Russian Bear Bombers Fly Along Alaskan, Canadian Coastline

[Purveyor]

Source: RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, September 20 (RIA Novosti) - Two Russian strategic Tu-95MS Bear-H bombers carried out a flight along the coasts of Alaska and Canada during recent command and post exercises, the Russian Air Force announced Thursday.

"Each Tu-95 plane took about 30 tons of fuel on board, for the first time since the Soviet era. Their average flight duration was about 17 hours, during which the planes covered a distance of over 13,000 km <8,000 miles>," said Alexander Drobyshevsky, an aide to the Air Force commander.

According to the Air Force, the bombers were refueled in the air by Il-78 Midas tankers.

Drobyshevsky also said another pair of Tu-95MS flew around Greenland into the eastern Atlantic, a flight that took about 12 hours.

President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of strategic patrol flights on August 17, saying that although the country halted long-distance strategic flights to remote regions in 1992, other nations had continued the practice, compromising Russian national security.



Read more: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070920/80150569.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. Communists at U.S. Doorstep

Today it was discovered that after years of aggresive expansion, the Soviet Union has stretched its borders to within a mere 12 miles of American soil. The State Department has no immediate comment.

- Milo Bloom, Investigative Reporter for the Bloom County Picayune

[WCGreen]

2. Good old boy Putty Pute...

Bush looked into his soul...

I guess he saw blackness and recognized a kindred spirit....

[goforit]

4. Communist?.....What do ya think we are?

[heliarc]

12. The Soviet Union???

What are you talking about.

[happyslug]

15. It is the "Bloom County Picayune"....

And it has been 12 miles since 1867, when we purchased Alaska from the Russians.

For more on Milo Bloom, author of the piece in question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milo_Bloom

"Milo was also a reporter for the Bloom Beacon and later the Bloom Picayune, where he engaged in controversial reporting (he says he graduated from the "Rupert Murdoch School of Exuberant Journalism").

[Xipe Totec]

18. Bravo, and thanks for helping out

The excerpt is from "The Great Larouche Toad-frog Massacre"

[uppityperson]

3. Headline made me wonder if they were recruiting polar bears. kick.

[unkachuck]

5. maybe....

....Russia is just trying to protect it's new vast Artic oil reserves from interlopers....

[Monk06]

9. KA CHING !!!!!!!!

[Bitwit1234]

6. Do you in a way really blame them??

With this administration aggresive war stance, what country in the world is not afraid that the manic who stole the white house might invade them next. He doesn't need a reason. Just which mood he is in at the time.

[caraher]

8. And don't think this isn't welcome

The "war on terra" doesn't really suit the military-industrial complex business model. We need a technologically sophisticated monster under the bed to justify funneling money to the high-tech arms industries. Bring back the Russkies!

[davepc]

21. it doesn't have anything to do with *

it's about backing up their numerous territorial claims over the arctic.

Once the ice melts and the shipping channels and access to natual resources open up the Russians fully intend to control it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=464921&in_page_id=1811

Russian President Vladimir Putin is making an astonishing bid to grab a vast chunk of the Arctic - so he can tap its vast potential oil, gas and mineral wealth.

His scientists claim an underwater ridge near the North Pole is really part of Russia's continental shelf.

One newspaper printed a map of the "new addition", a triangle five times the size of Britain with twice as much oil as Saudi Arabia.

The dramatic move provoked an international outcry. The U.S. and Canada expressed shock and environment campaigners said it would be a disaster.

Observers say the move is typical of Putin's muscle-flexing as he tries to increase Russian power.

[frylock]

7. According to the Air Force, the bombers were refueled in the air by Il-78 Midas tankers.

fueled by that sweet, sweet Persian crude. But I'm sure these sorties have nothing to do with shithead's sabre rattling.

[MilesColtrane]

22. Exactamundo.

Gentle reminder to Cheney and his brain damaged chimp not to start some shit.

[provis99]

10. good lord, those old heaps can still fly?

Some of those planes must be pushing 50. I wonder if the pilots keep their fingers crossed while they're flying? This will backfire on Putin once one of these flying fossils plummets into the Arctic.

[Hardrada]

11. B-52's are similarly ancient and they are still in use.

[Purveyor]

16. Indeed they are, just like that other old "soviet junk", the Soyuz, that has kept the ISS in

orbit after the failures of the US Nasa Space Shuttle program... {{{chuckle}}}

A bit more on the Tu-95...

Type Strategic bomber, naval patrol, missile carrier, airborne surveillance, airliner
Manufacturer Tupolev
Designed by N.I. Bazenkov
Maiden flight November 12, 1952
Introduced 1956
Status Active in service
Primary user Russian Air Force
Russian Naval Aviation
Number built 500+
Variants Tu-114 (civilian airliner)
Tu-119 (nuclear aircraft)

The Tupolev Tu-95 (Туполев Ту–95) (NATO reporting name Bear) is the most successful and longest-serving Tupolev strategic bomber and missile carrier built by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The Tu-95 is still in service, as of 2007, and expected to remain so with the Russian Air Force until at least 2040.<1> The Tu-95 is powered by four Kuznetsov turboprop engines, each driving contra-rotating propellers, and remains the fastest propeller-driven aircraft to go into operational use. Its wings are swept back at 35 degrees, a very sharp angle by the standards of propeller-driven aircraft.

To date, it remains the only turboprop-powered strategic bomber to have entered operational service. A naval version of the bomber is designated Tu-142.

All Tu-95s now in Russian service are the Tu-95MS variant, built in the 1980s and 1990s. On August 18, 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Tu-95 patrols would resume after having been terminated 15 years prior.

[ksilvas]

13. Turbo Prop Bomber, Cool! nt

[BrotherBuzz]

17. Counter-rotating turbo props - Whicked cool

[EVDebs]

14. What are the Russian and Chinese subs doing ?

[JBoy]

19. Ah, just like the good old days of the Cold War!

[MilesColtrane]

23. We'll meet again...

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when,
But I know we'll meet again, some sunny day.
Keep smiling through, just like you always do,
'Til the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away.

[Tian Zhuangzhuang]

20. In other news Canadian Mounties raid house just miles from NY

People are aware that Russia America and Canada actually share a border. Right? Right?

[zonkers]

24. I say, BRING IT ON.

Just kidding.