Lopettaa
27-09-2008, 10:17 PM
If it would have been Finland's airspace, perhaps nothing would have been said, but it happened to be Norway. Is this just another way the Kremlin is showing it's military dominiance in the region?
BODOE AIRBASE, Norway (AFP) - Russian bombers have returned to the skies in Europe's far north after years of absence, putting NATO's jet fighters on alert once again.
At the Bodoe airbase, above the Arctic circle, two F-16s are always on call, ready to take off in less than 15 minutes for stand-offs with surprise visitors from Norway's eastern neighbour.
"We have noticed a clear rise in Russian aerial activity over the past year," said base air commander general Per Egil Rygg.
"This has given us a lot more to do," he added.
In 2006, Norwegian F-16s carried out 13 emergency take-offs to "identify", as the military jargon goes, 14 Russian planes.
A year later, the number of emergency take-offs leapt to 47, with a whopping 88 Russian planes "identified".
The increase appears to be largely due to a decision by then-president Vladimir Putin to relaunch strategic bomber flights "on a permanent basis".
To keep up with the Russian planes, two fighter pilots and four mechanics remain on high alert at the Bodoe base 24 hours a day.
The government in Oslo showed a laid-back attitude. The reappearance of the Tu-95 "Bear" and Tu-160 "Blackjack" bombers, it says, is primarily a sign that Moscow has gained more budgetary wiggle-room, enabling it to carry out more training missions.
Located just some 600 kilometres (373 miles) from the Russian border, Bodoe has always been a strategic geopolitical location for the United States and its allies, something the town's aviation museum is quick to point out.
The museum, located just a stone's throw from the airbase, is home to a rare specimen of the same American U2 spy plane as the one shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 during a secret mission that had been scheduled to end in the small Norwegian town.
A good-natured 31-year-old captain, who asks to remain anonymous, explains that he is one of the fighter pilots who is regularly sent up to face-off with the Russians.
"We avoid any kind of provocation," he insists. "We come from the back and we keep our distance all the time, no less than 500 feet (152 metres) from them. They proceed with their mission normally. They don't do anything special just because we're there," he adds.
Moscow News - National - Russian bombers fly in Europe?s far north (http://www.mnweekly.ru/national/20080905/55345224.html)
BODOE AIRBASE, Norway (AFP) - Russian bombers have returned to the skies in Europe's far north after years of absence, putting NATO's jet fighters on alert once again.
At the Bodoe airbase, above the Arctic circle, two F-16s are always on call, ready to take off in less than 15 minutes for stand-offs with surprise visitors from Norway's eastern neighbour.
"We have noticed a clear rise in Russian aerial activity over the past year," said base air commander general Per Egil Rygg.
"This has given us a lot more to do," he added.
In 2006, Norwegian F-16s carried out 13 emergency take-offs to "identify", as the military jargon goes, 14 Russian planes.
A year later, the number of emergency take-offs leapt to 47, with a whopping 88 Russian planes "identified".
The increase appears to be largely due to a decision by then-president Vladimir Putin to relaunch strategic bomber flights "on a permanent basis".
To keep up with the Russian planes, two fighter pilots and four mechanics remain on high alert at the Bodoe base 24 hours a day.
The government in Oslo showed a laid-back attitude. The reappearance of the Tu-95 "Bear" and Tu-160 "Blackjack" bombers, it says, is primarily a sign that Moscow has gained more budgetary wiggle-room, enabling it to carry out more training missions.
Located just some 600 kilometres (373 miles) from the Russian border, Bodoe has always been a strategic geopolitical location for the United States and its allies, something the town's aviation museum is quick to point out.
The museum, located just a stone's throw from the airbase, is home to a rare specimen of the same American U2 spy plane as the one shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 during a secret mission that had been scheduled to end in the small Norwegian town.
A good-natured 31-year-old captain, who asks to remain anonymous, explains that he is one of the fighter pilots who is regularly sent up to face-off with the Russians.
"We avoid any kind of provocation," he insists. "We come from the back and we keep our distance all the time, no less than 500 feet (152 metres) from them. They proceed with their mission normally. They don't do anything special just because we're there," he adds.
Moscow News - National - Russian bombers fly in Europe?s far north (http://www.mnweekly.ru/national/20080905/55345224.html)