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(1) Bill Gertz, Putin’s July 4th Message; Russian nuclear-capable bombers intercepted near West Coast in second US air defense zone intrusion in two weeks. Washington Free Beacon, July 6, 2012
http://freebeacon.com/putins-july-4th-message/
(“The bomber flights near the Pacific and earlier flights near Alaska” in late June, both of 2012)
Quote:
(a) “Pentagon spokesman Capt John Kirby said the incident occurred July 4. He said the ‘out-of-area patrol by two Russian long range bombers … entered the outer [Air Defense Identification Zone]’ and the bombers ‘were visually identified by NORAD fighters.’ Kirby said the bombers did not enter ‘sovereign airspace.’ He declined to identify the specific distance the aircraft flew from the United States due to operational security concerns. He also declined to identify the types of aircraft used to intercept the bombers.
“The Pentagon spokesman said the latest Pacific intrusion was ‘assessed as another training activity.’ Rather than using traditional military terminology common during the Cold War to describe the meeting of the violating bombers as an ‘intercept,’ Kirby said that the bombers were ‘visually identified’ by jets described only as joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) jets.
“Kirby said the ADIZ extends about 200 miles from the coast and is ‘mainly within international airspace.’
‘The outer limits of the ADIZ goes well beyond US sovereign air space which only extends 12 nautical miles from land,’ he said. ‘As part of its mission, NORAD tracks and identifies all aircraft flying in the ADIZ in advance of any aircraft entering sovereign airspace.’
(b) “The Free Beacon reported June 28 that two Bear H’s intruded into the Alaska ADIZ during war games that ended June 27. A Northern Command spokesman later disputed the Free Beacon’s assertion that the bombers violated US airspace and said the air defense zone is not the same as sovereign airspace since it includes international airspace.
(c) “Canadian Navy Lt Al Blondin also said in an email that the Russian bombers during the air defense intrusion last month did not violate US airspace. ‘NORAD will track and identify all aircraft flying in the ADIZ prior to those aircraft entering sovereign airspace,’ Blondin said. ‘It is important to note the Russian flights followed international flight rules and conducted their flight in a professional manner,’ Blondin said. ‘As is their right, the Russian Air Force continues to fly in international airspace.’
(d) “Earlier, in response to questions about the Alaska Bear H intrusion, Marine Corps Col Frank H Simonds, Jr, deputy chief of staff for NORAD-US Northcom, also defended the Russian bomber intrusion as nonthreatening. ‘NORAD does not consider these flights a threat,’ Simonds said, noting ‘Russia and NORAD routinely exercise their capability to operate in the North.’ Simonds identified the Alaska defense zone intruders as Tu-95MS bombers that were met by US F-15s and Canadian CF-18s. ‘Interaction between NORAD fighters with these types of aircraft are carried out routinely,’ Simonds said. ‘As part of its responsibilities to identify all aircraft in its area of operation, which includes the ADIZ, NORAD has visually identified more than 50 Russian long range bomber aircraft over the last 5 years and NORAD fighters have been interacting with Russian aviation for over 50 years.’ Simonds said NORAD and Russian aircraft since 2010 take part in an exercise called Vigilant Eagle aimed at building cooperation on identifying and intercepting hijacked aircraft that cross international boundaries.
My comment:
(a) Please take notice it was the journalist who used the word “intercept.” Militaries of both US and Canada were friendly about Russians’ fly-bys.
(b) The brackets in quotation (a) were original.
(c) Tupolev Tu-95
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-95
(NATO reporting name: Bear; Status Active in service; Produced 1952–1994)
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发表于 11-30-2013 11:45:24
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