation has its own Strategies for Gathering Intel, creating diversions etc.

Since The Russians did not enter any restricted airspace and stayed on course with international airspace, They did not make any country have reason for military conflict. They Chose Older Bombers with more fuel capacity and required Multiple refueling. Then I am led to assume that this was Combination between gauging response Time from other nations , gathering info on what our protocols for interception were and locating strong and weak points of Global communities on their Flight path. I would also assume They are locating and noting offshore subs, ships and military mights via surveillance equipment. This also lets them know where they can get into without being a threat to some nations in case they needed to launch an assault or missiles without being hounded from other forces. This is a Recon that gathers military and civilian intel needed by any military Globally, Just some are way more covert than Russia has been, and this happens sporadically it is not a new thing.

@discogolfdave
Need an example of what defense dollars have done for you? (other than maintaining your freedom?) The Internet.

Isn't it amazing the difference the party in power makes? 9/11/01, four hijacked jetliners flew around New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and the only heroes who prevented a successful attack were the passengers on flight 108. No intercept aircraft scrambled til much too late to do any good. This week in Guam, two Russian bombers fly in international airspace near a US territory and 2 intercept aircraft were there to escort them away from a potentially troubling confrontation. Republicans like to talk the talk about a strong defense, but have a hard time walking the walk.

It ain't the Russian, that YOU got to worry about, it's the coming Martial Law!!!

And then the Antichrist.

Thank God, I'm saved won't be here for the SHOW!!!!

Just telling the TRUTH!

Hvae a good day.

So John

The U.S. should intercept every aircraft in U.S. airspace that deviates from a flight plan? Or an incorrectly filed flight plan?

Do you know how many times that happens?

OMG! Russian bombers in international waters! They never entered US airspace. This cat and mouse game has been going on for 60 years. No story here, just fear mongering by the left to stir up the rhetoric about defense spending cuts. We fly missions everyday all over the world and you never hear about them in the news......except when a drone crashes/shot down or we murder someone.

Obama signed the sequester into law. No one to blame but him. Spending cuts are needed badly. Start with the salaries of all politicians first, then start slashing wasteful programs.

It's not just the Russians, but Al-queda's has also been more bold as well. How many American Embassies have been attacked in the last year?

I think we'll see more of this from them and we can expect to see China also 'probing' our military. Why not? Obama has proven to be a 'milk toast' kind of leader, prefering meaninless rhetoric to appropriate responses to these physical threats! The Benghazi investigation is proving that beyond a reasonable doubt. I still remember Obama's words after our Libyian Ambassador was killed, "We will not rest until the people responsible are brought to justice".... just words barry, just words... what have you actually done to support this statement?

The world sees weakness in the USA's leadership and is willing to test that weakness with provocative 'tests'. Meanwhile the obama's go on vacation, lol!

This is just another very good reason that the 8000 US Marines stationed on Okinawa should NOT be moved to Guam. That was a very bad decision.

The United States has looked weak ever since good ole' Barry O has been in office. He's currently dismantling the military. Wait until everyone sees what the military looks like after the next four years...

Seems this thread went off on a tangent, but since "Who wants to know" yearns to keep the Blame Bush! theme going... I'm not too up to speed on who's idea it was to use Russia for getting our guys in space...but wasn't it Barry Obama that wants to continue that and to make matters even worse, he wants to put MUSLIMS in space! Yeah, that's all we need. Could you imagine one of those muzzies going bat poop crazy on the space station, chanting "Allah Akbar" or some other drivel as they proceed to kill people and or blow up the place?

One interesting point from an old Cold War intelligence wonk: The 1956-vintage Tu-95 Bear bombers are four-engine turboprops with huge counter-roatating props. Because the tips of these propellers coinstantly break the sound barrier, regardless of the altitude or speed, it is considered the noisiest production in the world. The interior noise in a Bear is about 20+ times the noise levels in a B-52 and is so loud that it isw picked up by submarines' SONAR systems. Once you've heard a Bear, the aircraft's unique engine and propeller harmonics are unmistakable, even though you may not have seen the aircraft with your eyes. I am told that the noise on takeoff is greater than constant artillery firing. In the air, intercepting aircraft can hear the Bear from over a mile away.

After even a short flight, Russian crews are given considerable time off to combat the malaise and nausea that results from the noise. Typically, Bear crews are rotated to other aircraft before their hearing is permanently damaged, but most Bear crewmen dispute that.

The farang from Thailand came back from his hibernation.

Chris-749391 is spot on. Did you spend some time at ONI, Chris?

brenda1964-
"Handled professionally" means a flight of 2 x F-15C aircraft fly up to meet the BEAR bomber, one stays on the BEAR bomber's 6 o'clock position while the other one flies alongside the aircraft. They are close enough to give hand gestures and they sometimes do. Sometimes, the F-15C pilot will roll his aircraft to reveal whether or not he is carrying his standard conventional load (SCL) or not. Depending on the intercept mission, the pilot might be instructed to carry a digital camera take pics of the BEAR bomber for additional analysis back at NASIC in Wright Patterson AFB, OH.
BEAR bombers have been retrofitted into reconnaissance aircraft and the intel weenies will want to (literally) measure the size of the antennae hanging from the fuselage and wings to see what type of transmissions they are sucking in. The Japanese did the same thing when they 'escorted' the bomber as they fly down the Pacific until the did a handoff to USAF assets. Other BEAR bombers have been fitted with a large dome under its belly housing a large magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) a device so sensitive they can identify large masses of iron underwater and if that large mass of iron is moving/making tracks they can determine it is a submarine. Such 'high value air assets' need to be tracked and noted by intelligence and operations personnel so that they can plan the movement of our assets at a time where our adversaries don't have coverage and we can better maintain operations security.

If you have a keen interest in this subject, I highly recommend working for the DoD in the operations sector and you will get a different insight on what goes on during these little 'engagements.'

Cheers!

I think he would be happy to spark up a new cold war just to drain us financially.

That went so well for them the last time.

Fly over the White House.

They wouldn't get past Washington state let alone Washington D.C.

I'd love to see the mighty OBAMA wet his pants!

Yeah, no.

John Bryant-

We intercept EVERY military long-range sortie that ventures from specific bases and have been doing so since the days of the Cold War and never let up. At times they would fly from either Vladivostok or Petropavlovsk Airbases. Back in the day, they were transiting to Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam and would thread the needle between Japan and South Korea and do flybys of Japan to include Okinawa and yes, our F-15s would intercept them from Okinawa as well. Other long-range missions included flying over the North Pole en route to Cuba and F-15C's from Otis ANGB on Cape Cod, Massachusetts would intercept them and escort them down to Cuba; doing a handoff to the F-15s out of Langley AFB, VA. Like a lot of posts I have already read, this @!$%#'s been going on for a lot longer than you could imagine. This has NOTHING to do with which political affiliation is in office at the time. These are standing orders from SAC (back in the day), to ACC to STRATCOM.

Back in the day 70's 80's it was ADC wasn't it? Not SAC.

Very Good

You are correct, roc1960...My bad...Air Defense Command did the intercepts.

What did you expect? He had a pudding brain- it just kept eating away until there was no more...

This is a little knowledge for "Wants to Know" Your another one of the blame a Bush people right. Try this on for size.

In fiscal year 2009, NASA budget allocated $2.98 billion for 5 launches to the program, including $490 million for "program integration", $1.03 billion for "flight and ground operations", and $1.46 billion for "flight hardware" (which includes maintenance of orbiters, engines, and the external tank between flights.

Si who was it that CUT NASA and did this? It wasn't a Bush in Washington when this happened at all.....It was the BIG O.....when the 2010 cuts were made!! Right? When was he elected again?

50 years old for a properly maintained aircraft is nothing. Now eating C-rats that were packaged at least ten years before you were born is something.

A real WTF moment courtesy of the USMC.

We could cut our military spending in half and still destroy any two nations on the face of the Earth. Bombers on a training run mean nothing. We saw them take off. Submarines are much more effective at stealth.

There still looking for the "Red October" that's all it is!

Let's continue to dismantle our military in favor of more social programs and maybe the rest of the world will be friendly too.

Sounds logical doesn't it? Obama thinks so and all his minions will follow.

.

our military is the strongest it's been since the early 90s. should fact check yourself before you sound like a complete idiot. your guy, GWB, saw the military at it's weakest in the year 2000, and a huge surge after 9/11, then a steady decline until obama took office, and now it is steadily growing again.

One has to wonder what Russia would do if we overflew their airspace? Oh yeah, they have shot down our planes. So here we are allowing our airspace to be overflown for no other reason then for them to check out our responses, maybe it would be good to tell them that the next overflight will end up in little pieces and blow them out of our sky.

Munchy,

Where are you getting your facts from? You might wish to use your computer and goggle how long it takes from funding to production. You will find that everything coming into inventory right now was funded over 8 years ago, so right now we are not experiencing anything because of Obama but rather that Bush had the foresight to push this through 8 years ago. Now look at future procurement under Obama and you will see both a drastic downturn if future programs, funding for next generation equipment and resupply for inventory lost due to war, age, and phasing out because of being obsolete.

Next time do a little research and you will see that what we are experiencing is the same thing we did during the Carter years, a complete wasting of our military because this president wouuld rather hand out free cell phones so he can keep your votes rather then keeping us safe.

Beam me up Scottie. There is no intelligent life here. We spend more on defense in 1 year than the next twelve major powers combined and more than half of those major powers are our allies. Yet when the Russians fly a few outdated antique bombers near Guam the hawks clamor for more defense spending. I guess we need more stealth bombers and advanced aircraft to defend us against the boogie man.

Hey Navy,

Lets see what happened last time we had a president who thought like you did. We got attacked shortly after he left office because he did not have the fortitude to attack back hard when attacked. As much as Clinton might have been good for the domestic side of the US (of course forgetting the stock market plunge at the end of his term), he showed that he was timid in his responses towards terror and what happened 7 months after he left office? We had 9/11 because terrorist started to doubt our resolve.

Are our military expendatures high, of course they are. And to be honest if we had better oversight we could reduce them by 25% and have the same rediness and future weapons growth we have today. But instead we have a president who is more concerned about giving our money away to foreign unions and factories and then supporting people who do not work thus sending us into a death spiral of debt. If we actually started to encourage people to work instead of punishing them with more taxes our GNP would start to rise and then our taxes would very soon follow thus making our military expenditures a much smaller amount of our federal budget.

Attn: David 475776

If ignorance was blessed, you'd be a Saint. Actually maybe even the Pope. You would also make a great poster-child for why incest is illegal.

Costa Rica has the world's most advanced military structure. We should emulate it.

BTW, You can see Russia from different points in Alaska on a clear day.

Now dont you look Stupid!

hey smartass palin twitted a pic of planes flying over ! don't you sound like a fool ! I suppose it wasn't hard though !

Is that you Todd?

Not nearly as stupid as someone claiming their proximity to Russia gave them foreign relations qualifications.

I'm not one for sticking up for an idiot like Palin but she actually never said she can see Russia from her house. Her exact quote was:

"They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska"

It was Tina Fey in a SNL skit a few days later that actually made the comment about seeing it from her house.

I thought sister Sarah waved at them as they flew by.

Chris from Yucaipa..........I would have felt safer with Tina Fey as VP !

well, let's see - you can see Russia (Big Diomede Island) from Little Diomede Island (roughly 2.5 miles between them) I SERIOUSLY doubt that the "other" points have Russia "visible" without being at 20,000 feet or so (~60 MILES across the Bering Straight)

Fork in it

Gambel Alaska, Wales school.

Try those places among others.

We could put Senator McCain in one of the bombers but he would probably crash it.

Yank, as a liberal democrat I will say this!

McCain served his country and was a POW. No part of that should EVER be a joke. I may not agree with his politics but he is still a hero! His military service, for which he payed a high price, should be treated as a badge of honor! He has sacrificed more than 99.99% of hte country can ever understand.

For a comment like that, you should be ashamed.

That s**t lives in Arizona now..just a few miles away from McCan't.

Yeah Washvance, he disobeyed a direct order and got shot down. As a guest at the Hanoi Hilton he sung like a canary to the digust of his fellow inmates. As a VN vet, that's not a joke to me.

elk

McCain was severely wounded when shot down receiving marginal care at best by his captors. Spending years in solitary confinement. In 1968 he was offered up by the North Vietnamese for a early release as a propaganda move because his father was a high ranking officer in the Navy. He refused any release until those captured before him were released hence negating the North Vietnamese propaganda and causing them embarrassment ( A POW refusing to leave). Because of his actions he was tortured ( Hung by ropes and beaten and don't forget his injures received during crash and earlier treatment) on a daily basis. He also refused to meet with Anti War protest groups visiting Vietnam ( again beaten for his actions by captors). McCain was coerced into making a Anti War Propaganda statement. (so you can call it singing like a canary if you wish). The photos released of him during captivity were staged propaganda photos only.

I just wonder how long you would have lasted before you sing?

Please do a little research before you spout your lib propaganda yourself.

I know one thing.... I can NOT see Russia from my house.

BTW it says this happened during Obama's SOTU speech which was last Tuesday. The meteor was Friday. It says it right in the article some of you said you read but don't know the time lines??

BTW, You can see Russia from different points in Alaska on a clear day.

Now dont you look Stupid!

Thank you roc1960! My Wife and I spent 2 weeks on an Alaskan cruise last summer and saw Russia from many places we visited, don't even need a clear day. And Palin can see Russia everyday from her backyard when home!

Now maybe CAL USA can explain how Barry Obama 'claimed' to visit 57 states during his 2008 campaign! I don't hear you CAL, lol!

Barry's "57th State" is Puerto Rico. Once they get them on the welfare payrolls the Democrats will have a huge voting base locked in. And before those who lean to the left get their panties in a bunch... you're faux Queen Hillary has expressed interest in making that a reality.

Well, I grew up in Minnesota, and from up there, we can see Canada!

I don't know guys, we have Obama as president and to be honest I would feel better if we had Palin, Mickey Mouse or even Donald Duck in there.

That's some fantasy world you're living in. Is it furnished or do you have to sit on your hallucinations?

Please be a troll post please be a troll post please be a troll post

ah yes, the religious CRACKPOTS arrive...

fork:

As opposed to non-religious crackpots? Just sayin'...

Right on Believer!

LOL....for a moment they probably thought it was an attack

Ban asteroids

the Russians pilots saw this video of the very liberal and very dumb Hank Johnson speaking about the island of Guam possibly tipping over. YES, LIBERALS ARE THAT DUMB

Read the above quote and realize that the poster, YES, IS THAT DUMB

That said, we have meteorites weaponized..that is so sci-fi bad ass! North Korea sets off a nuke, we throw a piece of the solar system at the earth. We win, hands down

I wouldn't comment about liberals if I had seen anything the republicans have done lately. Who is their leader at the moment? Limbaugh, Hannity, McCain, Graham. Boehner. Sounds like a deficit to me. And you dare to comment about a liberal? Everything they do or say I yawn and say here we go again. When are they going to get tired of doing the same old stupid stuff. Maybe you haven't seen them do it but it is hard to believe anybody in the United States haven't seen or heard them. Maybe if you are hiding in a bunker waiting for the gov to knock on the door and take your guns?? Just who is the gov anyway. I thought it was a compilation of us all. In the bunker I guess they have delusions of this big bad guy named gov. What is the rest of your party doing. Maybe you should do something rather than conjure up false things about Obama and start doing something. Anything but yapping about the liberals and Obama and how bad they are. Anything. We will of course excuse you for being green.

Speaking of green.....lets just print our way out of debt!

@Sow Speaking of green.....lets just print our way out of debt!

And we can spend most of it building killing machines. And then we can give them to our enemies.

And we'll call it Foreign Aid. Yeah, that'll work.

Guam tipping over was sarcasm. Some people no longer have a sense of humor, having replaced it with extra hate glands.

Grandpa Luv

@Sow Speaking of green.....lets just print our way out of debt!

And we can spend most of it building killing machines. And then we can give them to our enemies.

Better than pissing it away on Welfare Checks and Green Boondoggles....

it is very possible yes and yea we could do it but the cost would be insane. No we do not throw space rocks at earth... too unpredictable and too expensive.

But you have to be wary of those Arachnids on planet Klendathu...I don't trust them after what they did to Buenos Aires...

"The only good bug is a dead bug!"

>:-/

http://youtu.be/arZdeg_fL-I

So you would just rush in the wrong person to such important and powerful positions? I'm no fan of all the political posturing (from both sides), but there seems to be ligitamate concers about his past dealings.

nomad are you mad? They have known this guy and worked side by side with him for years. They have gotten everything they asked for but no... They have to make it a personal vendetta because he called them out on a war we didn't need when he was a Senator and they didn't like it. McWorthless said it on TV Friday.

Rush in the wrong person... LMAO Really?? Wow. How about you list a few of those concerns and past dealings? Plus how can you not like political posturing when you obviously don't know it when you see it.

It doesn't matter if it is Hagel or not. The Pentagon will continue to operate even without a SECDEF. That is why we have undersecretaries and a chain of command. There will be a signature at the bottom of every correspondence with a statement reading, "Acting in Lieu" for the vacant SECDEF position. Once the new SECDEF is in place he will do a complete review of his organization and 'clean house' and said the place was @!$%#ed up but thank God he came up on the scene to make it all better. In doing so, it will give the new SECDEF some clout with his contemporaries/peers to garner more trust from POTUS.

I will not discuss the numerous trips by Panetta back to California to tend to his walnut farm. He spends more time there than he does in DC/Arlington. #EmptySECDEFChair

Hey, on a more serious note, I lived on Guam, at Andersen Air Force Base, during the Vietnam war, when the B52`s were Bombing Hanoi, and their were hundreds of GI`s residing on the Base waiting for deployment to Vietnam. This thing occured allot back then. Had some great memories when I lived there.

Hagel is a joke and Brennan is Muslim. We don't need these guys.

Hagel is a joke and Brennan is Muslim. We don't need these guys.

we don't need you either

Hagel is the kind of Republican I used to vote for.

they did not look on the correct cove then

Either that or they know the sequestration is coming and the military will be economically crippled. We are already pulling an aircraft carrier out of the Persian Gulf because we cannot afford to keep two in the Gulf...

#SequestrationIsGoingTo@!$%#MoreThanTheMilitary

The military will be economically crippled? Boy are you ignorant!

I agree with ya Elk. Wow, that's the most retarded thing I've seen in a while from the rightwing on this blog. Military economically crippled? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The Military is doing what it can to brace for military cuts. Already they are pulling an aircraft carrier out of the Persian Gulf [of their own admission] because they cannot afford to sustain two carriers there. Do you discredit that?
The U.S. Military is cancelling numerous exercises and air shows because they just cannot afford to do them. Sometimes they are robbing Peter to pay Paul to meet their obligations of sending troops and assets to combined exercises with foreign nations so as to save face but at a cost of readiness back here. Do you discredit that?
U.S. Military organizations are notifying their civilian personnel of furloughs that will commence during the month of April and would be about two days a month to stretch out the furlough so it won't be as painful. Do you discredit that? If the civilian population of the DoD is not there to do the 'behind the scenes work' a lot of @!$%# just doesn't happen or is slow rolled until they get back and catch up. This will affect readiness.
If the sequestration occurs (hell it doesn't have to) the contracting offices are slow rolling defense contracts because they DON'T know if the sequestration is going to hit or not, and in doing so, it is crippling government contracting companies and their ability to find qualified, vetted candidates to do the work once the contracts are turned on. Those that have contracts risk having them canceled outright and that causes a ripple effect which will ultimately affect readiness. Do you discredit that?

Laugh all you want now, but read the news. This @!$%# is happening RIGHT NOW and you are the ones that appear ignorant.

Here you go. From the beloved left-wing media giant themselves, www.msnbc.com:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/06/16873226-navy-to-pull-aircraft-carrier-from-persian-gulf-over-budget-worries?lite

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50824473/ns/local_news-portsmouth_va/t/air-force-cancels-langley-air-show#.UR_HqKWeMrU

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50825545#.UR_HrKWeMrU

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50829894

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50751076/ns/local_news-washington_dc/t/n-va-already-feeling-potential-effects-sequestration/#.UR_IOaWeMrU

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50782469/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/t/pentagon-urges-delay-devastating-billion-budget-cuts/

You're both right. I guess I am the ignorant one. Whatever.

@Inspired We are already pulling an aircraft carrier out of the Persian Gulf because we cannot afford to keep two in the Gulf.

Thank goodness, it's about time. Fiscal responsibility.

Grandpa Luv-

Tell that to Elk and Turnabout (up above); they think I am ignorant and don't know what I am talking about...

With what Oblunder is pissing away in borrowed money each year, we could by 500 aircraft carriers....

Yeah, and "women have a way of shutting that whole thing down." I'm sure I don't have to remind you who said that.

Smart folk, those Republicans.

ROFLMAO...............That's one of our congressmen? Scary!

Ok that guy is a moron, both sides got idiots on them.

I got to give that Admiral( I'm assuming admiral) credit though, it looked like he almost did but he managed to swallow that laugh.

Steve do you really want to start listing idiot Congress men & women? I mean to see what side has said or done the most stupid stuff? Because there is a @!$%# load of gems from Michele bachman, Rand Paul, West, etc. the list is to long.

Double

MJ-1919-

I won't say that one side is stupider than the other, but you got to admit, that had to be one of the stupidest things a congressman could ever say in open testimony for the world to see. It goes to show you that ANYONE can be a congressman when in reality what we need in Congress are smart people that know how to talk, how to think, and have a clue and will act in the needs of this country. We need economists, doctors, scientists, and orators (people that know how to research for themselves and can speak eloquently) to step up and become congressmen. These people cannot be selfish. They need to listen to their constituents and think for them and not for themselves. The Senate and the House need to have term limits of no more than two terms: The first term is limited to six years and if they are re-elected their second term is limited to four years. That is more than enough time in office to serve their people and then get out. No member of the government should EVER be allowed to make it a career. You need fresh minds in the government to weed out the stale, same 'run-of-the-mill' stupidity that continues to plague our government. It is a rarity that you find that members of the Congress are in-tune with their constituents. Now that they are so polarized, our country suffers at the hands of these types of dumbasses.

Yeah, everyone listens to politicians . They're the reason America is the way it is. The poor get taxed more than the rich and the hardworking get paid less than the lazy. I'm surprised America is 236 years old without rebellions or depressions.

Wait, what is that. It's history calling to remind me about The Great Depression, Civil War, etc. which were all caused by politicians.

InspiredByHumanity,

We need economists, doctors, scientists, and orators (people that know how to research for themselves and can speak eloquently) to step up and become congressmen.

We had one, and both sides lambasted him.

Dr Ronald Paul, Congressman from Texas.......

The powers that be shut him out, and it IS why Mr Obama is still in the White House.....

So true...I don't know how we are going to get out of this rut that we are in. But we need someone like Ron Paul to show the nation how it is supposed to be done. The other half of the problem is the nation needs to clean out their ears and listen with an open mind.

USAF has slightly higher admission requirement than your trailer park.

I guess your not in the USAF boza, no class.

This is just a game of hide and seek, happens all the time but got the news due to the length of the flight.

IXLR wouldn't survive two weeks at Lackland..

Russia has always trolled the South Pacific islands with planes, subs, and ships since the 70's. It has always been two fold missions of training and keeping an eye out. Its no different that the U.S. doing the same thing to them or any other nation we patrol. We also constantly troll the entire earth from satellites and keep a laundry lists of targets found in case any nation chooses to engage us. We know where to strike first to cut off the enemy at all times. Russia does this to let nations know they are out there and can be a force to consider, nothing more than posturing.

Oh yes Vancie, It would be so hard to deal with the pressed bedsheets and manicured golf courses on base. Been there done that. The AF really has some super Prima Donnas I guess. You won't last a month in the real business world, start a savings account now......

IXLR8

I was one of those "prima donnas" and now I own and run a successful business.

Hmmmm

Me too Roc!

Tom Cruise is going to be here in a minute and kick all of your ass@s.....

You mean our 5-52's are more reliable? =p

Don't have to fly fast to fire cruise missles. Oh that's right. We're the only ones that have them. Geez.

How many years U.S. flying C-130's Turbo Prop?

T-95s are faster than most subsonic jet planes. They remain one of the most potent strategic missile platforms.

As far as cruise missiles, Russians were the first to design and build cruise missiles, and the ones who have the most potent cruise missiles today.

slowdon - Bear bombers? Hell I thought those things were scrapped back in the 90's! Turbo prop planes max speed about 350 MPH. Not much of a threat to anyone. You can spot them on radar a day before they get to their target!

Why do you keep DUMBING DOWN Newsvine's "Get Smarter Here".

Bear Bombers have a maximum speed of OVER 500 MPH.

In the Anti Submarine Warfare Role Bear Bombers have been and still are the biggest threat against US Submarines. You show me a non propellor driven aircraft that can fly slow enough to track a Submarine or show me a Submarine that can go over 500 MPH.

jimboza - T-95s are faster than most subsonic jet planes. They remain one of the most potent strategic missile platforms.

As far as cruise missiles, Russians were the first to design and build cruise missiles, and the ones who have the most potent cruise missiles today.

Don't even attempt to confuse them with the Facts, their emotive non factual opinions matter more.

David

Thats why the Navy has the P-3 for many years

gee david - and yet the new P-8 antisub platform is based on a 737. Who'd a thunk it.?... a SLOW 737? With a BOMB BAY

Think you better check on the bear speed, when I was chasing em down they were doing about 600.

P-3 Turbo prop was used for other reasons, reliability/durability, Better fuel economy over Jet Engines (at the time) longer air time between refuels. Plus the "equipment" on the P-8 allows for higher faster flight with a larger view area over what was on board the P-3.

What makes you people think an ASW aircraft has to be slow? The plane flies around in circles dropping sonobuoys that transmit signals to the plane. The plane can be going 50 knots or 500 or 5000 and the sonobuoys don't really care. Once the sub is located the plane drops a torpedo at the approximate location (or a nuclear depth charge but those aren't issued anymore).

The important characteristics of an ASW airplane are that have enough space inside to hold the instrumentation and the tracking crew and that it be able to deliver that torpedo with reasonable accuracy.

The P-3 is used by the Navy not because it is slow, but because it can stay on patrol for a long time.

Oh, and for those commenting on the Bear being slow, the Bear holds the record for being the fastest propeller-driven aircraft in the world.

FFS! Here's a bit of info on the TU-95:

http://www.airpowerworld.info/bombers/tupolev-tu-95-bear.htm

Read and learn before you post, Slodon!

The first cruise missles were not Soviet. The Nazi Germans were the first to build cruise missles.

Bear holds the record for being the fastest propeller-driven aircraft in the world.

Fastest propeller driven production aircraft, there are faster experimental aircraft....

And why are tensions so high? Could it be because we have exactly the same type of whack jobs in Congress as the Russian that claimed the meteor was an American weapon?

If a fireball came streaking into the U.S. undetected do you actually think the U.S. military wouldn't be put on alert till it was resolved?

roc1960-

It would take less than a day to spin up and then spin down the U.S. Military, and by spin upI am talking the command posts on each military installation would be talking to one another and up-channeling their readiness reports. If the military had to actually act, there would be a recall, mobilization effort, and deployment that could take initial forces approximately 12-24 hours to deploy with follow-on forces up to 72-hours to deploy. Only Tier 1 forces are ready to deploy in less than two hours.

I would say that our society is much more 'connected' via the Internet to reduce hysteria as to a meteor screeching in the sky than our Russian counterparts. That as well as our chain of command in our military and OGA that we would be able to deduce it was indeed a meteor and not an attack and we have very, Very, VERY good communications as part of our C4ISR capability.

Then again, I said the same thing about 9-11 too. I think we learned our lesson since 9-11 to ratchet down the DEFCON levels should an even like that happen here post-haste.

But if indeed it struck somewhere on the East Coast (notably Richmond-Washington DC-Baltimore region) you can bet POTUS would be on Air Force One heading to Hawaii and VPOTUS would be on Air Force Two heading to Nebraska.

Almost every day over the Bering Strait, and a few other places to the west.

They dont get intercepted by U.S. fighters on a daily basis though.

What a moron.

Yeah, lets put on a Ted Nugent cowboy hat, get a mouth full of chaw, grab your AR-15, Bushmaster, whatever and go over there and stomp corn in Russian asses right? Man, I'm so glad we have a president with some dam common sense instead of a redneck hick with no brains running this country.

You're right; I love having a president that is so inept to do drug deals with the Russians during a hot mike session with the cameras rolling for the world to see. #Sellout

Where are Maverick and Goose when you need them

In 1987 when I was on the Vandegrift, plane-guarding for the Kitty Hawk, the pilots chased off Russian Bears more than once in the South Pacific. Some things don't change, I suppose!

Can't help the fact that Vladimir saw to it he got to serve again... how are you going to blame Obama for that? And as for your claim of Putin having regained control of all former USSR satellites, you are on dope...

Cant blame Putin for ANYTHING other than doing it "All" better than we have.

Since he fall of the Soviet Union, they've bettered us in economics. Their Civil rights (while not great) have increased, while ours have decreased.

THEY are on the incline.

WE are on the DEcline.

Jeff, have you ever been to Russia? I have. Economics are not better, Civil Rights are not better, Moscow is run by the Russian Mafia. Sorry, but if you think we are on the DEcline then move, and BTW I am not a Republican Right Winger making this statement.

rufref

Are the women as good looking as the advertise on those Russian Dating Sites?

roc1960......all the good lookers seem to be Russian hookers !

JEFF is an idiot!!

When I was there 10 years ago there were LOTS of cuties in Mockoba (and lots of babushkas, too)

My wife is Russian and we have a house in southern Russia. Russia is not particularly bad these days. In any case their debt is a fraction of ours.

Swan37-

All too true, but you forgot to mention that their GDP is a fraction of ours too...Cheers!

All too true, but you forgot to mention that their GDP is a fraction of ours too...Cheers!

Ummm???? No I didn't. Their debt to GDP is like under 10% ours is over 100%. Try again.

I have the recall code. It's some sort of variation of Peace On Earth or Purity Of Essence...

Where in the hell is Maj. Kong?

yeeeeehawwww!!!

We can't allow to have a Mine-space GAP!!

Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!

But Mr. President he will see the big board!

Baylor14....we'll meet again, don't know where don't know when, but you know we'll meet again some sunny day !

@MM 584706 Detroit Storm have a good evening I'm outta here.

That's mine SHAFT GAP, BOY!!

Chill out Troll!

russians have been pushing our response buttons all the time, this is nothing new.

I think our Military-Industrial Complex has these Bear pilots on salary. We can't have sequester now!!!

Vladimir...Tovarich... we need you to make a recon run at us somewhere and then we can reciprocate later. Pajahl? Das vedahnyah.

Putin would not be able to do what he does, if we, as a country, didnt allow it.

Let's face it - Russia makes friends - we make enemies.

Russia has the oil, the economy, the gold.

They save money through austerity - while we spend ourselves into oblivion.

I dont blame Putin ONE bit -

AND, no, I'm not a "commie". I HATED the USSR through the cold war. But now, give credit where credit's due. Russia solidifies itself in europe while we quagmire in countries that dont mean squat. Russia stymies our every move re NK, China, Iran and Syria, and watch us chase our tails.

I wonder if we need a new Christians-In-Action director?

Jeff-

You are WAY out in left field dancing in circles if you believe what you write.

The United States (apparently) is on the cusp of producing more oil than it imports. Once we turn on the Keystone Pipeline we will be able to procure North American oil instead of buying it from the Middle East.
The United States GDP casts a shadow over what the Russians generate for a GDP.
I will agree with you on the spending bit though; this administration has spent as much as the President Bush spent- but Bush spent that amount over eight years while Obama spent that amount in four.
Lots of people said they weren't Commies back in the 1950s.

Russia threatened to point its nukes at Europe if the U.S. were to deploy anti-ballistic missiles in Poland. How is that making friends? Russia invaded Georgia in a feint to annex North Ossetia. How is that making friends? Russia held its oil and natural gas 'hostage' from a freezing Europe until they paid higher rates. How is that making friends?

Keep dancing in circles; you make for a good distraction.

Jeff, we have a surplus of oil and gas and a much better economy than the Russians, and gold doesn't mean diddly here, it's the titanium they have that is causing us problems. Do the research, eh?

Jeff, we have a surplus of oil and gas

You accuse this guy of ignorance and then make a statement like this? LOL!

Jeff, we have a surplus of oil and gas

You accuse this guy of ignorance and then make a statement like this? LOL!

Point of FACT, all you naysayers.

1. The U.S. is now the world's largest oil exporter.

2. Russia has the world's greatest oil reserves.

The fact that you dont like it - doesnt make it false.

Provide sources, Jeff; otherwise your statements lack credibility...

"Why did the CHICKEN cross the ROAD!?"
"To get to the OTHER SIDE!"

"Boom chaka lacka lacka, Boom chaka lacka lacks..."

"Why did the conservative cross the road?"

"Because someone told him to."

"Why did the radical lib cross the road?"

"Because someone told him not to."

Our Planet - that's Air Force training, sir. Thank you very much and sleep

well, your NORAD trained killers are protecting you. :)

NORAD trained killers?????? what the hell that's about?