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Two Russian bombers, capable of carrying nuclear cruise missiles, circled the U.S. island of Guam in the Western Pacific this week, U.S. military officials told NBC News. U.S. Air Force F-15 jets scrambled from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam to intercept the bombers.
According to one military official, the Russian Bear bombers remained in international airspace, the encounter between the U.S. and Russian aircraft “stayed professional” and there was no incident. The official said it’s impossible to determine whether the Russian bombers carried any nuclear weapons.
U.S. long-range radars and satellites tracked the two bombers as they took off from northeastern Russia and headed south on a long-range flight that required “multiple refueling.” Japan also scrambled fighter jets as the bombers passed near but did not enter Japanese airspace.
U.S. military officials say “it’s highly unusual but not unprecedented” that Russian bombers would fly training missions in the vicinity of Guam. According to one official, “It wasn’t provocative but it certainly got our attention.” U.S. long-range B-52 bombers, also capable of carrying nuclear weapons, are based at Guam.
Since Vladimir Putin reclaimed the Russian presidency, U.S. officials said the number of such flights in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska have increased, but encounters with U.S. aircraft have remained “generally very professional.”
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.
The interception was first reported in the Washington Free Beacon.
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Let the cat and mouse games of the old cold war begin. Only this time we're the ones that are in real trouble. The dictator wants to reduce our nuclear weapons down to under 900 and the rest of the bad guys are just waiting with drool and baited breath. Let the 21st century games begin!!
Depends Corp. thanks you.
How many Nuclear weapons do we need? We do not need 1000s of warheads, we need 500 reliable ICBM/SLBM that are well dispersed.
Even if we took the arsenal down to the low hundreds, the Russians and China would have to launch so many of their weapons to insure that we where toast that they would damage living conditions all over the planet for 1000s of years.
It dose not matter how many weapons we have. There is no win with nuclear weapons, they are only good for M.A.D and do to technology, that concept is becoming obsolete quickly.
Cat and mouse game that's been going on for years!
Children....you all bicker like children on these MSN stories. I know there is some editor just laughing his a$$ off at the american GROWN children who take pot shots at each other over race,religion,ploitics you name it. These stories do exactly what they are intended to do..further divide the american people. The government and the MSM have been doing it for decades and you sheep continue to fall for it! Your children are probably act more mature than most of you troll/sheep!
No one needs stories to divide the US populace, we are already vary well divided. You know what though, it is good we are dealing with our divisions now. In the future we will not have the time to squabble amongst ourselves about this stuff. If you think that the divisions we are seeing will cause the US to fly apart, you might be right but I think the greater chance is that the US will move forward from this time and redefine the world yet again. It is what we do best.
As for the US being full of children.. Yep, just like the rest of the world. Assad seems like a real child trying to hold on to power so hard. Putin is a real baby, He likes his cold war toys and seems to be stuck in a time warp that only goes backwards. I could list a huge number of people in power acting like children but I think you get the idea.
They should have intercepted with F86 Sabre Jets. The BEAR BOMBER is a Tupolev TU-95 is a large propeller driven airplane first introduced by the Soviets in 1956 using ten year old technology. All this is just Putin trying to show needless bravado which even the Russian public is growing tired of.
How old are the B-52's?
How old are the C-130's?
BTW its Turbo Prop.
roc1960
A better question is when was the the last time the B-52 was upgraded,or when was the last time the C-130 was upgraded.
The age of the craft and its service time are less relevant then if it can still do the job the military needs it to do and if it can be upgraded. It is quite possible that the B-52 will be in service for a total of 100 years, maybe not anyone aircraft, but certainly the design. All brought to you by continuing upgrades.
It is the same with the Russian aircraft, if they still serve their military, then they will continue to be used.
Yeah, and they have really fat IR and radar signatures. Toast for any fighter with AAMRAM out to 100 miles. And they know it. It's for show, political theater. What they DON'T have are effective stealth aircraft, and they know that too.
You know those Eagle pilots [or any fighter pilot for that matter] would kill to have a BEAR silhouette painted on the side of their fuselage...
>:-)
I think the Russian government would like be part of a multi-nation coordinated attact on the U.S.
or attack...
Rather surprised the Russians did this now that they have a fellow Socialist in office here in Amerika for 4 more years. There's a reason Russia, Iran, China, and a few other countries of that ilk endorsed the chocolate Messiah. Now I get it, this was a gentle reminder for Obama to speed up the process of reducing our nuclear weapon stockpile. Great.
The imbecilic tone of your post reeks of Fox, Limbaugh and Hannity. Congratulations.
racist bustard, aren't we GL???
If you only see the bombers, you're safe and everything is normal.
If you see Mig-31s, then you've got real issues.
The only thing a FOXHOUND wants to do is fly fast and straight. At 59 tons, it has a RCS almost as big as a BEAR. While it does have an impressive radar suite, an F-15C radar suite is just as impressive. They have been upgraded from SAR with the CW bullhorn to AESA standard. If the pilot wanted to he could focus all his AESA radar energy on the cockpit of the FOXHOUND and cook the Russian pilot from the inside out.
Should the Russian pilot really want to engage the Eagle, it COULD be a toss-up as to who would win with the AIM-120 AMRAAM or the AA-12 "AMRAAMSKI" ADDER. Once we defeat their AAM, then it would get into a knife fight. The F-15C has a MUCH BETTER maximum sustained turn rate. F-15C WINS HANDS DOWN.
Sarah Palin can even see Russian bombers lifting off from her front porch :)
You can see Russia from parts of Alaska.
Boy dont you look dumb now.
Exactly, "from parts of Alaska", not from Palin's porch, which was what Rob said.
Talk about dumb!
Can she also see the "Country of Africa?"
Palin never said you could see bombers taking off from her porch.
Now the both of you look pretty stupid!
King Putt has arisen! 2112
king putt-putt? Isn't that a miniature golf game?
And Obama slept, wonder if this is part of the deal he was making with Russia??
The "bear" is on the move.Remember Putin use to be the chief of the secret service of the old Soviet Union.He wants to run EU by controlling their noatural gas flow.Americas' recent discoveries put a dent in his plans.He has never given of hope of bringing Russia back to it's old former life under the control of the Soviet Union.He is dangerous.A demon and from I understand,a little swishy!
time to put the shotguns back on the cessna, its for hunting purposes only, dont get your knickers in a twist
This is a game both countries have been playing for more than 50 years. Neither country is capable of sneaking up on the other. We watch them and they watch us. In the "old days" every time there was a scheduled missile launch from the west coast there were Russian "trawlers" in international waters monitoring. Guess what the "Glomar Explorer" was doing for us? Robert Ballard was searching for a lost nuclear sub and used his own search for the Titanic as a cover. You know Cheyenne Mountain was watching, but I doubt that anyone was really worried and Russia fully expected the response they got. Actually, it helps keep our military on it's toes and keeps us from getting too complacent, not necessarily a bad thing.
What's the worry we have Senate that should be held in day-care detention and House so infantile that they wouldn't have left the nursery. The suckling Congress, taking nap for a few weeks every, has delay as it intent, obfuscation as it motive, and procrastination as it Alma mater.
Congress is the place where old prostrates go to die, and thinning and receding hair reveals transparent reflection from empty skulls.
Old saying that the very old relive their childhood, but this take them back further.
Wars kill people to save people,so wars turn as many away from God as to
God,and this is what Jesus criticized the leaders of his day for.And that's also
why Jesus sent out his disciples without swords to evangelize the world,so if
you believe in Jesus and follow him you shouldn't support wars,you should be
anti war.
Believe I will walk my walk and you should probably stick to yours.
Want to preach? Go to church!
I don't believe in Jesus as a saviour, just a man who was more enlighted than any other, and I don't approve of war. One thing does not cancel the other, so please do your evangelical work someplace else.
It is a free country Rasputin. Get to read a lot of offending statements on here.
religion is the opium of the masses. Religious cracked pots are just that
Their pilots must be drunk. I heard Russian vodka is fun to drink. Russians are alcoholic. Alcoholics cannot be threat to us. Putin was not sending any message to us. It was just the vodka which altered the minds of these pilots and they ended at Guam by mistake. Russians drink all day vodka and only time they drink water when they take their medicines. We should forgive Russian pilots for their behavior. They thought they were flying over Moscow.
Are you as stupid as you sound, or are you making a special effort today?
simple we have a spinless president and russia knows this why wait
Yeah, it's a terrible thing they did, dropping bombs in Guam knowing that Obama is spineless.
They did drop bombs, didn't they? I guess Sarah Palin told you so.
If they did Obama would have blamed it on a video.
Russian bombers newar Guam were witnessing the US Osprey exercises with Japan- these exercises were moved from Okinawa,Japan to Guam. Russia might also be assisting China's surveillance over disputed territories )Diaolya Islands)- and US/Japan radar systems.
Since they have imbecile lawmakers that think meteor strikes are actually Americans testing weapons, it's no surprise that that they would send out a team of fighter jets.
http://en.apa.az/news/187943
And of course anybody who believes this imbecile must also be one. Like you.
Fighter jets? Where did you read that? In the vacuum of your head? What an utter moron!
Or it could be when you have long range bombers and want long range training, but do not want to fly over anyone's yard, when taking off in the east you fly over the pacific. No one to scare. As far as the fighters going up, just saying hi and welcome to the neighborhood.
We probably had the ability to meet those Russian bombers as soon as they left their own airspace and escort them on the entire flight, but part of the game is to not show your hand too soon.
Exactly
this has been done before...Bears can carry nukes but they can carry gear to spy with as well which is probably what these where equipped to do. They are slower and old and not the easiest to maintain but they can and are still useful.Plus they know we have a big wussy as commander in chief who is slashing up the military as we speak in order to pay for lazy ass Americans on welfare food stamps and the like.
US drained USSR financially by promoting "Star Wars" concept. USSR collapsed and cold war ended. Now Russia flushed with oil and gas money wants to repay Americans for the demise of their colonies (those republics that went independent).
Since USA is a great debtor nation on the planet and now have a President who wants to spend more by taxing those who work hard, cut the defense forces and their ability to wage war, appoint a Muslim as head of CIA, and other anti-nationalist policies, Russia smells victory in the air. We also have antagonized our only ally in the middle east who can give us vital information,our enemies will find it easier to defeat us.
USA fell for sweet talk over reality. The reality is we have a huge debt. We have to tighten our belts and grit our teeth and do hard work. Get rid of dole system and force everyone to work. Produce quality goods with low costs so we can compete with China and other nations. Unless we conquer the world's commercial markets we can expect poverty!
USA of 1930 -2000 worked harder, and practiced that there is no such a thing as "free lunch". Every one was given what was his/her due. The government was small but effective. The qualified entered colleges based solely on merit. We produced the best doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers and administrators. JFK in 1961, could depend upon the system to demand we land a man on the moon and bring him safely back before the end of the decade.
USA must look back at that model of ethics in work and governance and bring that type of mind set to achieve the greatness this nation is destined. No small mindedness like the present crop of leaders would do. We need people like JFK and Reagan.
Till we get good leaders, we are doomed to play second fiddle to China in commerce and Russia in military.
This is not the Global plan...
Good leaders get assassinated for not following the plan
gudprsn,
Funny you should mention the two American leaders who presided over the two situations that were the closest to actual nuclear confrontations with the Ruskys, and Reagan was clueless about it. You know, a nuclear device can ruin your whole day. Of course all that American debt went somewhere, maybe into more military adventurism, to spread freedom and Democracy and some unidentified brown material all over the ME.
Your fictionalized view of the good old days never were. However, the US still produces the finest scientists, engineers ect. and government is much smaller than in 1950. By the way taxes are way lower now than then. Hence the huge debt you lament. I do agree we need to end the dole system and force Wall Street to actually work. (and not for China). Israel doesn't need an excuse to be antagonized, they just are, and they're perfectly capable of nuking someone on their own. They don't need us.
Have a nice non-irradiated day.
never argue with a fool - they will drag you down to their level and defeat you with experience
Arm chair warriors, sable rattling
more like saber rattling lol
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming. Wait the Russians are leaving. It would seem that some on this post have forgotten that the US military has been playing this game for going on seventy years now, they know the routine. The NRA has been for the right to arm Bears anyway.
GLH, JP13, isn't it time for you to go to your doomsday bunker where you can wait for all the minorities/irradiated zombies to attack and take your freedoms away.
For the rest of you, rest assured we are still the big kids on the block and fear no other country militarily, unless of course you're Republicans, in which case we'll just invent the next boogeyman, ALA A.Q., IRAQ, IRAN,NK,RUS,CHN.,meteors from space(possibly controlled by Russians, they're really crafty that way), ___________(fill in the blank), not because we're really afraid but because we gots to have that corporate welfare.