"July Fourth message from Russian bombers......"
That was the message two Russian bombers delivered while flying within tens of miles of the California coast this month to the U.S. fighter jets that intercepted them, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
The greeting may have been unusual, but the close encounter was not. Russian military planes have been encountered near U.S. airspace a number of times before..........According to U.S. defense officials, four long-range Russian Tu-95 Bear-H bombers, accompanied by an aerial refueling tanker, flew into the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone, an area extending 200 miles from the North American coast, off Alaska, where they were intercepted by U.S. F-22 fighter jets.
Two of the Russian bombers peeled off and headed west, while the other two flew south and were identified by U.S. F-15 fighters within 50 miles of the California coast....The Russian pilots used an emergency aircraft communication channel to send the message, a NORAD spokesman told CNN on Wednesday, providing new details about an event first reported earlier this month.
***He declined to describe the move as a threat but said the incident was "potentially destabilizing," because the Russian approach was unannounced and the bombers in question are nuclear-capable.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/politi...ept/index.html
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Originally Posted by NightTrain
