Saturday, September 30, 2006

Russian bombers penetrate N. American buffer zone

Russian bombers penetrate N. American buffer zonefrom mosnews: A new U.S. push for greater Russian military openness collided with Cold War habits last week as Russian long-range bombers flew within 15 miles of U.S. airspace off Alaska, Denver Post website reported.

Fully-armed U.S. fighter jets responded, intercepting the two bombers.

The Russian Tu-95 bombers on a training exercise Thursday penetrated a North American buffer zone, said a statement Friday from Maj. Gen. Brett Cairns, operations chief for Colorado Springs-based North American Aerospace Defense Command.

But the bombers stayed within international airspace.

The U.S. response “was appropriate,” said Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command.

“We have a near-sacred responsibility to protect and defend the United States and Canada against any and all threats. We will not waver in this responsibility,” Keating said.

No comments:

Post a Comment

fair use notice: this site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. we are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, & social justice issues, etc. we believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US copyright law. In accordance with title 17 usc section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.