Russia scrambled fighter jets, to casually herd a pair of our B-52H strategic bombers out of their airspace. The announcement came on Sunday, while Joe Biden was cowering in his beach house, agonizing over the fact nobody will let him stay in the election. He’s really avoiding the decision to step down, though it’s equally inevitable. The airspace incursion’s really no big deal. The Pentagon sent the bombers out as a little show of force. The idea was to send them over Finland, as a welcoming gesture to the newest NATO ally. To do the flyover, they had to cross Russian airspace over the Barents Sea. Since the Russians have a whole bunch of secret operations going on in the Arctic, they really weren’t happy about it. There isn’t much they can do except lodge a formal protest. Which they did.
Russia turns away bombers
Russia says that their fighter jets turned away a pair of our bombers before we crossed their border. The Pentagon admits the U.S. Air Force B-52H strategic bombers were intercepted over the Barents Sea but deny they changed course to appease the Kremlin.
They were on the way to Romania’s 57th Air Force Base, Mihail Kogelniceanu and they made it there safely.
According to a press release issued in Europe, “They will participate in the Bomber Task Force Europe operation.” That’s what really has Russia upset.
Two US Air Force B-52H Stratofortresses arrived at Mihail Kogalniceanu Airbase in Romania for Bomber Task Force on July 21.
They were intercepted by Russian over Barents Sea but did not change course. First time US strategic bombers have based at Romania.https://t.co/VbuJFUt4wS pic.twitter.com/JlVq7qipjK
— Ryan Chan 陳家翹 (@ryankakiuchan) July 21, 2024
“At the new location, they will operate as part of the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron of the US Air Force, and will also begin to interact with NATO forces.”
After being escorted through Russian airspace, the nuclear bombers picked up an escort of fighters from both Finland and Romania, who stayed with them the rest of the way. A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry of Russia posted on social media that “The crews of the Russian fighters identified the aerial target as a pair of US Air Force B-52H strategic bombers.”
In response, they “scrambled MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighter jets.” They claim to have scared us off. “As the Russian fighter jets approached, the American strategic bombers adjusted their flight course and subsequently turned away from the state border of the Russian Federation.”
Over neutral waters
In our defense, even Russia acknowledges that their “warplanes carried out the flight in compliance with international rules on the use of airspace over neutral waters.” The problem is that the course our bombers were flying would carry them across the border into the Russian motherland. Having nuclear bombers overflying Moscow would have really made them nervous.
Especially when it’s clear that Joe Biden has totally lost his mind. He’s not in control, so maybe one of his generals might try one of those “Dr. Strangelove” style operations on his own authority. Who knows?
This isn’t the first time Russia complained about similar incidents. Their planes are confronting NATO aircraft all the time. Especially, with “acute tension over the war in Ukraine.”
US Air Force B-52H strategic bombers fly over NATO newcomer Finland, accompanied by Finnish fighters
No russian "red line" has been broken. Nothing happened.
It would be the same if all restrictions on Ukraine were finally lifted. pic.twitter.com/5atgEio9AK— Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 (@jurgen_nauditt) July 21, 2024
Not only do we fly our jets around wherever we like, the U.S. “regularly conducts drone flights over the Black Sea, asserting that these operations occur in neutral airspace and comply with international law.”
In March, 2023, one of the Russian pilots in a Su-27 fighter jet came across one of our MQ-9 Reaper drone. He decided to play a little game of chicken.
It’s not clear if he actually clipped the drone or just flew close enough to damage it with airflow turbulence. In any case, it crashed into the Black Sea. We were a little miffed with Russia about it, but just like this time, with the shoe on the other foot, there’s not much we can do.
