Russian planes intercepted near Alaska.
A NORAD official says six Russian military planes, including two MiG-31 fighter jets, entered U.S. airspace.
NOT sure if it was 6 or 8 jets...the info gives 2 different statements..
U.S., Canadian jets intercept 8 Russian aircraft
Two F-22 fighter jets intercepted six Russian military airplanes that neared the western coast of Alaska, military officials said Friday.
Lt. Col. Michael Jazdyk, a spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said the U.S. jets intercepted the planes about 55 nautical miles from the Alaskan coast at about 7 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday.
The Russian planes were identified as two IL-78 refueling tankers, two Mig-31 fighter jets and two Bear long-range bombers. They looped south and returned to their base in Russia after the U.S. jets were scrambled.
At about 1:30 a.m. Thursday, two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets intercepted two of the long-range bombers about 40 nautical miles off the Canadian coastline in the Beaufort Sea.
In both cases, the Russian planes entered the Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends about 200 miles from the coastline. They did not enter sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada.
Jazdyk said the fighter jets were scrambled "basically to let those aircraft know that we see them, and in case of a threat, to let them know we are there to protect our sovereign airspace."
In the past five years, jets under NORAD's command have intercepted more than 50 Russian bombers approaching North American airspace.
NORAD is a binational American and Canadian command responsible for air defense in North America.
http://news.yahoo.com/us-canadian-jets-intercept-8-russian-aircraft-232846452.html
Tit for Tat
Confirmed: US spy plane fleeing Russian jet invaded Swedish airspace
(http://img.rt.com/files/news/2b/63/80/00/us-spy-plane-sweden.si.jpg)
US officials have confirmed Swedish media reports of a mid-July incident in which an American spy plane invaded Sweden's airspace as it was evading a Russian fighter jet. The maverick plane was spying on Russia when it was intercepted.
http://rt.com/news/177720-us-spy-plane-sweden/
Where were YOU when WWIII Started ::)
The incident, which happened on July 18, went public last Wednesday after a classified document from Sweden's Defense Ministry was leaked to the press.
The plane, a Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint, entered Sweden's airspace after permission to do so was denied by traffic control, Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper said. It passed from the east over the island of Gotland and flew more than 200km over 90 minutes before leaving.
The aerial incursion was caused by a Russian fighter jet, which scrambled from a base in the exclave Kaliningrad Region and approached the American reconnaissance plane.
Neither party involved in the incident confirmed or denied it, but a source in the US military told CNN on weekend that it indeed happen.
yeah sure looks like tit for tat when you look at the dates
Armed Forces
US: Spy plane flew over Swedish airspace to avoid Russian military
Published August 03, 2014
·FoxNews.com
The U.S. military acknowledged Sunday that an Air Force spy plane slipped into Swedish airspace without permission last month to avoid a possible encounter with a Russian aircraft.
The statement by Navy Capt. Gregory Hicks confirms widespread published reports alleging the July 18 incident.
Hicks said the U.S. RC-135 aircraft was flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea when the incident occurred, and that "U.S. personnel" directed the plane's commander to "vector" into Swedish airspace.
He said the plane exited the space after being told by Swedish air traffic controllers about the error and that the craft returned safely to its home station.
The incident occurred one day after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down by a missile over eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. The craft, in which all 298 onboard were killed, was allegedly downed by Russian separatists in Ukraine who were supplied and trained by Moscow.
Hicks also said Sunday that the U.S. European Command, whose headquarters is in Stuttgart, Germany, will "take active steps to ensure we have properly communicated with Swedish authorities in advance to prevent similar issues before they arise."
The maneuver by the U.S. plane was to avoid at least one fighter jet Russia sent to intercept the craft, U.S. officials told CNN on Saturday.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/03/us-spy-plane-went-into-swedish-air-space-to-avoid-russia-craft-day-after/
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Russian nuclear-capable bombers 'tested' US air defenses 16 times in last 10 days
Published time: August 07, 2014 20:58
Edited time: August 08, 2014 12:19
Russian strategic nuclear bombers and other military aircraft entered US air defense identification zones (ADIZs) at least 16 times over the past ten days, American defense officials confirmed on Thursday.
"Over the past week, NORAD has visually identified Russian aircraft operating in and around the US air defense identification zones," said Maj. Beth Smith, spokeswoman for US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Smith sought to downplay the incursions that she called "a spike in activity," telling the Washington Free Beacon's Bill Gertz that the flights were assessed as routine training missions and exercises.
But an unnamed defense official familiar with the incursion reports disagreed with Smith's assessment. "These are not just training missions," the official told Gertz, saying that Russian strategic nuclear forces appear to be "trying to test our air defense reactions, or our command and control systems."
NORAD scrambled fighter jets several times when Russian strategic aircraft flew along US ADIZs. The planes included a mix of Tu-95 Bear H heavy bombers and Tu-142 Bear F maritime reconnaissance aircraft, as well as one IL-20 intelligence collection aircraft, Smith said.
The bomber flights took place mainly along the Alaskan air defense identification zone that covers the Aleutian Islands and the continental part of the state, and one incursion involved entry into Canada's air defense zone, she added.
"Such aerial bravado has been rare since the fall of the Soviet Union," News.com.au wrote. "Until now."
"And it all appears to be a direct result of the cooling of relations between the West and Russia over the invasion of Crimea and the shooting-down of MH17," the Australian News Corp site added.
During the Cold War, Soviet bombers sought to trigger US air defenses as preparation for a potential nuclear conflict.
The recent spike in activity after a surface-to-air missile brought down the Malaysia Airlines plane is not the first time Russian military planes were detected in US ADIZs this summer. On June 9, a pair of Tu-95 Bear H aircraft maintained by Russia came close to US airspace during practice bombing while four of the planes were conducting bombing runs near Alaska, a NORAD spokesman told Gertz.
"After tracking the bombers as they flew eastward, two of the four Bears turned around and headed west toward the Russian Far East," he wrote of the June incident. "The remaining two nuclear-capable bombers then flew southeast and around 9:30 P.M. entered the US northern air defense zone off the coast of Northern California."
Those two aircraft, Gertz added, made it within 50 miles of the coast before turning around after a US F-15 intercepted them.
Russian aircraft have also made incursions into other countries' airspace this year. In June, the UK's Royal Air Force scrambled Typhoon fighter jets to intercept four flights of aircraft in the airspace around the Baltic states. The planes included advanced Tu-22M Backfire bombers, Su-27 Flanker interceptors, an A-50 Mainstay radar aircraft and a transport aircraft, News.com.au wrote. Russian-owned Tu-95 bombers skirted UK airspace and have come close to US property in both Guam and California, The Aviationist reported in May.
In an April incident in international airspace between Russia and Japan, two Russian Su-27 Flanker interceptors flew beneath a US Air Force reconnaissance plane, then "popped up" ahead of the jet, which was forced to take evasive maneuvers, according to News.com.au.
The United States has been flying spy missions of its own, however. Over the weekend, US officials confirmed Swedish media reports that an American spy plane invaded Sweden's airspace in mid-July. The maverick plane was spying on Russia when it was intercepted, and was evading a Russian fighter jet when it entered Swedish airspace without permission. Air traffic control had denied the Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint entrance, Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper said. The incident occurred on July 18, the day after MH17 was shot down.
http://rt.com/usa/178820-russia-military-flights-us-airspace/
Yeah we are probing each other again to test responses. When I was in Europe in the early 70's they would probe the borders. The ball would go up and we went on alert. I wonder if the US will go back to making SAC a 24/7 entity again? Nah, they are already gutting our military...why would the executive branch do that?