And flies through the accursed darkness, through the azure rays, invisible spy, NATO sent into the night …
According to the Ministry of Defense, NATO aircraft switched to increased duty at the borders of Russia. In 2014, the intensity of reconnaissance flights over the waters of the Barents and Baltic Seas was doubled - from 258 sorties in 2013 to 480 (according to data for the past year).
"Since 2014, the intensity of flights of reconnaissance aircraft of the United States and NATO countries over the territory of the Baltic countries, the Baltic and Barents Seas has significantly increased, the number of which is up to 8-12 sorties per week."
- Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev.
What flies along the borders of the Russian state? And what threat does each of the listed samples of NATO aircraft pose?
This will be our today's review.
The main and most dangerous “guest” is the RC-135W “Rivit Joint”. The permanent warrior of the electromagnetic element, created on the basis of the Boeing-707 airliner, has been flying through the airspace near our borders for 60 years (it is no coincidence that the "W" modification - the Yankees have already gone over their entire alphabet).
The officers on board the Rivit Joint are not interested in what the Russians are talking about on their mobile phones. Their main goal is to find out where the S-300 air defense systems are located.
No modern conflict is unthinkable without the participation of this aircraft. NATO pilots rip off their shoulder straps and defect from the glorious ranks of the Air Force, if they are offered to bomb the next Baghdad, having no data on the enemy's air defense system.
The scout builds a map of radio emission sources, finding vulnerabilities in the air defense system and bearing the coordinates of ground radars. With the outbreak of war, a flurry of anti-radar missiles aimed at radar radiation will fall on the identified positions. Often, in order to “revive” the air defense system, NATO members go for provocations, releasing several fighters forward, loitering dangerously close to the borders of the chosen state (in the future, this will be done by drones).
The scout himself never flies into the combat zone. The Rivit Joint equipment allows for radio-technical reconnaissance 500 km deep into the territory of the future enemy, without the need to invade its airspace.
It was noted that in 2014, aircraft of this type made 140 patrols along the borders of Russia.
The next hero could easily pass for a civilian business jet, if not for the strange fairing at the bottom of its fuselage. This is "Gulfstream IV" (Gulfstream IV) of the 7th Wing of the Swedish Air Force. Typical modern scout: small, discreet, “stuffed” with the most modern equipment. Engaged in intercepting radio communications on enemy territory (SIGINT - signal intelligence).
His partner - Saab 340 Argus, from the same 7th wing, performs long-range radar detection (AWACS) missions, observing the situation in the airspace of Russia. Inside the unsightly structure above the Argus's fuselage is an Erieye radar with an active phased antenna array (AFAR). The antenna is 9 meters long and weighs about one ton. Works at the border of the centimeter and decimeter radio wave range (2-4 GHz), azimuth viewing angle 300 °, max. detection range of a fighter-type target - 450 km.
The Swedish AWACS aircraft was specially built on the basis of a low-speed turboprop aircraft capable of “hanging” for hours in a designated area, controlling the airspace for hundreds of kilometers around.
Another guest is a Bombardier CL-604 Challenger from the 721st Squadron of the Royal Danish Air Force. Another spy plane intercepting radio communications over the Baltic Sea.
The old horse will not spoil the furrow. In the fall of 2014, Lockheed P-3C CUP + Orion with the Portuguese Air Force insignia (601 Squadron “Lobos”) appeared at the Shauliai International Airport (Lithuania). The ancient Orion turboprop once searched for Soviet submarines in the cold depths of the Atlantic, and now organizes excursions for NATO officers along the borders of the Russian Federation. Equipped with the appropriate equipment for surveillance and radio-technical reconnaissance.
Interception of the Portuguese Orion by the Russian Su-27
It is noteworthy that under similar circumstances, on September 13, 1987, over the Barents Sea, the Soviet Su-27 touched the Norwegian Orion with its keel, which was deploying sonar buoys near the SF exercise zone. The collision led to the destruction of one of the propellers, the debris of which pierced the fuselage of the Orion. Both vehicles made it safely to their airfields.
In addition to reconnaissance aircraft, combat fighters from the Baltic Air Police, based at the aforementioned Siauliai airfield, as well as on the territory of Poland (Malbork a / b) and Estonia (Amari a / b) regularly fly near the borders of Russia. The emergence of this group is associated with the unique state of the Baltic countries' own armed forces, whose "naval raft" and "air kite" are not able to protect them from the notorious "Russian threat".
Eurofighter Typhoon
Multipurpose fighter CF-18 (mod. F / A-18 "Hornet" Canadian Air Force)
Pair of F-15C Eagle (USAF)
The Baltic Air Police is a compact group of a dozen NATO Air Force fighters, formed on a rotational basis. The combat capability of this compound remains questionable, but it causes a lot of noise and trouble. Especially to the Lithuanians themselves.
Police in the Lithuanian city of Siauliai detained a drunken German pilot from the German Air Force contingent, on Thursday starting to patrol the airspace of the Baltic countries.
The German pilot will appear before the court, at the building of which he was detained. In accordance with Lithuanian laws, the "Ass" "Luftwaffe", who was urinating on the courthouse at the time of the arrest, will have to be held responsible for hooliganism.
- RIA News.
What to do and who is to blame
In the old days, reconnaissance flights along the borders of the USSR usually ended in air battles with obvious results. After another incident, the Yankees raised the UN to the ears, demanding the return of the bodies of the dead pilots and apologize for the attack on the "peaceful" aircraft.
The incident over the Barents Sea, when the pilot Vasily Polyakov destroyed the reconnaissance RB-47E (No. 53-4281), received a high profile. The Americans often flew along this route (a / b Tula in Greenland - Murmansk - Dikson - a / b Tula), easily leaving the MiGs raised to intercept. The speed of the jet “Stratojet” was comparable to the speed of the MiG-17. Having noticed the Soviet fighter, the scout had only to change the course a little and the attack was thwarted. To repeat it, the interceptor had no more fuel left.
Everything changed by the end of the 50s, when the supersonic MiG-19s entered service with the air defense forces. On July 1, 1960, a fighter of this type put an end to the demonstration RB-47 reconnaissance flights over the Arctic.
S-130 in the sight of the MiG
Another serious incident occurred on the southern borders of the USSR. On September 2, 1958, Soviet fighters shot down a C-130 "Hercules" (No. 56-0528, departed from the Incirlik aircraft), which was carrying out a reconnaissance flight over Armenia. All 17 crew members died, the remains of the latter were found only in 1998.
To sum up the topic raised is worth well-known statistics. In the entire history of the USSR, not a single combat aircraft has invaded the airspace of the United States, has not flown over the territory of this country, has not fought in its airspace. During this time, more than thirty US combat and reconnaissance aircraft were shot down over the territory of the USSR. In air battles over our territory, we lost 5 combat aircraft, the Americans shot down several of our transport and passenger aircraft. In total, over five thousand violations of our airspace were recorded in the hot skies of the Cold War.
