CALDEIRÃO DE BOLSA

Keyser Soze Escreveu:é a Rússia a fazer peito

Putin’s Cold War revival stalls before it begins

August 31, 2007, 9:32 AM

The Russian Air Force is not up to carrying out the Russian president’s order to renew long-range nuclear bomber flights

This lays bare the sorry state of Russia’s air force and aviation industry.

September 6, 2007
Russian Bears force RAF to scramble



The RAF was involved in its biggest scrambling mission since the Cold War today, launching four Tornados to intercept eight Russian long-range Bear bombers which were approaching Britain in formation.

The four Tornado F3 air-defence aircraft from RAF Leeming in North Yorkshire and RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire headed off the Russian Tupolev-95 Bear-H bombers which turned away before entering UK airspace.

The bombers had first appeared over the Arctic and were approaching Norwegian airspace. Four Norwegian air force F16s scrambled to shadow them. The bombers had flown in international airspace from the Barents Sea to the Atlantic before heading for Britain.

Although there have been several incidents this year in which pairs of Russian Bears have flown towards UK airspace and have been intercepted by RAF aircraft on quick-reaction alert duty, today's was the first time that the Russians had deployed so many of their strategic nuclear-capable bombers to test Britain’s air defences.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that four Tornado F3s had been scrambled to intercept the Bears. Last month the RAF scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoons for the first time to head off two Bears. The Typhoons, the RAF’s latest combat aircraft, share the duties of monitoring Britain’s airspace with the Tornado F3s. The Typhoons are based at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

Scrambling to intercept Russian strategic bombers approaching UK airspace is becoming an expensive business for the RAF. It costs more than £40,000 an hour for a Tornado F3 to take to the skies. Today's operation to shadow the eight Russian Bears will have cost at least £161,000.

The arrival of the Bears was no surprise. Yesterday, Colonel Alexander Drobyshevsky, a Russian air force spokesman, announced that Bear bombers would begin a series of patrols which had been approved by the Kremlin.

A total of 14 Bears were launched and flew over the Pacific, the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. They were refuelled in mid-air, each flying for about 17 hours.

Colonel Drobyshevsky said all the Bears had “performed in accordance with international rules”.

“The aircraft fly over neutral waters and do not get close to air borders of foreign states,” he said.

It was normal practice during the Cold War for the Russians to maintain permanent nuclear-bomber patrols. But these were stopped in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

However, President Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, has ordered the resumption of the long-range patrols in a move seen in the West as a deliberate attempt to reassert Russia’s Cold War military status, although Moscow has indicated that the bombers do not carry nuclear weapons.

Mr Putin made a public announcement about his decision to resume the long-range patrols last month. He said other countries continued the practice which he claimed was causing problems for Russian national security.

The tactic has heightened tensions with the West, although Washington has played down the significance of the patrols. “If Russia feels as though they want to take some of these old aircraft out of mothballs and get them flying again, that’s their decision,” a US State Department official said.

Today's interception of eight Bears was the fourth time that RAF aircraft have had to be scrambled this year. In May, two Tornado F3s were launched from RAF Leuchars in Scotland to intercept a Bear observing a Royal Navy exercise, called Neptune Warrior; and in July two more Bear bombers were headed off by two Tornados as they approached UK airspace.

The Tu-95 Bears are propellor-driven long-range aircraft that were developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War as a nuclear strike force, but are now used for surveillance missions.

Força Aérea defende soberania dos Bálticos
Missão no quadro da NATO decorre no final do ano

Quatro caças F-16 portugueses vão garantir a defesa aérea dos três países bálticos - Estónia, Letónia e Lituânia - entre Novembro e Dezembro deste ano, disseram ao DN fontes militares.

Portugal assume aquela missão no quadro da NATO e por um período de seis semanas a partir de 1 de Novembro, substituindo a Roménia. A base de operações situa-se na Lituânia, mas a responsabilidade da Força Aérea Portuguesa (FAP) estende-se aos três Estados bálticos, referiu fonte oficial do ramo.

Entre a quase centena de militares (pilotos, controladores, mecânicos) a colocar pela FAP no terreno, numa fase já adiantada do Inverno árctico, vão estar meteorologistas - uma estreia nos destacamentos operacionais do ramo no estrangeiro, adiantou ao DN um desses especialistas. Essa oportunidade, embora limitada aos previsores do tempo, vai permitir a aquisição de uma estação meteorológica móvel. Registe-se que a Lituânia, que não tem aviação de combate, garante o apoio em certas áreas - como a da defesa NBQR (nuclear, biológica, química e radiológica).

Quanto aos rigores do clima lituano, que obriga os militares a usar dois uniformes (em certas circunstâncias, mesmo três), um porta-voz do ramo desvalorizou o problema. "A FAP, sendo uma força aérea expedicionária, tem vindo a preparar-se [para os diversos cenários de actuação] e, há poucas semanas, até participou num exercício com F-16 na Noruega, a fim de as aeronaves e tripulações serem sujeitas aos rigores do Árctico e poder confirmar-se que conseguem operar naquelas condições", disse o major Paulo Gonçalves.

"Estamos perfeitamente convictos que vai ser um obstáculo a ultrapassar", até porque o verdadeiro problema está nos aviões (óleos e combustíveis próprios, capas de aquecimento) e não nos militares - daí que a FAP espere ter o destacamento dos caças de intercepção pronto a partir "no princípio de Julho" e não planeie realizar qualquer treino ou preparação específica até ao momento da partida, acrescentou.

A missão da FAP vai realizar-se num contexto de agravamento das relações político-militares da Rússia com a NATO - alargamento para Leste, projecto de defesa antimíssil dos EUA na Europa - e com os próprios Bálticos, onde o recente derrube da estátua (na Estónia) de um herói russo gerou fortes protestos.

Ulisses Pereira Escreveu:Já estou para colocar esta notícia há umas 2 horas, mas os problemas do Caldeirão têm impedido.