Russia restores Soviet-era strategic bomber patrols - Putin

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drandul

Member
"President Vladimir Putin said Russia permanently resumed Friday long-distance patrol flights of strategic bombers, which were suspended in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"I made a decision to restore flights of Russian strategic bombers on a permanent basis, and at 00:00 today, August 17, 14 strategic bombers, support aircraft and aerial tankers were deployed. Combat duty has begun, involving 20 aircraft." -- RIA NOWOSTI

en.rian.ru/russia/20070817/72189719.html

I wonder what is real background of such step. I personally quite skeptical about benefits for Russia. - For sure it will rise unnecessary tension with western countries. And still there a re a lot of ways to spend that money more efficiently.
 
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swerve

Super Moderator
IMO, for internal political consumption. Putin's term ends fairly soon, & I think the Beeb reporter who said "he wants to be remembered as the president who made Russia strong again" is on the right lines.
 
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Oryx

New Member
swerve said:
IMO, for internal political consumption. Putin's term ends fairly soon, & I think the Beeb reporter who said "he wants to be remembered as the president who made Russia strong again" is on the right lines.
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You are probably right that this is part of the reason. However, Russia has been piling on the pressure in response to the planned ABM, particularly the part planned for the Czech republic. I must admit I have at least a little sympathy towards their concerns - not that the ABM specifically is a threat to them, but I don't think any country would be comfortable with any sort of military buildup near their borders, even if it is for so-called defensive reasons. I think part of the reasoning behind the bomber flights is that if the US is going to cancel cold war era treaties and do things that both sides had agreed not to do after years and years of negotiations, they might as well also continue doing whatever they feel is in Russia's best interest, regardless of how it is perceived from outside.

Still, I think your comments about "internal consumption" is also just as valid. Russia is actually getting stronger and this is probably a symptom of that. I have been visiting Russia about once or twice a year for the last ten years, and something that really strikes me each time is how quickly things improve: malls shooting up everywhere, well stocked shops filled with patrons that can apparently afford them, new and modern apartment blocks and now even modern loose-standing houses, more people driving modern cars, etc. I have also noticed the family and friends of the people I stay with seems to be doing much better each time: where during my first visit they all relied on public transport to go everywhere, they now all have at least one (often brand new) car per family, many have moved into more modern apartments, and in general they just seem to have a much higher standard of living. I think with this continuous progress it is not surprising that a majority of the Russian people support Putin, regardless of how people in the West tend to perceive him and his actions on the world stage.
 
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Truculent

New Member
Russian long range flights

There has recently been a resumption of Russian long range flights over Western Europe and the Pacific.I was just wondering whether these flights actually are on a flight plan or do they just blunder into controlled airspace unannounced and at what altitude do they operate?Do the have their transponders on?
 
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swerve

Super Moderator
Oryx said:
...Still, I think your comments about "internal consumption" is also just as valid. Russia is actually getting stronger and this is probably a symptom of that. I have been visiting Russia about once or twice a year for the last ten years, and something that really strikes me each time is how quickly things improve: malls shooting up everywhere, well stocked shops filled with patrons that can apparently afford them, new and modern apartment blocks and now even modern loose-standing houses, more people driving modern cars, etc. I have also noticed the family and friends of the people I stay with seems to be doing much better each time: where during my first visit they all relied on public transport to go everywhere, they now all have at least one (often brand new) car per family, many have moved into more modern apartments, and in general they just seem to have a much higher standard of living. I think with this continuous progress it is not surprising that a majority of the Russian people support Putin, regardless of how people in the West tend to perceive him and his actions on the world stage.
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Interesting. From what you've seen, is the improvement general, or restricted to particular regions? According to the stats, Moscow started booming long ago, but much of the rest of the country got left behind. Have you seen signs of that changing?

I'm afraid the last time I visited Russia the stamp in my passport said "CCCP". I've changed planes in Moscow in the last few years, & saw much new construction from the air, some of obviously luxury housing, but that's it.
 
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contedicavour

New Member
What planes are we talking about ? 20 TU160 and a few dozen very old TU22 and TU95 ??? How can they keep 4 in flight 24H/24 ?

I've just seen Zeroone answered me on another thread about Russian planes. 200-300 bombers still able to fly ? That sounds to me like too many, especially if they were stored away from 1992 until today.

cheers
 
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XaNDeR

New Member
TU-22 is not old ,they are upgraded M3 versions , but yeah Tu-95 is kinda old but they need them just as USAF needs B-52's.
 
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Chrom

New Member
Truculent said:
There has recently been a resumption of Russian long range flights over Western Europe and the Pacific.I was just wondering whether these flights actually are on a flight plan or do they just blunder into controlled airspace unannounced and at what altitude do they operate?Do the have their transponders on?
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1. They dont fly over Western Europe - not many countries would allow forgeign airfoce in they space.
2. Russian planes fly over international airspace (ocean, etc). Just like USA or any other country ones.
3. Yes, they usually inform all flight control and all adjacment countries long before about training flight. But exact flight profile usually is not submitted.
4. Yes, they can cause _some_ trouble to civilian traffic as they usually dont install civilian flight beacon for easer radar recognition- again, most other countries military planes also dont install this beacon. On the other hand, military planes have very powerfull radars and can easely avoid civilian jets.
 
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Truculent

New Member
Traffic patterns over the North Atlantic vary every day.It is called the NAT OTS.The track position varies due to the weather and it is not unknown for some of the tracks to be quite far north.All civil traffic uses a transponder which through the TCAS system will give avoidance action if traffic becomes too close.The prospect of a Bear blundering through the tracks without this system turned on would cause a lot of problems to the civil traffic.The distance between the tracks has recently been reduced due to the large daily flow.
Most of the airspace has no radar coverage and is controlled procedurally.If they keep below the tracks it would be no problem.
 
1

10ringr

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
drandul said:
"President Vladimir Putin said Russia permanently resumed Friday long-distance patrol flights of strategic bombers, which were suspended in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"I made a decision to restore flights of Russian strategic bombers on a permanent basis, and at 00:00 today, August 17, 14 strategic bombers, support aircraft and aerial tankers were deployed. Combat duty has begun, involving 20 aircraft." -- RIA NOWOSTI

en.rian.ru/russia/20070817/72189719.html

I wonder what is real background of such step. I personally quite skeptical about benefits for Russia. - For sure it will rise unnecessary tension with western countries. And still there a re a lot of ways to spend that money more efficiently.
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I believe he considers the deployment or potential deployment of ABM systems on former USSR states is more then just annoyance. I believe he feels his objections alone should preclude any decision of the US to go ahead and continue even to discuss it. After all, Bush talks a very good game about peace but as he's doing it he's reloading. Hutch
 
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Oryx

New Member
swerve said:
Interesting. From what you've seen, is the improvement general, or restricted to particular regions? According to the stats, Moscow started booming long ago, but much of the rest of the country got left behind. Have you seen signs of that changing?

I'm afraid the last time I visited Russia the stamp in my passport said "CCCP". I've changed planes in Moscow in the last few years, & saw much new construction from the air, some of obviously luxury housing, but that's it.
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Hi Swerve

My apologies for only answering now - I have happily been away from the internet for the last week.

My experience is mostly limited towards people living in and around Nizhniy-Novgorod and some of the smaller industrial towns surrounding it. In a country that size I don't think anyone can say with certainty what the situation might be everywhere. I always do a bit of traveling to the touristy spots as part of my visits, but the only places where I stay with locals is as above. That being said, in my opinion the fact that it is NOT just Moscow or St Petersburg and that it is also not just the view from a hotel window does make it considerably more representative. Change is obviously gradual and I think sometimes locals notice it less, but if you get annual "snapshots" of the situation, the change is unmistakable.

In my opinion (and I bet you can select statistics to both back it up and refute it), the situation in Russia is steadily improving and has done so continuously since the low that it hit in the early to mid 90s. Maybe not "dramatically" in the sense that some Asian countries or places like UAE did, but steadily and very noticeably.
 
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radiosilence

jints
Russia confirmed that these flights are primarily for training purposes and nuclear weapons are not present during these missions. We don't need a nuclear accident like the numerous close calls we had during the cold war.

link
 
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contedicavour

New Member
radiosilence said:
Russia confirmed that these flights are primarily for training purposes and nuclear weapons are not present during these missions. We don't need a nuclear accident like the numerous close calls we had during the cold war.

link
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Are those TU22M3 and TU160 at least carrying anti-shipping cruise missiles ? Or is it just a PR stunt :rolleyes: ? Because I'm starting to be fed up with all this posturing... even if Russia is perfectly in its right to fly those bombers around as much as it wants.

cheers
 
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scarey1989

New Member
Yes, this is indeed true. On Tuesday 21st August, the Ministry of Defence in Britain said that the RAF had sent out two Typhoons after spotting a Tupolev 95 strategic bomber heading towards british airspace. This is the second time in two months that this has happened.
 
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