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British jets scrambled over Russia bombers: defence ministry
LONDON (AFP) - Royal Air Force fighter jets were scrambled after two Russian bombers were intercepted off the coast of Norway, the defence ministry said Wednesday, after reports they were heading for British airspace.
Two RAF Tornados from Britain's rapid reaction force took off from RAF base Leeming in northern England on Tuesday after two Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16s intercepted two Tu95 "Bear" bombers, it said.
A defence ministry spokesman, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity, told AFP: "We did scramble the jets but they did not intercept the Russians.
"As I understand it, the Norwegians actually intercepted the Russian aircraft off their coast. They didn't come into British airspace." Britain and Norway are separated by the North Sea.
He said there was no connection between the rare incident and Britain's plans to deport four Russian diplomats because of Moscow's refusal to extradite a key suspect for the murder of outspoken dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
Russia has promised a "targeted and appropriate" response to Britain's decision.
The Times on Tuesday also said there was nothing to suggest a connection with the diplomatic stand-off, but it smacked of "old-fashioned sabre-rattling" by Russia and revived "the spirit of the Cold War" in the North Atlantic.
"Any link between that activity and what's happening in London just now is pure speculation," the spokesman told AFP.
Russia, which runs regular aircraft patrols from a base near the northern port city of Murmansk in the Arctic Circle, was equally firm in denying any connection.
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Posted: 2007-07-18 16:32:08
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i'm sure they wouldnt scramble 2 RAF tornado's "just for the fun of it"....
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Posted: 2007-07-18 16:41:53
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Plus, why would the Norwegians feel the need to intercept the jets if they were supposed to be pre-planned exercises?
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Posted: 2007-07-18 16:43:22
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indeed, Putin had said they would respond to the 4 russian diplomats that were expelled from the UK, that turned out to be russian spys anyway...
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Posted: 2007-07-18 16:48:28
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Well if that was the response it was a very dangerous move. A threat against one NATO country is a threat against all members.
NATO will be keeping a beady eye on any further moves.
Britain relies on Russian for a large percentage of its energy reserves but as long as they don't cut off the supply of Vodka I don't mind
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VOTE NOW IN THE ESATO AWARDS[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2007-07-18 16:12 ]
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Posted: 2007-07-18 16:56:52
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On 2007-07-18 16:56:52, goldenface wrote:
Well if that was the response it was a very dangerous move. A threat against one NATO country is a threat against all members.
NATO will be keeping a beady eye on any further moves.
Britain relies on Russian for a large percentage of its energy reserves but as long as they don't cut off the supply of Vodka I don't mind
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VOTE NOW IN THE ESATO AWARDS
[ This Message was edited by: goldenface on 2007-07-18 15:58 ]
Dont worry mate Diageo own Smirnoff now, and its made in this country too
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Posted: 2007-07-18 17:07:47
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There has been load of trouble over location of the missile defence system too so its not as if there are no issues.
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Posted: 2007-07-18 17:15:58
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indeed, maybe they want to take out RAF Fylingdales
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Fylingdales
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Posted: 2007-07-18 17:22:33
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QRA intercepts used to be very common, even regular?, now tho the limiting factor is funding for the russians, there was a major nato exercise in the north sea a few weeks back and that was monitored by the russians using "bears", again these were intercepted by the RAF and other air forces. the RAF has a squadron on 24 hr/365 alert for this sort of thing
By the way the new "typhoon" is taking over from the tornado for these duties, a squadron is now online and working along side a tornado squadron until a full hand over of duties
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Posted: 2007-07-18 17:24:07
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ahh yes, some of these....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurofighter_Typhoon
Scary, the russians have 500+ of these Tu95's:
Armament
Guns: 1 or 2× AM-23 23 mm cannon in tail turret
Missiles: Up to 15,000 kg (33,000 lb), including the Kh-20, Kh-22, Kh-26, and Kh-55 air-to-surface missiles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-95
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[ This Message was edited by: batesie on 2007-07-18 16:34 ]
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Posted: 2007-07-18 17:29:18
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