DEVELOPING: Unresponsive Russian Bombers Disrupt U.K. Airspace
Amanda Cyr January 29, 2015
A pair of Royal Air Force Tornados scrambled to intercept two Russian military aircraft that came within 25 miles of the U.K. on Wednesday, reports BBC. According to unidentified U.K. officials, the RAF jets “escorted” the Russian planes “throughout the time they were in the U.K. area of interest.”
The Russian aircraft, which CNN reports the British defense ministry identified on Thursday as a pair of bombers, did not enter U.K. airspace. The bombers presence, however, according to the Foreign Office, caused unspecified “disruption to civil aviation” and was “part of an increasing pattern of out-of-area operations” by Russia.
BBC defense correspondent Jonathan Beale reports the bombers’ transponders were switched off and the pilots were not in contact with air traffic control.
The Russian ambassador has reportedly been called on for explanation.
Story developing.
[Photo: Royal Air Force]
@relangford While I am not an expert on UK airspace, in the U.S. "commercial airspace" doesn't exist. There is military airspace, but most of it isn't off limits to civilian or commercial aviation. It exists as more of a warning. Whats more important is the type of clearance one is on. On an IFR clearance, ATC will keep you clear of active military airspace or restricted areas. On a VFR clearance, you are generally responsible for maintaining your own separation.
I suspect that the BBC's source that the Russian a/cs' transponders were "turned off" was credible, someone at the MoD or involved in civilian ATC. It was a routine practice by Soviet a/c 50 years ago, unlikely to have changed. The problem which arises has less to do with military defense than it does with mutual danger of collisions (or near collisions which may cause avoidance maneuvers outside the parameters of flight of the Russian or civil a/c - steep "pull ups" leading to stalls, etc.). As in almost every aspect of its foreign policy, Russia as lead by Vlad the New Impaler and his henchmen exhibit a truly Stalinesque level of paranoia.
If we Western nations stopped messing with their economic space, they'd likely feel less need to mess with our perceived airspace. Claims as to the transponders being switched off and the Tu95s interfering with commercial aviation are likely just a product of the British media. As is the use of the word 'intercept' for 'shadowing' or 'escorting'. And given how close the Typhoons followed the Bears it is rather ridiculous to claim that the latter were on a dangerous course.
Russian incursions into NATO nations' airspace and near misses with ships at sea could potentially lead to a very serious, even if unplanned, accident. While such would not likely bring about military conflict, it does have implications for the public. Many of the old USSR bombers, Backfire, Bear, etc., were big limbering aircraft; I'm not sure about any current generation Russian aircraft, but I would suspect they are still using USSR equipment, which makes a collision with a commercial aircraft possible. Very dangerous for ANY military aircraft to intrude into commercial airspace.
Russia sucks. Nato sucks. Everyone sucks. Stop messing around, you're behaving like children.