TU-95 Bomber Aircraft For Sale on eBay
From the International Business Times comes the following...
Quote:
A Soviet-era bomber aircraft "in very good condition" has been put up for sale on the internet auction site eBay, with a starting price of only $3m (£1.8m).
What a sweet deal indeed, with "just over 454 hours of the 5,000 hours it is capable of" you could own this thing with world renowned reputation of "one of the noisiest aircraft in the world, with the roar of its propellers reportedly detectable by the hydrophones of submerged submarines".
Diplomacy needs a cruiser plus
Quote:
The Australian defence ministry is tracking a fleet of Russia warships sailing in international waters near its coast.
It is believed the vessels, currently in the Coral Sea near Papua New Guinea, could be heading to Brisbane for next week’s G20 summit, which Vladimir Putin will attend.
Russia’s Pacific flagship, the Varyag, is leading the contingent south, accompanied by destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov and one of the world’s most powerful tugs, the Fotiy Krylov. A supply tanker called Boris Butoma is accompanying them towards Australia’s east coast.
Link to UK coverage:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...t-9855308.html
To Australian coverage:http://www.news.com.au/national/russ...-1227120928528
Having a Russian naval flotilla at a G20 summit is hardly new. One assumes the voyage southwards was noted days before the press reporting.
Russian aircrew need a warm place to fly to
From the BBC today:
Quote:
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said there was a plan to provide long-range aviation maintenance for the flights....On Wednesday, Mr Shoigu said "long-range aviation units" would fly along the borders of the Russian Federation and over the waters of the Arctic Ocean. He added: "Under the prevailing circumstances we need to ensure a military presence in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans, the waters of the Caribbean basin and the Gulf of Mexico.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30028371
Back to an old 'Cold War' deployment pattern then.
Russian-Chinese Naval Exercises in the Mediterranean?
Taken from a German-authored story repeated on a Swiss blog:http://www.offiziere.ch/?p=18618
Partly speculative the author admits, in particular whether China would want to join in such an exercise.
Help! There's a (Russian) sub out there
Quote:
The British government acknowledged today that a submarine periscope had been sighted in waters near a main U.K. base, (
off west Scotland), touching off a massive NATO
hunt in November.....A pair of U.S. Navy P-3 Orions, as well as Canadian and French planes and two British warships, scoured the waters for days when the periscope was seen in November.
Link:http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...-in-uk-waters/
More detail:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...sh-waters.html
Embarassing as the UK has no maritime patrol aircraft. Even more as the only 'main' UK base in western Scotland are the Trident SSBN facilities in the Clyde. Taken alongside the current higher level of Russian flights and probing it is to say the least interesting.
Bears go south to get warm and fish to the north
Quote:
Russian strategic bombers conducted a third circumnavigation of the U.S. Pacific island of Guam last week as other bombers flew close to Alaska and Europe....Two Tu-95 Bear H bombers made the flight around Guam, a key U.S. military hub in the western Pacific, on Dec. 13. No U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow the bombers....Separately, two Canadian F-18s intercepted two Bear bombers that intruded into the Alaska ADIZ on Dec. 8
Link:http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz3MSBvhwVn
Help! There's a (Russian) 2nd sub out there
Oh dear, once again a suspected Russian submarine periscope appears near the transit route for the UK's nuclear missile submarines, based in the Firth of Clyde. This time a RN frigate was on station and needed two USN maritime patrol aircraft's help:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...submarine.html
Bears over the sea or inland?
Earlier today the MoD issued a statement about two TU-95 Bear long-range recce / bombers being intercepted off Cornwall and that they were escorted away by the RAF.
BBC:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31530840
The Guardian's first report:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...cornwall-coast
Later The Guardian reported two witnesses familiar with aircraft spotted two aircraft spotted over North Cornwall, near an old RAF / USN base:http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2...space-witness?
This could become interesting! Needless to say officially there were no Bears over Cornwall.;)
Inspecting not spying or intruding
Someone in Moscow appears to have a sense of humour:
Quote:
Russian military inspectors are attending massive naval war games off the coast of Scotland it has been disclosed. The Ministry of Defence has been forced to accept a four-day visit of military experts from Moscow under a European arms control treaty.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-Scotland.html