Military Aviation > Military Aviation News

TU-95 intercepted by Portuguese Air Force

(1/1)

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.

Navigation

[0] Message Index