TU-95 intercepted by Portuguese Air Force

[Spotter21]

Hello from Portugal.

Last week was very "hot" here in portuguese air space, by the russian visitors.

There was several intercept missions by our F-16's, in my blog there are the Portuguese Air Force photo's of the last TU-95 Bear intercepted in Portugal air space

TU-95 Bear intercepted

Best Regards

Jorge Ruivo

[shawn a]

The real question is...could your aircraft have taken out the intruders, or were they effectively escorted with aircraft that could protect them?
All this is hypothetical, of course.
Shawn A.

[Webmaster]

He's just promoting his blog I guess, I'll bite.

- The Russian Bears generally stay in international airspace on their long range atlantic missions, so it's not like they're intruders. I doubt "intercepted in Portugal air space
" is really true. The Russians probing Baltic QRA is another story.
- Unlike the Portuguese F-16s in the Baltics, looks like this F-16 only carries two Sidewinders, no AMRAAMs. Although useless this close, that's still concerning. Wondering if a second flight was covering by the time of the intercept, doubt it.
- No, close to Portuguese airspace there'd be no escorts for these Bears. The Russians have been sending accompanying Su-27/30s, A-50, Il-78 on Bear/Blackjack flights up north, but I think there's not been cases yet where they ventured past the Scottish isles. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't heard of escorts for the Pacific flights either.


Finally, I'd like to say, looks it's the Air Force's Tu-95MS again, the "strategic deterrent". While we're all so busy worrying about them, let's not forget what's going on with the Russian Navy. I'm amazed/appalled to see these Borei-class subs entering service slowly but surely.