Bear Bombers Over Guam

[SarasotaRepub]

Man, Putin is real scared of Lord Obama!!!

BY: Bill Gertz
February 15, 2013 4:04 pm

Russian nuclear bombers circle Guam

Two Russian nuclear-armed bombers circled the western Pacific island of Guam this week in the latest sign of Moscow’s growing strategic assertiveness toward the United States.

The Russian Tu-95 Bear-H strategic bombers were equipped with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and were followed by U.S. jets as they circumnavigated Guam on Feb. 12 local time—hours before President Barack Obama’s state of the union address.

[txradioguy]

And of course the WH has lost their tongue on this issue.

[Starbuck]

I honestly the presence of Russian Bear bombers in the vicinity of Guam rates a comment by the White House. While the Bear is a big, capable bomber, and can carry almost anything you care to name, it shows up well on radar and as far as any modern air-to-air or ground-to-air missile is concerned it is an easy target.

The Russians know that. There is nothing the Bear can do that is not suicidal.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I honestly the presence of Russian Bear bombers in the vicinity of Guam rates a comment by the White House. While the Bear is a big, capable bomber, and can carry almost anything you care to name, it shows up well on radar and as far as any modern air-to-air or ground-to-air missile is concerned it is an easy target.

The Russians know that. There is nothing the Bear can do that is not suicidal.

I doubt there was actual hostile intent. More likely just a game of tag/chicken, aka a 'Freedom of navigation' exercise, or just testing us to see what happens when they do close and gather all the ELINT and SIGINT from the encounter that they can. The whole point of carrying missiles is to not have to get close enough to be engaged in the first place.

[Starbuck]

I doubt there was actual hostile intent. More likely just a game of tag/chicken, aka a 'Freedom of navigation' exercise, or just testing us to see what happens when they do close and gather all the ELINT and SIGINT from the encounter that they can. The whole point of carrying missiles is to not have to get close enough to be engaged in the first place.

I see where I left a word or two out of my post. What I tried to say is I don't think the Bear's presence rates a comment by the White House.

Kind of brings up a question about what range air-to-air and ground-to-air missiles really have. In the case of the Bear, they are pretty slow, so it wouldn't be hard to get an aircraft within striking range. But the Bear can carry cruise missiles, which probably have a huge range.

What's ELINT & SIGINT? They look like acronyms for electronic and communication intelligence.

[DumbAss Tanker]

What's ELINT & SIGINT? They look like acronyms for electronic and communication intelligence.

Close, the short version is that SIGINT is signals intelligence, if you can decrypt it, and if you can't, it bleeds over into being ELINT, electronic intelligence, which basically is what parts of the electromagnetic spectrum suddenly have activity on them, or go quiet, compared to their normal unalerted state, and to what extent, and how strong, and in what facilities (If you can tell) is the activity different than it was.