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| Russian bombers to test-fire missiles in Bay of Biscay | |
| 2008-01-22 | |
Firing missiles off the coastline of two Nato members is the latest in a series of Kremlin moves flexing Moscow’s military muscle on the world stage. Russian bombers joined aircraft carriers, battleships and submarine hunters from the Northern and Black Sea fleets for the Atlantic exercises, which come as the country enters an election campaign to choose a successor to President Putin. “The air force is taking a very active part in the exercises of the navy’s strike force in the Atlantic,” the Russian air force said in a statement reported by Reuters. “Today, two strategic Tu-160 bombers departed for exercises in the Bay of Biscay, which ... will carry out a number of missions and will conduct tactical missile launches." There was no immediate comment from Nato about the exercise. Mr Putin has used military manoeuvres, including controversial North Sea overflights, to revive domestic and international respect for Russia’s armed forces which were shattered by the chaos of the 1990s. He has also boosted military spending, renewed long-range bomber missions and approved a plan to upgrade Russia’s nuclear attack forces, which he said was needed after Nato built up its forces close to Russia’s borders. But some analysts note that while the sabre-rattling is popular at home, Russian military spending in absolute terms is substantially lower than that of China, Britain or France and less than a tenth of that of the United States. Discipline is also still a major problem for Russia’s armed forces, which rely heavily on conscripts and outdated equipment. Russia last month said it would begin major navy sorties into the Mediterranean, with 11 ships backed up by 47 aircraft, that would then travel to the Atlantic for exercises. The navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the Soviet-made Admiral Kuznetsov, was leading the fleet in the Atlantic where Nato were trying to keep a close eye on Russian movements, Russian media reported. “This is the biggest exercise of its kind in the area since Soviet times,” a spokesman for Russia’s navy said, adding that more details would be released later. There was no further information about where in the Bay of Biscay, which lies off the west coast of France and the northern coast of Spain, the missile tests were due to take place. Russia’s air force said turbo-prop Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers, codenamed “Bear” by Nato, would join ATO, would join the exercise on Wednesday “From January 23, the aviation component in the zone where the exercises are going on will be widened and the following planes will take part: Tu-160, Tu-95, Tu-22 M3, Il-78, A-50,”, the air force said. | |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #12 #1: Oh boy! "Aircraft carriers and battleships"! Sounds exciting!! Actually that is a very unfair fight, the Battleships are severely handicapped here, they would be sunk far out of gun range long before they even fired a shot. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-01-22 20:36 |
| #11 IOn, WAFF.com > MEMRI.org - Iranian website TABANAK claims that IRAN, wid help from SYRIA, CAN DESTROY HALF OD ISRAEL in the aftermath/ retaliation for any Israeli missle attack on Iran. Iran's doctrine is based on IERREGULAR DEFENSE, ergo Israel [USA] will find it very difficult to successfully target any specific Iranian cache of missles = other weapons [nukies], LET ALONE SUCCESS DESTROY ALL OF THEM. In addition, post-Israeli attack, Iran can implement its Iran-Syria agreement on inter-nation strategic defense. ANY ISRAELI ATTACK AGZ IRAN ALSO INVITES MIL RESPONSE BY SYRIA AS WELL AS BY TERROR ORGS i.e. HAMAS [Pals/PA], ISLAMIC JIHAD, AND HIZBULLAH/ HEZBOLLAH, etc. espec from LEBANON. ANY IRAN COUNTER-ATTACK DOES NOT EVEN HAVE TO BE LAUNCHED FROM IRAN PROPER. Compare wid FR Poster argument that in any war = attack scenario agz the USA, CHINA may decide to use NORTH KOREA as PDeniable proxy to strike and damage CONUS-NORAM based US SPAWAR, COMMWAR, andor ENERGY GRIDS-NETWORKS via EMP detonations. China will then closely scrutnize the US mil response agz NK to dtermin iff the US is weak enuff, and iff so to then attack TAIWAN [Japan, SK?]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-01-22 19:35 |
| #10 The British take on this |
| Posted by: tipper 2008-01-22 19:07 |
| #9 Would be kind of cool if tomorrow's headline read: " Russian Bombers float-checked into the Bay of Biscay by unknown Missles." |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-01-22 17:49 |
| #8 One the one part, DUBYA has made it clear times to the world that he will NOT be a lame duck POTUS vv Radical Iran + same haveing nuke weapons potential or de facto capability. IOW, DUBYA = USA MAY TAKE UNILATER MIL ACTION ANY TIME THRU 12/2008, wid first six months of 2008 as his most ideal pol acceptable time frame. On the other part, NEITHER RUSSIA NOR CHINA HAVE FORMALLY RENOUNCED THEIR "WAR IS NOT ONLY POSSIBLY BUT DESIRED" ANTI-US AGENDA as per 2010-2020 decade > Russia approxi Year 2018 +/-, CHINA 2014 +/- [TAIWAN independence]. Lest we fergit also, RADICAL/ISLAMIST MULLAHS > OIL-RESOURCES CATACLYSM = REGIONAL-GLOBAL MUTUAL DESTRUCTION, etc > ANY AND ALL IS TO ISLAM's = ISLAMISM'S ADVANTAGE. D *** NG IT, BUY YOUR POST-MAD, POST-APOCALYPSE CAMEL FUTURES NOW, SILLY AMERS + WESTERN CRUSADERS - ISLAM WILL RULE THE EARTH ONE WAY OR ANOTHER! IIRC, SEAN CONNERY in THE LION AND THE DESERT [corr title?][paraph] > "When the Mountains, the Seas, and the Forests are gone, when nation had destroyed nation, ONLY THE DESERT WILL BE LEFT AND MY PEOPLE WILL STILL BE HERE". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-01-22 17:26 |
| #7 Your petro dollars at work. Lower primate behavior in action that has nothing to do with real national security. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-01-22 17:16 |
| #6 Russia last month said it would begin major navy sorties into the Mediterranean, with 11 ships backed up by 47 aircraft, that would then travel to the Atlantic for exercises. Probably five times that many cannibalised to get these working. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-01-22 17:03 |
| #5 It would be a hoot if France and Spain sent a marine expeditionary force on maneuvers and landings along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast - just a joint NATO exercise after all. Sarkozy's been fairly bold to date. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Hyperbolic Idiot Detection Service 2008-01-22 16:04 |
| #4 Good chance for Norway to test their "Valkyrie" anti-Bear missiles... |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-01-22 15:03 |
| #3 Excuse me, but does anyone care to speculate what the odds are those bombers would make it over the North Sea in one piece if there was a real war going on? I'm just asking because I wonder if there is really any value to this exercise other than domestic propaganda for Putin? |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2008-01-22 14:59 |
| #2 Test fire missiles. No mention of actually firing them and having them hit something. Discipline is also still a major problem for RussiaÂ’s armed forces, which rely heavily on conscripts and outdated equipment. Telling.... |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-01-22 14:47 |
| #1 Oh boy! "Aircraft carriers and battleships"! Sounds exciting!! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-01-22 14:43 |