Russian Bombers close in on USS Nimitz

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Navy Intercepts Russian Bombers

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. fighter planes intercepted two Russian bombers, including one that buzzed an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific during the weekend, The Associated Press has learned.

A U.S. military official says that one Russian Tupolev 95 flew directly over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz twice, at a low altitude of about 2,000 feet, while another bomber circled about 58 miles out. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because the reports on the flights were classified as secret.

The Saturday incident, which never escalated beyond the flyover, comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia over U.S. plans for a missile defense system based in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Such Russian bomber flights were common during the Cold War, but have been rare since.

The bombers were among four Russian Tupolev 95s launched from Ukrainka in the middle of the night, including one that Japanese officials say violated their country's airspace over an uninhabited island south of Tokyo.

U.S. officials tracked and monitored the bombers as two flew south along the Japanese coast, and two others flew farther east, coming closer to the Nimitz and the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton.

As the bombers got about 500 miles out from the U.S. ships, four F/A- 18 fighters were launched from the Nimitz, the official said. The fighters intercepted the Russian bombers about 50 miles south of the Nimitz.

At least two U.S. F/A-18 Hornets trailed the bomber as it came in low over the Nimitz twice, while one or two of the other U.S. fighters followed the second bomber as it circled.

The official said there were no verbal communications between the U.S. and the Russians, and the Pentagon has not heard of any protests being filed by the United States. Historically, diplomatic protests were not filed in such incidents because they were so common during the Cold War era.

This is the first time Russian Tupolevs have flown over or interacted with a U.S. carrier since 2004.

In that incident, a Russian Tupolev flew over the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk in the Sea of Japan on Jan. 29, 2004. Since then, however, relations between the U.S. and Russia have deteriorated to their worst point since the Cold War, largely due to the United States' plans to put a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 missile defense interceptors in Poland.

The U.S. has defended the plan as necessary to protect its European allies from possible attacks by Iran. But the Kremlin has condemned the proposal, saying it would threaten Russia's security.

"We are being forced to take retaliatory steps," said Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also warned that a new arms race is under way.

Japan, meanwhile, filed a formal protest with the Russian Embassy in Tokyo after Saturday's incident, saying that one of the Russian bombers crossed into Japanese airspace for three minutes. Russia has denied there was an intrusion.


/me is going to build his shelter.

completely out of their minds....
 
Seems to me like the Russians are feeling the need to show that they aren't the worthless defunct nation that we all think they are.
 
yeah....they got the moniez to fuel their army now....

but as well, I think the rocket shield is completely wrong.......
 
but as well, I think the rocket shield is completely wrong.......

Being a European, care to elaborate? It's tiny news here.

Personally, it seems like a good idea to stop Iran, etc. as well as rogue Russian missiles.
 
First of all, the Iran won't reach us anyways.

Secondly, there was a treaty some time ago between Russia and USA NOT to build rocket shields, as it would shift the balance in first strike scenarios, as you can never prevent a first strike with a shield, but if you strike first and hit some of the other silos, you can prevent revenge strikes with such a shield. So basically America is opening the possibility of striking first and denying Russia to revenge. If it was just about Iran, they could have set up a rocket shield together with russia, but this is a clear provocation and violation of old treatys, so I think Russia is right to be pissed.
 
Seems to me like the Russians are feeling the need to show that they aren't the worthless defunct nation that we all think they are.

Fixed. You'd think Putin would have better things to do than send Cold War relics on these fly-by-tauntings.
 
Seems like retiring the F-14 Tomcat interceptor may have been premature.
 
Seems like retiring the F-14 Tomcat interceptor may have been premature.

Where's the inverted canopy to canopy picture of the cockpit?
topgungoose&maverick.JPG
 
The russian's egos are writing cheques their bombers can't cash!
 
I wouldn't write the russians off just yet, they've got some pretty impressive stuff like the TU-160

111348.jpg
(the jet in the middle)
 
Oh my god - just what the world needs!

Americans (who it would sometimes appear get all their news from Fox) may not be aware about those treaties concerning anti ballistic missile defenses - but I agree that in this case the US does seem actually be in breach. I think it a bit flimsy that it is about Iran to be honest, but hey what do I know, can I do anything about it? No.
 
The Tu-160 "Blackjack" is a fairly impressive aircraft, but they only have 16 in service.
 
Oh my god - just what the world needs!

Americans (who it would sometimes appear get all their news from Fox) may not be aware about those treaties concerning anti ballistic missile defenses - but I agree that in this case the US does seem actually be in breach. I think it a bit flimsy that it is about Iran to be honest, but hey what do I know, can I do anything about it? No.

We dropped out of the treaty, so no violation of said treaty.
 
Oh! so your word is good until you think that you can get away with breaking it? Any how you have really pissed off the Russians so cold war number 2 coming up!
 
First of all, fly overs were a normal thing back in the cold war. No big deal. If the Nimitz didn't mind having some Russian friends drop by, there would have been no story. It was a controlled situation.

Second, the F/A-18's did a fine job in the situation. There's no need to bemoan the lack of F-14's :p

Third, America isn't the first country to pull out of a treaty and/or completely disregard a treaty they are party too. We just do it with style 8)
 
First of all, the Iran won't reach us Western Europeans anyways. .

Fixed.

Anyway, let Russia go ahead and show off, they won't attack the US. In fact they never wanted to attack the US during the Cold War, ditto for the US.
 
Well they were within an ace of so doing in the 1980s by mistake. One sensible missile launch officer saved the day - he, of course got the sack.
 
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