DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Canadian Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Bombers in Arctic

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Canadian Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Bombers in Arctic

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources CBC News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 20, 2014: Fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers flying about 75 kilometres off Canada’s Arctic coast in the early morning hours Thursday, NORAD revealed to CBC News.

Two CF-18s met the Tupolev Tu-95 long-range bombers, commonly referred to as "Bears," at around 1:30 a.m. PT as they flew a course in “the western reaches” of Canada’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the Beaufort Sea, said Maj. Beth Smith, spokeswoman for North American Aerospace Defence Command.

The ADIZ extends approximately 320 kilometres from Canada’s coastlines, a distance far beyond the 22 kilometres, or 12 nautical miles, from the coast that define a nation’s sovereign airspace. Smith made it clear that the Russian bombers never entered Canada’s sovereign airspace, but did come within about 75 kilometres of Canada's mainland. 

The encounter comes one day after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivered a speech in Parliament thanking Canada for its ongoing support as his country’s forces battle with pro-Russian separatist rebels.

“This is disturbing. We’ve heard stories like in the past, of Russian bombers challenging Canadian airspace,” said James Bezan, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Defence and a Conservative MP from Manitoba.

“This plays into the narrative of a Putin regime that’s more aggressive not just in Crimea, not just in Ukraine, but indeed testing their neighbour in their entire region," he said. 

About six hours before the CF-18s intercepted the Russian bombers, American F-22 fighter jets were scrambled from a base in Alaska to meet a group of Russian aircraft, including two refuelling tankers, two MiG-31 fighters and two long-range bombers.

After the U.S. jets made contact, the group headed west back towards Russian airspace.

“We’re seeing increased aggressive actions being taken by the Russian Federation,” Bezan said during an interview on CBC’s Power & Politics.

Despite the ongoing tensions between Western allies and Russia, it is not the first time Canadian and U.S. aircraft have intercepted Russian bombers seemingly flying toward sovereign airspace.

According to Smith, NORAD has dispatched fighter jets to make contact with Russian long-range bombers “in excess of 50 times” in the last five years.

Canadian jets intercepted the same type of long-range bombers off the coast of Newfoundland in 2010. After that incident, Peter MacKay, then minister of defence, told CBC News that Canadian military aircraft intercept between 12 and 18 Russian bombers annually.

Fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers flying about 75 kilometres off Canada’s Arctic coast in the early morning hours Thursday, NORAD revealed to CBC News.

Two CF-18s met the Tupolev Tu-95 long-range bombers, commonly referred to as "Bears," at around 1:30 a.m. PT as they flew a course in “the western reaches” of Canada’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the Beaufort Sea, said Maj. Beth Smith, spokeswoman for North American Aerospace Defence Command.

The ADIZ extends approximately 320 kilometres from Canada’s coastlines, a distance far beyond the 22 kilometres, or 12 nautical miles, from the coast that define a nation’s sovereign airspace. Smith made it clear that the Russian bombers never entered Canada’s sovereign airspace, but did come within about 75 kilometres of Canada's mainland. 

The encounter comes one day after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivered a speech in Parliament thanking Canada for its ongoing support as his country’s forces battle with pro-Russian separatist rebels.

“This is disturbing. We’ve heard stories like in the past, of Russian bombers challenging Canadian airspace,” said James Bezan, parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Defence and a Conservative MP from Manitoba.

“This plays into the narrative of a Putin regime that’s more aggressive not just in Crimea, not just in Ukraine, but indeed testing their neighbour in their entire region," he said. 

About six hours before the CF-18s intercepted the Russian bombers, American F-22 fighter jets were scrambled from a base in Alaska to meet a group of Russian aircraft, including two refuelling tankers, two MiG-31 fighters and two long-range bombers.

After the U.S. jets made contact, the group headed west back towards Russian airspace.

“We’re seeing increased aggressive actions being taken by the Russian Federation,” Bezan said during an interview on CBC’s Power & Politics.

Despite the ongoing tensions between Western allies and Russia, it is not the first time Canadian and U.S. aircraft have intercepted Russian bombers seemingly flying toward sovereign airspace.

According to Smith, NORAD has dispatched fighter jets to make contact with Russian long-range bombers “in excess of 50 times” in the last five years.

Canadian jets intercepted the same type of long-range bombers off the coast of Newfoundland in 2010. After that incident, Peter MacKay, then minister of defence, told CBC News that Canadian military aircraft intercept between 12 and 18 Russian bombers annually.

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*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources CBC News
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DTN News: NORAD Flight Exercise Planned For Washington, D.C.

DTN News: NORAD Flight Exercise Planned For Washington, D.C.

Source: U.S. DoD issued No. 1115-10 December 6, 2010

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - December 6, 2010: NORAD Flight Exercise Planned For Washington, D.C.

U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release

On the Web: http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=14113 Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public contact: http://www.defense.gov/landing/comment.aspx or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1115-10 December 06, 2010

NORAD Flight Exercise Planned for Washington, D.C. North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and its geographical component, the Continental U.S. NORAD Region (CONR), will conduct exercise Falcon Virgo 11-03 early Tuesday morning in the National Capital Region, Washington, D.C. The exercise is comprised of a series of training flights and is scheduled to take place between midnight and 2 a.m. In the event of inclement weather, the exercise will take place the next day. If bad weather continues, officials will then make a decision to postpone or cancel the exercise. For more information on Falcon Virgo exercises, please contact CONR Public Affairs at 850-283-8080, or the NORAD Public Affairs Office at 719-554-6889.

*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail.com

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DTN News: NORAD Praises Results Of Joint Air Defense Drills With Russia

DTN News: NORAD Praises Results Of Joint Air Defense Drills With Russia

Source: DTN News / Ria Novosti

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, U.S. - August 12, 2010: Officers of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) say they are satisfied with the results of joint anti-terrorism drills with the Russian Air Force and hope for further cooperation. The exercise, dubbed Vigilant Eagle, was carried out on August 6-11, and involved Russian, Canadian and U.S. air force personnel operating from command centers at the Elmendorf airbase in Alaska, and in Khabarovsk, Russia. "This exercise is one milestone in working together in other future efforts. Our folks are proud to be a part of such an important event and are passionate about partaking in efforts to protect our borders," Air Force Lt. Col. John Oberst was quoted as saying on the NORAD Website. The exercise scenario, put together by NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, created a situation requiring both the Russian Air Force and NORAD to launch or divert fighter aircraft to investigate and follow a U.S. flagged Golfstream 4 plane on an international flight that has been taken over by terrorists. "What we are practicing today is the communication procedures between NORAD, plus U.S. civilian air traffic control agencies and our Russian counterparts so that we can pass on information to them about air terrorism events to allow them to posture their forces to respond in kind," Canadian Forces Col. Todd Balfe, Alaska NORAD Region deputy commander, said. The drills involved U.S. AWACS E-3B and Russian A-50 airborne warning and control aircraft, Russian MiG-31 and Su-27 fighters and U.S. F-22 interceptors, along with refueling aircraft from both countries. The exercise was carried out under a cooperative military agreement between Russia and the United States, which tasks NORAD, the bi-national U.S. and Canadian command, and the Russian Air Force to conduct a live-fly exercise for up to five days.

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DTN News: US, Canada And Russia Having Unique Exercise In NORAD to Test Hijack Response

DTN News: US, Canada And Russia Having Unique Exercise In NORAD to Test Hijack Response

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources

(NSI News Source Info) PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colorado - August 11, 2010: The United States and Russia, which have more bluster than cooperation in their often contentious history, will have their jet fighters take turns pursuing a civilian plane across the Pacific Ocean this week in a first-of-its-kind exercise to test their response to a potential international hijacking. Aircraft and officers from Russia and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canadian agency, are to track the civilian plane, an executive-style jet that was playing the role of a hijacked civilian airliner. The goal is to test how well the two forces can hand off responsibility for the "hijacked" plane. The three-day exercise started Sunday in Alaska. Also participating in Operation Vigilant Eagle were both countries' civil air traffic control agencies. Officials on both sides of the trust-building military exercise chose a mutual, modern-day interest — the fight against terror — to create an incident that could entangle the two countries. "We try to anticipate any potential areas in which it might be necessary for us to launch fighter jets," said Major Michael Humphreys, a NORAD spokesman. A terrorist hijacking, he said, "is every bit as probable as any other" scenario. Moscow faces terrorist attacks by radicals from the North Caucasus. In March, suicide bombers killed 40 on the Moscow metro, and an explosion in November derailed a Moscow-bound train, killing 26. More recently, on July 29, a man caused a hijacking scare at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport when he seized a plane with 105 passengers and crew for about two hours.

The United States is still wrestling with terrorist threats to airplanes and subways nearly nine years after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings. A Nigerian man is accused of trying to blow up a jetliner over Detroit on Dec. 25. Authorities thwarted a purported plot to carry out three suicide bombings on New York subways in September 2009. It is unlikely that Vigilant Eagle was devised to deal with a specific threat, said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, which tracks military and homeland security news. The purpose is more likely a combination of confidence building and rooting out any communication and jurisdictional problems before they crop up in a real emergency, he said. Pike cited the Korean Air Lines flight that the Soviet Union shot down in 1983, killing 269 people. There was an "interface" problem between the Americans and the Soviets because they were looking at different information, Pike said. "I could easily imagine [NORAD] looked at this and said, 'We don't know if we have the phone number of Russian air defense.' This is not something you'd want to improvise on the fly." Progress has come in fits and starts since the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving Russia without the Soviet satellite nations. But the two countries have performed many joint exercises, including search-and-rescue scenarios, and have participated in multinational peacekeeping missions in places like Bosnia. This is the first U.S.-Russian exercise involving NORAD, a U.S.-Canadian command that patrols the skies over North America, Humphreys said. NORAD's headquarters are at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. Vigilant Eagle calls for NORAD F-22s flown by U.S. pilots to follow the "hijacked" plane west across the Pacific until it gets closer to Russian airspace, where Russian MiG-31s take over. On the return trip east, the process will be reversed. Airborne warning and surveillance aircraft from each country will also take part. Officers from Russia, Canada and the United States were aboard the target plane to observe, along with an interpreter. For a short time during the handoff, fighter jets from both sides were to be alongside the target plane. The exercise comes at a time of improving relations between Washington and Moscow, after a low point in August 2008 when Russia sent troops into Georgia to side with a secessionist movement, drawing U.S. criticism. Also complicating the relationship was the U.S. plan to put part of a missile defense system in Central Europe. That drew objections from Moscow because of the proximity to Russia's western border. Vigilant Eagle, originally planned for August 2008, was postponed indefinitely as relations soured. In early 2009, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama began pursuing a "reset" with Russia, and relations began to improve. Both sides may have something to gain from military-to-military cooperation beyond the practical knowledge that comes from a joint exercise. The United States benefits from having better integration and cooperation with the Russian military elite, a group often seen as anti-Western, said Andrew Kuchins, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The more we can do of that, the better the mutual understanding will be," he said. Russia, which is overhauling its military structure, will benefit from the chance to see how the all-volunteer U.S. force works, with its strong corps of noncommissioned officers, said Alexander Golts, an independent military analyst in Moscow. "The Defense Ministry quite a while ago rejected the idea of mass mobilization and woke up to the idea" of a professional army, Golts said. The need for a permanent, professional force capable of rapid deployment became obvious in the 2008 war in Georgia, he said. Russia "welcomes any experience the country can gather to strengthen the ability" of a noncommissioned officer corps, he said.

DTN News: NORAD, Russia To Conduct First-Ever Joint Air Defense Drills

DTN News: NORAD, Russia To Conduct First-Ever Joint Air Defense Drills

Source: DTN News / RIA Novosti

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON, U.S. - August 10, 2010: The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the Russian Air Force will hold their first-ever joint air defense exercise on August 8-11, NORAD said. The exercise, dubbed VIGILANT EAGLE, involves Russian, Canadian and U.S. Air Force personnel operating from command centers at the Elmendorf airbase in Alaska, and in Khabarovsk, Russia. "Airborne warning and control aircraft [AWACS E-3B and A-50] from Russia and the United States will be involved along with fighter-interceptor aircraft and refueling aircraft from both countries," NORAD said in a statement on Tuesday. The exercise scenario, put together by NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, will create a situation that requires both the Russian Air Force and NORAD to launch or divert fighter aircraft to investigate and follow a U.S. flagged commercial air carrier on an international flight that has been taken over by terrorists. The exercise will be carried out under a cooperative military agreement between Russia and the United States, which tasks NORAD, the bi-national U.S. and Canadian command, and the Russian Air Force to conduct a live-fly exercise for up to five days.

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