Russian Bear spotted - scramble the RAF!
Discussion
So a Russian bomber of some kind flew towards UK airspace and the RAF bravely intercepted it to take some photos and send it packing....
So what would happen if the RAF didn't bother? As far as I'm aware the Russians don't want a war with us, any more than we do with them. So why do we waste so much fuel sending planes up.
Surely the British way is to send a stiffly worded letter?
So what would happen if the RAF didn't bother? As far as I'm aware the Russians don't want a war with us, any more than we do with them. So why do we waste so much fuel sending planes up.
Surely the British way is to send a stiffly worded letter?
TTmonkey said:
So a Russian bomber of some kind flew towards UK airspace and the RAF bravely intercepted it to take some photos and send it packing....
So what would happen if the RAF didn't bother? As far as I'm aware the Russians don't want a war with us, any more than we do with them. So why do we waste so much fuel sending planes up.
Surely the British way is to send a stiffly worded letter?
So what would happen if the RAF didn't bother? As far as I'm aware the Russians don't want a war with us, any more than we do with them. So why do we waste so much fuel sending planes up.
Surely the British way is to send a stiffly worded letter?
They generally don't speak good English, if we tried to send a letter in Russian something catastrophic could be lost in translation... The only way to deal with these 'intruders' is the cold steel, they don't like it up 'em! I'm telling you Mr Mainwaring, they don't like it up 'em !!
ecsrobin said:
Intelligence gathering, we take photos of them they take photos of us.
I think we've covered this before. We paint the RAF's fighter a different colour on each side, then alternate the side it formates on each time. That way the Ruskies think we have twice as many fighters.I doubt Putin is particularly bothered by whatever we have.
A key reason is because the Russians fly straight through controlled airspace with transponders off. That means they don't show up on normal civilian secondary surveillance radar nor the Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems used by many civilian aircraft. Primary radar (detecting reflected radio waves) has limited coverage and feeds may not be available to all civilian ATC units.
Therefore NATO air forces intercept and escort Russian military aircraft in their respective Flight Information Regions and act as a beacon so that ATC can control other traffic out of the way. Note the UK FIR is not the same thing as sovereign UK airspace (airspace up to the 12nm maritime limit).
Extent of European FIRs:
Therefore NATO air forces intercept and escort Russian military aircraft in their respective Flight Information Regions and act as a beacon so that ATC can control other traffic out of the way. Note the UK FIR is not the same thing as sovereign UK airspace (airspace up to the 12nm maritime limit).
Extent of European FIRs:
ninja-lewis said:
A key reason is because the Russians fly straight through controlled airspace with transponders off. That means they don't show up on normal civilian secondary surveillance radar nor the Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems used by many civilian aircraft. Primary radar (detecting reflected radio waves) has limited coverage and feeds may not be available to all civilian ATC units.
Therefore NATO air forces intercept and escort Russian military aircraft in their respective Flight Information Regions and act as a beacon so that ATC can control other traffic out of the way. Note the UK FIR is not the same thing as sovereign UK airspace (airspace up to the 12nm maritime limit).
Extent of European FIRs:
thanks. I can accept that as a logical reason. Makes far more sense than intelligence gathering.Therefore NATO air forces intercept and escort Russian military aircraft in their respective Flight Information Regions and act as a beacon so that ATC can control other traffic out of the way. Note the UK FIR is not the same thing as sovereign UK airspace (airspace up to the 12nm maritime limit).
Extent of European FIRs:
Boatbuoy said:
CoolHands said:
So do Norway Iceland etc send up planes everytime Russia go near them to get to us?
I can imagine that the Norwegians probably do, but seeing as Iceland has no airforce....Icelandic air policing is undertaken by NATO, so us and Norwegians I guess.
)
I don't think Norway scramble jets everytime Russisk planes fly over as I think they'd be very busy all the time considering Norway and Russia share borders. It at least doesn't make the news every time like it does back in the UK.
Although, the wifes cousin is currently serving in the Norwegian Navy and they're constantly patrolling up North, in fact left on Monday aboard the Fridtjoft Nansen frigate to patrol the waters that boarder Russia.
There was an incident last year, when a Norwegian crabbing boat was captured by Russia and had it's 30m NOK catch of snow crab confiscated by Russia in the disputed Norwegian/Russian waters.
Although, the wifes cousin is currently serving in the Norwegian Navy and they're constantly patrolling up North, in fact left on Monday aboard the Fridtjoft Nansen frigate to patrol the waters that boarder Russia.
There was an incident last year, when a Norwegian crabbing boat was captured by Russia and had it's 30m NOK catch of snow crab confiscated by Russia in the disputed Norwegian/Russian waters.
TTmonkey said:
So a Russian bomber of some kind flew towards UK airspace and the RAF bravely intercepted it to take some photos and send it packing....
So what would happen if the RAF didn't bother? As far as I'm aware the Russians don't want a war with us, any more than we do with them. So why do we waste so much fuel sending planes up.
Our pilots would get lazy and out of practice, our readiness would slip, and when eventually the sSo what would happen if the RAF didn't bother? As far as I'm aware the Russians don't want a war with us, any more than we do with them. So why do we waste so much fuel sending planes up.
t did hit the fan we'd find ourselves having to play catch up. Given that our pilots are pretty much constantly doing ops in other places, keeping them trained is probably a good thing.That's before we get onto things like sovereignty, national pride, and projecting an image of competence and having the power to back up any diplomacy we might engage in.
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