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Escorting the Bear


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That's cool. My dad was a F/E on WV-2's out of Argentia, Newfoundland in the early 60s. He told me that bears would often shadow them until Phantoms or EE Lightnings would show up and the bears would pour on the gas and disappear.

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It actually seems that many of the Blackjacks are going around Europe. I wonder why. There must be some special reason about the Blackjack circumventing Europe. Now as far as the Su-30s, are they doing a similar thing to what the US and Brits did from 1942-1944 with limited coverage? It makes me wonder why they aren't following the Tupelovs when they are most prone to interception. What's the point of the escort? If the west doesn't get them swinging around Britain when they're easy, why would they get them over Syria?

PS I'm aware that the majority of strikes go through Iraq and Iran, but the paths around Europe are more fascinating to me because of the focus of Tu-160s, the 25-strong symbol of former Soviet projection, are showing up next to the airspace of Russia's supposed enemies. Interceptions near Western European countries IS the reason this thread exists.

Probably to impinge on as many potentially adversarial air defense nets as possible. Just like everyone has done always.

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It actually seems that many of the Blackjacks are going around Europe. I wonder why. There must be some special reason about the Blackjack circumventing Europe. Now as far as the Su-30s, are they doing a similar thing to what the US and Brits did from 1942-1944 with limited coverage? It makes me wonder why they aren't following the Tupelovs when they are most prone to interception. What's the point of the escort? If the west doesn't get them swinging around Britain when they're easy, why would they get them over Syria?

PS I'm aware that the majority of strikes go through Iraq and Iran, but the paths around Europe are more fascinating to me because of the focus of Tu-160s, the 25-strong symbol of former Soviet projection, are showing up next to the airspace of Russia's supposed enemies. Interceptions near Western European countries IS the reason this thread exists.

Well, I suppose it's a way to say "Hey, look, we have planes capable of doing this kind of things, for some years after the collapse of Soviet Union we had to stay on the ground because of this and that, now we're back".

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Well, I suppose it's a way to say "Hey, look, we have planes capable of doing this kind of things, for some years after the collapse of Soviet Union we had to stay on the ground because of this and that, now we're back".

Yes, but it's like me waiving a muzzle loader pistol at a group of crips with TEC-9s.

The 160s are 20-30 strong and meant to "fill" the same niche role as American B-2s, only they're worse at it. They are primarily cruise missile carriers and the strikes in Syria have shown that they are prone to jamming. We found out that our own missiles were being jammed in 2003, so it's not just the Russians that have to deal with that.

I watched a Russian produced documentary, translated into English. In this they claim to have exceeded the B-1 in every aspect, but I got to thinking.... is having 25 Tu-160s really better than having 100 B-1s?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir-6o5aooA0

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