Canadian jets scrambled......

[DaSleeper]

to intercept Russian bombers in the arctic

Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa Bureau Chief

CF-18 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept Russian bombers that came within 55 kilometres of Canada’s Arctic territory, just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper prepares to make a high-profile visit to the region.

The drama unfolded on Tuesday when two TU-95 Bear bombers, a massive four-engined aircraft, were detected approaching from the north.

Two CF-18 fighters were scrambled from their base in Cold Lake and visually identified the two aircraft about 222 km north of Inuvik, N.W.T. The two aircraft came within 55 kilometres of Canadian soil before turning around, shadowed by the fighter jets.


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[CDNBear]

What do we need jet fighters for?

 

[ironsides]

And some wonder why Canada needs a modern fleet of fighters. Canada is being probed again. They are looking for a potential soft spot, always planning.

 

[DurkaDurka]

And some wonder why Canada needs a modern fleet of fighters. Canada is being probed again. They are looking for a potential soft spot, always planning.

I agree that we need modern fighters but apparently the Russians do this something like 12-18x per year with their cold war era bombers.

 

[Praxius]

Indeed..... their bombers are decades older then our CF-18's, more then capable of shooting down these bombers and those bombers have a pretty basic armament in the first place (not including any bombs they may have, but I doubt they can drop a bomb on a jet very accurately)

New jets, along with a few other new things, would be nice to add to our military, but the proposed jets Harper plans to buy would not be my first choice.

Regardless, this incident isn't much for evidence that we need to upgrade the CF-18's. We should for many reasons, but this incident isn't an example why..... the 18's did their job exactly as they should have.

Perhaps if the 18's suddenly dropped out of the sky due to engine failure or the wings fell off due to rust and allowed the bomber to cross our territory due to technical failure....... you might have an argument.

Added:

Perhaps we should send a few arctic rangers in canoes to paddle towards their borders, get them to send out their ships to order them to turn around, take some pictures, wave, and then head back.

Waste some of their tax dollars for once.

 

[CDNBear]

Indeed..... their bombers are decades older then our CF-18's, more then capable of shooting down these bombers and those bombers have a pretty basic armament in the first place (not including any bombs they may have, but I doubt they can drop a bomb on a jet very accurately)

New jets, along with a few other new things, would be nice to add to our military, but the proposed jets Harper plans to buy would not be my first choice.

Regardless, this incident isn't much for evidence that we need to upgrade the CF-18's. We should for many reasons, but this incident isn't an example why..... the 18's did their job exactly as they should have.

Perhaps if the 18's suddenly dropped out of the sky due to engine failure or the wings fell off due to rust and allowed the bomber to cross our territory due to technical failure....... you might have an argument.

So we should wait until they start acting like SeaKings?

 

[Praxius]

So we should wait until they start acting like SeaKings?

I see one or two of those flying over head every day here in Halifax.... it's a common joke around here about moving out of the way when they fly over head.

I didn't suggest that we should hang onto the 18's for another 30 years or until they start sputtering like some old k-car with black smoke barreling out the back while in mid flight..... they do need to be replaced eventually..... but for the most part, I haven't heard much about the CF-18's being as problematic as say the Sea Kings and they seem to still be pretty reliable.

Um..... so long as one ignores that CF-18 crash a couple of weeks ago :lol:

Whoopsy-Doodle..... they haven't explained the cause yet have they?

 

[CDNBear]

I see one or two of those flying over head every day here in Halifax.... it's a common joke around here about moving out of the way when they fly over head.

Wouldn't be a bad idea. We had one buzzing around here during the G8+ thingy. We all had a good laugh about it falling on would be evil doers.

I didn't suggest that we should hang onto the 18's for another 30 years or until they start sputtering like some old k-car with black smoke barreling out the back while in mid flight..... they do need to be replaced eventually..... but for the most part, I haven't heard much about the CF-18's being as problematic as say the Sea Kings and they seem to still be pretty reliable.

They actually are, I just prefer to operate on the side of caution, as apposed to waiting until the inevitable.

Um..... so long as one ignores that CF-18 crash a couple of weeks ago :lol:

Dude, sometimes yer honesty truly impresses me.

Whoopsy-Doodle..... they haven't explained the cause yet have they?

Honestly, didn't even know it happened.

 

[Praxius]

Honestly, didn't even know it happened.

Ah....

CF-18 crash pilot applauds ejection seat
CBC News - Edmonton - CF-18 crash pilot applauds ejection seat

 

[taxslave]

Perhaps the Russians just wanted to get in on Harpers photo op.
They play these games all the time. Good practice for out pilots.
Praxis: you said the proposed replacement for the CF18 would not be your first choice, why?
I have not paid much attention to this other than I know the 18s are getting long in the tooth and judging by the speed that Seakings are being replaced now seems like a good time to start looking for a new plane.

 

[lone wolf]

They're checking the fences. I wonder how many Russian newspapers carry stories of every US and Canadian challenge to THEIR airspace. It's a dance....

 

[DurkaDurka]

Scramble the homing pigeons!

 

[Praxius]

Perhaps the Russians just wanted to get in on Harpers photo op.
They play these games all the time. Good practice for out pilots.
Praxis: you said the proposed replacement for the CF18 would not be your first choice, why?
I have not paid much attention to this other than I know the 18s are getting long in the tooth and judging by the speed that Seakings are being replaced now seems like a good time to start looking for a new plane.

There was another thread about the purchase of these new jets where I made my comments..... to me, there just seem to be better options out there with better capabilities...... though my first choice would be to get some jobs in our country by making our own aircraft like we used to do..... while the new jets being purchased are a joint effort between many nations, including Canada, There's just something about the F-35's that bugs me.

Our military resources and equipment should be designed in our own country and made by our own people..... this view isn't based on some xenophobic attitude, but more as a future precaution. You never know what's to come and if a conflict occurs for whatever reason, it'd be kind of poopy if one of your enemies in this new conflict was a part of supplying/developing the equipment we use..... and then suddenly either stops supplying us with that equipment or somehow makes it difficult for us to use that equipment.

Let's say we bought 80 fighter jets from another country, brand new.... then relations with that country goes to hell..... eventually after a time of using those jets, some of them require new engines or parts...... but because of the strained relations with that country that supplied them, it's next to impossible to get those parts...... now you have a chunk of those fighter jets grounded because we don't have the parts to repair or upgrade them.

Or let's say because of a conflict, the allied nation who supplied us with the jets is blocked from sending us the needed parts...... or the ship was sunk, etc.......

If we built our own jets in our own country (which we are more then capable of doing) these little problems wouldn't exist.

 

[#juan]

I'll let you in on a secret: Back in the fifties we were intercepting Russian Bear Bombers in whatever interceptor we had at the time. The
Russian Bear has seen generations of fighter/interceptors over the fifty years or so that the Russian Bear has been in service. Canada has intercepted Bears using CF-100s, F-86s, CF-101s, and now CF18s. The Bear is every bit as durable as the B-52 that Russian interceptors have been intercepting and shadowing for just as long. Both sides now have more modern aircraft but does it really make a difference? I don't think so.

 

[ironsides]

There was another thread about the purchase of these new jets where I made my comments..... to me, there just seem to be better options out there with better capabilities...... though my first choice would be to get some jobs in our country by making our own aircraft like we used to do..... while the new jets being purchased are a joint effort between many nations, including Canada, There's just something about the F-35's that bugs me.

Our military resources and equipment should be designed in our own country and made by our own people..... this view isn't based on some xenophobic attitude, but more as a future precaution. You never know what's to come and if a conflict occurs for whatever reason, it'd be kind of poopy if one of your enemies in this new conflict was a part of supplying/developing the equipment we use..... and then suddenly either stops supplying us with that equipment or somehow makes it difficult for us to use that equipment.

Let's say we bought 80 fighter jets from another country, brand new.... then relations with that country goes to hell..... eventually after a time of using those jets, some of them require new engines or parts...... but because of the strained relations with that country that supplied them, it's next to impossible to get those parts...... now you have a chunk of those fighter jets grounded because we don't have the parts to repair or upgrade them.

Or let's say because of a conflict, the allied nation who supplied us with the jets is blocked from sending us the needed parts...... or the ship was sunk, etc.......

If we built our own jets in our own country (which we are more then capable of doing) these little problems wouldn't exist.

So, work out a deal with a country to build their planes under license till your own aircraft industry can go it on their own, other countries have.

I'll let you in on a secret: Back in the fifties we were intercepting Russian Bear Bombers in whatever interceptor we had at the time. The
Russian Bear has seen generations of fighter/interceptors over the fifty years or so that the Russian Bear has been in service. Canada has intercepted Bears using CF-100s, F-86s, CF-101s, and now CF18s. The Bear is every bit as durable as the B-52 that Russian interceptors have been intercepting and shadowing for just as long. Both sides now have more modern aircraft but does it really make a difference? I don't think so.

I don't think we are sending out B-52's anymore, just did a search and it seems that it is only Russia doing it today. Putin is trying to exert shrinking Russian global power.



Your right though, a CF-86 could work against a Bear.

 

[lone wolf]

Now, it's more likely to be an Aurora/Orion or a civil airliner out checking the fences....

 

[Bcool]

There was another thread about the purchase of these new jets where I made my comments..... to me, there just seem to be better options out there with better capabilities...... though my first choice would be to get some jobs in our country by making our own aircraft like we used to do..... while the new jets being purchased are a joint effort between many nations, including Canada, There's just something about the F-35's that bugs me.

Our military resources and equipment should be designed in our own country and made by our own people..... this view isn't based on some xenophobic attitude, but more as a future precaution. You never know what's to come and if a conflict occurs for whatever reason, it'd be kind of poopy if one of your enemies in this new conflict was a part of supplying/developing the equipment we use..... and then suddenly either stops supplying us with that equipment or somehow makes it difficult for us to use that equipment.

Let's say we bought 80 fighter jets from another country, brand new.... then relations with that country goes to hell..... eventually after a time of using those jets, some of them require new engines or parts...... but because of the strained relations with that country that supplied them, it's next to impossible to get those parts...... now you have a chunk of those fighter jets grounded because we don't have the parts to repair or upgrade them.

Or let's say because of a conflict, the allied nation who supplied us with the jets is blocked from sending us the needed parts...... or the ship was sunk, etc.......

If we built our own jets in our own country (which we are more then capable of doing) these little problems wouldn't exist.

I agree. But will we be allowed to this time round? Look what happened to the Avro Arrow CF-105. "Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding 50,000 ft (15,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond." Cancelled & deliberately destroyed, every one of them, by Diefenbaker, political wrangling & the NORAD Agreement with the US in 1959. Stunning plane, the aviation world was in awe.

​

Was there a shirtless pilot doing an ab's pose in the cockpit of one of the Russian bombers? Sounds to me more like Putin was photo-op hunting again. Ho hum!

 

[CDNBear]

Other Canadian myths, to go along with the Avro, Bigfoot, The great Sam Steele, Santa Clause is Canadian, and Igloos are the primary structure.

Why is it, when Americans believe these silly myths, they're ignorant? But when Canadians do it, it's patriotism(Although it's actually nationalism)?

Just a question.

 

[lone wolf]

I hope you're not thinking that Iroquois-powered RL205 actually flew

 

[CDNBear]

An interesting article...

Looking Back on the Avro Arrow - The Iron Warrior

We can only hope that the next time a choice such as this comes along the government is willing to spend the ridiculous sums of money required to keep things afloat.

I'm going to say no. Because it doesn't matter what party does it, somebody's gunna bitch.