Reuters Photo

Thursday 1 July 1999

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. F-15 fighter trails a Russian TU-95 bomber over Icelandic airspace in this June 25 U.S. Air Force photo. US Air Force via The Washington Post

-- I'm (outta@here.com), July 01, 1999

Answers

US warplanes intercept Russians in incident reminiscent of Cold War

WASHINGTON, July 1 (AFP) - US fighter planes in Iceland scrambled and intercepted two Russian heavy bombers, escorting them around the island in an incident reminiscent of Cold War probes of NATO air defenses, US officials said Thursday.

"We haven't seen something like this right on a decade," a defense official told AFP.

"It used be a frequent event to see the Bears come out of the north. But we also had a lot of submarine activity then, and things have changed."

US Defense Secretary William Cohen and White House officials played down the incident, saying it was part of a long-planned Russian military exercise.

"There is nothing that suprised us," Cohen said at a Pentagon press conference. "It's an exercise that was anticipated. I don't think we should read any more into it."

At the White House, spokesman Joe Lockhart said "it was not a militarily significant event," said Lockhart.

But Cohen acknowledged it was the first such incident in at least five or six years and that the encounter had raised questions about what Moscow was up to.

"I'm sure it does have some multiple purposes. Perhaps domestic purposes, international purposes. They want to be seen as remaining a force to deal with," he said.

It came against the backdrop of strained relations between NATO and Russia, which looked askance at NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia and at the failure of its own weakened military to deter attacks on a traditional ally.

A dash into Kosovo from Bosnia by several hundred Russian paratroopers, who beat NATO peacekeeping forces into the Serbian province and took the airport at the end of the air war, caused consternation in the west.

General Wesley Clark, NATO's supreme commander, said the Russian dash showed "an unusual level of willingness to take a risk." At the press conference with Cohen, Clark declined to speculate on Russia's motives for probing Iceland's air defenses.

In Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian air force denied that its strategic bombers had violated Icelandic air space, describing the reports as "untrue."

The US defense official said the Russian TU-95 Bear bombers were intercepted outside Iceland's air space but on the edge of a "zone of air identification" in which approaching aircraft are expected to identify themselves.

Two US F-15s based at Iceland's Keflavik Air Base rose to meet the Russian aircraft when they entered the zone and escorted them around the island, a defense official said. The F-15s were relieved by two other F-15s, which finished escorting the Russian aircraft out, he said.

A P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft also scrambled during the incident, he said.

The Post published a US Air Force photograph of a Russian bomber being tailed by a US F-15.

The United States now has only four Air National Guard F-15s and three P-3 Orions at Keflavik, the official said. During the Cold War, a squadron of F-15 was stationed on Iceland, a member of NATO, to guard against Soviet intrusions, he said.

The Post said the Russian bombers came within striking distance of the United States.

The defense official said the F-15 pilots could not tell whether the bombers were carrying live ordnance in their bays. Another US official said the Russians had said they were not carrying live ordnance.

"They weren't carrying any live ordnance so how could they ever be in striking distance of the United States? They weren't in a position to strike," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The incident did not trigger a wider alert.

"There were no claxons going off or anything like that," said the defense official.

"They were in the outer areas of the air identification zone and escorted outside the perimeter," he said. "There was nothing provocative, nothing unsafe."

The Post said the Bears were part of a four aircraft formation that flew down the center of the Norwegian Sea from Engels Air Base east of Moscow. Halfway across, two TU-140 Blackjack bombers peeled off from the Bears and flew down the Norwegian coastline.

Norwegian fighters also scrambled to try to intercept the Blackjack bombers, the Post said.

-- Its the (EndOfTheworld@WeKnow.It), July 01, 1999.

Ah, for the good old days. The 57th FIS was flying Phantoms out of Keflavik, shepherding the Bears as they flew reconnaisance south through the UK-Iceland-Greenland Gap towards and along the US coast to Cuba. Maybe it was a couple of old-timer Russian crews flying the "Iceland roundabout" mission for old-times sake.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), July 01, 1999.

Singing, "Memorieeeeees. Like the corners of my miiind. Misty watercolor MEMORIEEEEEES, of the way we weeeere"

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), July 01, 1999.

I posted this below on another thread, but will post it again here. I found the military exercise code name "West 99" very interesting.

http://www.msnbc.com/msn/285754.asp

U.S. intercepts 2 Russian bombers

Moscow plays down Iceland incident

Associated Press

MOSCOW, July 1  Moscow denied Thursday that two Russian strategic bombers violated the airspace of Iceland  a NATO member  during military exercises last week. The two long-range Tu-95 Bear bombers did not cross Icelands air border during a 15-hour training flight last Friday, a Russian Air Force spokesman said, the Interfax news agency reported.

U.S. defense officials reportedly said the military exercise was the largest by Russia in a decade and the first time since the end of the Cold War that Russian planes had probed Western air defenses.

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS said last Monday that four bombers  the Tu-95s and two Tu-160 Blackjack bombers  flew over the North Pole and test- fired strategic missiles as part of military exercises code named West 99.

The Tu-160s flew directly north from Moscow, while the two Tu-95s flew over the Atlantic Ocean before heading to the Arctic and crossing the North Pole. Long-range missiles were test-fired and hit targets in southern Russia, officials said.

The training was conducted in the airspace above neutral waters, the Air Force spokesman said. Interfax did not identify him.

The spokesman also played down a report in The Washington Post today that U.S. fighter jets escorted the two Tu-95s around Iceland.

Such trailing of an aircraft in the vicinity of the air border of another country is usual and no excesses occurred in this instance, he said.

The Post quoted U.S. defense officials as saying the military exercise was the largest by Russia in a decade and the first time since the end of the Cold War that Russian planes had probed Western air defenses.

A White House National Security Council official was quoted anonymously by the newspaper as saying we are looking into the incident but that the United States has not raised it as an issue with Russia.

More than 30 ships, several nuclear powered submarines, 10,000 troops and a number of aircraft from Russias Baltic Fleet also took part in the exercises.

Russia insisted that the maneuvers were not connected to NATOs bombing raids in Yugoslavia, which officially ended June 16. But Moscow sees NATO as a threat, and the alliances campaign raised calls in Russia to boost military spending.

Moscow vehemently opposed NATOs air war against Yugoslavia and played a prominent role in mediating a peace plan for Kosovo.

) 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), July 01, 1999.

Gayla,

Are you posting this to add to the conversation and/or do you believe that Russia has plans to attack the U.S.? Just curious. If you do, my guess is that it is because you understand that y2k is forcing their hand. True? b

-- BB (peace2u@bellatlantic.net), July 01, 1999.

Hi BB! Yes, and partly. Why did they name the exercise "WEST 99?" When I read that it made the hair on my arms "stand up." Can't explain exactly why. The article also said that they successfully hit targets in SOUTHERN Russia. I've got a world map and a globe. If they can reach Southern Russia with a missile from Iceland....

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), July 01, 1999.

Hey, Wildweasel - I was a Navy bride stationed at Keflavik in the early 70s. Were you there?

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), July 02, 1999.

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nought; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of His heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whoseGod is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as His heritage!

The Lord looks down from heaven, he sees all the sons of men; from where He sits entroned He looks forth on all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all, and observes all their deeds. A king is not saved by his great army....

Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love, that He ay deliver their soul from death, and keep them alive in famine.

Our soul WAITS for the LORD; He is our help and shield. Yea, our heart is GLAD in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let thy steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in Thee. -Psalm 33

Be broken you peoples, and be dismayed; give ear, all you far countries; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be dismayed. Take counsel together, but it will come to nought; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. (Immanuel)

For the LORD spoke thus to me with His strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, "Do not call conspiracy all that this people call conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. (or let the hairs of your arm stand up). But the LORD of hosts, Him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He will become a sancturary.... Isaiah 8:9-16.

This is a Word from the LORD for His people for the days ahead.

Pastor Bob

-- bb (peace2u@bellatlantic.net), July 02, 1999.

Marsh,

Kef was the one place I truly was begging to go to, especially back when I was single. I guess to rub salt in my wounds, the Air Force sent almost every other F-4 backseater I knew to Keflavik and sent me to South Korea, twice! An awful lot of guys I flew with were at Kef during the seventies and eighties.

Gosh those glossy grey F-4E's with the big Black Knight painted on the nose were pretty. Not like the "mud painted" once I rode around in.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), July 02, 1999.