this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Not really newsworthy.

They do this regularly. It's normal.

It's used to test reaction time. They fly towards the border, then see how fast the jets scramble.

Eg.

https://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/23/world/europe/russian-bombers-intercepted/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/03/military-aircraft-interventions-have-surged-top-gun-but-for-real

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/17/raf-fighters-intercept-two-russian-bombers-uk-airspace

https://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/18/politics/russian-bombers-f-22-intercept-alaska/index.html

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/11/politics/us-stealth-fighters-intercept-russian-bombers/index.html

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/08/politics/us-aircraft-intercept-russian-bombers/index.html

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/31/politics/russian-jet-nato-b-52/index.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-planes-over-north-sea-intercepted-by-belgian-f-16s-dutch-defence-2021-11-12/

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/30/politics/nato-russia-jets/index.html

Here's a few where the Russian scrambled jets when the US flew to near Russia:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/21/russia-says-warplane-scrambled-a-us-bombers-flew-over-baltic-sea

https://www.the-sun.com/news/3736802/russia-warplanes-intercept-us-b-52-nuclear/

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-scrambles-two-fighter-jets-escort-us-strategic-bombers-over-black-sea-ria-2021-10-20/

Caveat: the Russians try to portray any flight even slightly near the Russian border as very agressive and obviously use any and all incidents to play a round of whataboutism. They've also got this whole narrative going about NATO being about to invade Russia. Meanwhile western media will portray these intercepts as very agressive and unprofessional, something the Russians will deny, but given what happened with that drone a while back that's likely true.

Occasionally someone will violate someone else's airspace, especially if countries degree where it starts/ends. Also not uncommon.

Same thing with China.

Not really a big deal, except that time Turkey shut down a Russian jet, or occasional spy ballon/drone shootdowns. Certainly unlikely to start a war.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, they also buzz Alaska and Seattle on a regular basis as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What’s to prevent them from allowing the planes into airspace, warning them, then forcing them to land if they don’t GTFO after the 1st warning?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Because, unlike the safe fragile bubble society has built around you, military forces only respond to agression and violence. Kind words and warnings belong to the politicians, self defense is non-negotiable; rules of engagement are mandated by politics.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

There's this thing called a missile. 50 kg of high explosive at the front end of the missile will blow the other aircraft out of the sky.

That's what keeps these planes from nuking your cities.