Six u.s air force b-52 bombers from minot air force base in north dakota
flew over all 30 nato countries in a single day. Even Canada.
This theatrical display of air power wasn't just for show, it apparently
also was the bait in a carefully planned intelligence gathering operation
targeting russian air defenses around the black sea.
The air force on august 22nd flew six B-52s from minet to the royal air
force base at fairford. The bombers flew over the arctic, where the russian
navy recently staged a mock amphibious landing, around the same time as a
rarely seen u.s navy submarine, uss seawolf also passed under the north pole
ice.
Six days later four of the bombers at fairford plus two still in the united
states took off in the morning and fanned out across canada and europe
before returning to base in the afternoon.
They flew higher than 20,000 feet at top speeds exceeding 400 miles per
hour. Of the United Kingdom-based B-52s, one flew over nato's nordic
members.
Another headed across the baltic region a third flew west to cross over
Portugal and Spain, a dizzying array of alliance fighters, British Typhoons,
french mirage 2000s, Belgian F-16s, Czech Gripens Romanian and Croatian
MiG-21s, Bulgarian MiG-29s, Italian F-35s joined up with the bombers.
The fourth B-52 callsign NATO01 had the most interesting flight path.
NATO01, AB52H built in 1961, headed for the black sea which since the
russian invasion of ukraine in 2014 steadily has become more dangerous.
Russian warships and fighters crisscross the sea. Russian air defense
systems ring it, understanding those russian defenses as top job of nato
intelligence which apparently is why when nato01 flew through international
airspace over the black sea.
Two u.s air force RC-135V/W rivet joints were nearby. the four engine
RC-135V/W's are electronic intelligence systems, using sensitive receivers
they listen for and help to catalog, enemy radars and other sensors.
The us air force has just 17 RC-135V/W's, committing two of them to a single
mission is a big deal. russian forces went on alert as nato01 passed
through.
Two armed su-27 fighters flew so close to the B-52 that their afterburners
rocked the 8-engine bomber. Actions like these increase the potential for
midair collisions are unnecessary and inconsistent with good airmanship and
international flight rules, said general Jeff Harrigan u.s air forces in
europe air force's africa commander .
But the same russian response not only fighter intercepts but sea and
ground-based air defense efforts, likely handed the RC-135V/W's lots of
interesting data.
