Thread: Russian Live Missile Fire Air Exercise Near Alaska

Russian live missile fire air exercise near Alaska

DEBKAfile Special Report

October 4, 2008, 5:27 PM (GMT+02:00)

Not since 1984, just before the fall of the Soviet Union, has Russia ventured to launch dozens of nuclear bombers for an exercise in which Tu-95 Bear bombers will fire live cruise missiles. Exercise Stability 2008 will take place Oct.-6-12 over sub-Arctic Russia uncomfortably close to the US state of Alaska, and Belarus.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the exercise is part of a month-long war game described by Russian air force spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik as “practicing the strategic deployment of the armed forces including the nuclear triad.â€

Times Online
October 6, 2008

Russia to test fire cruise missiles for first time since 1984



Russian Bear bombers will be involved in the live firing exercise

Tony Halpin in Moscow
Russia began the most ambitious test of its strategic bomber fleet in almost a quarter of a century today.

Up to 20 bombers are being sent into the air with full combat payloads to carry out live firing exercises of their cruise missiles. It is the largest display of Russian air power since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Officials said that the bomber runs would test Russia's readiness to deploy its nuclear deterrent. The week-long drill, part of a broader military exercise codenamed Stability-2008, takes place against the background of heightened tensions with the West after Russia's war with Georgia in August.

"During these exercises, for the first time in many years, the crews of Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers will fly missions carrying the maximum combat payload and fire all the cruise missiles on board," Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Drik told RIA-Novosti news agency.

The flights involve more than a third of Russia's combined fleet of Bear bombers and Blackjack supersonic aircraft. The Air Force is stepping up its combat training regime, scheduling 350 live-firing drills for the second half of this year.

Lieutenant Colonel Drik said that the latest exercises in Russia's northern regions were unprecedented in scope and would also involve Tu-22M3 Backfire strategic bombers, fighter jets, and interceptor aircraft.

A former Air Force commander, General of the Army Pyotr Deynekin, said that Bear bombers had carried out live-firing tests of their entire cruise missile capabilities only once before, in 1984, at the height of the Cold War. Blackjack bombers had never previously conducted such tests because it was too expensive, he said.

The bombers will fire their missiles at targets located on a training range, Lieutenant Colonel Drik said. The goal was to "exercise the strategic nuclear deterrence during the exercises".

The Stability-2008 manoeuvres, conducted jointly with neighbouring Belarus, are being watched closely by Western military analysts as Russia flexes its muscles across the globe. Nato fighter jets have repeatedly scrambled to shadow Bear bombers flying close to European and US airspace in the past year after Vladimir Putin ordered round-the-clock patrols to resume for the first time in 15 years.

In a move that threatens a re-run of the 1962 missile crisis, Russia's military has recently talked up the prospect of opening a base in Cuba for its strategic nuclear bombers as a response to the setting up of America's anti-missile shield in eastern Europe. Two Blackjack aircraft landed in Venezuela last month for the first time in what its anti-American president Hugo Chavez called a "warning" to the US.

The Kremlin has also ordered its nuclear-powered warship Peter the Great and a submarine destroyer, Admiral Chabanenko, to take part in war games in the Caribbean with Venezuela, Russia's first naval mission to Latin America since the Cold War ended.

In a calculated show of defiance to Nato, the vessels passed through the Strait of Gibraltar at the weekend in only the second Russian naval deployment in the waterway since the Cold War. They were en route to Libya and Syria, both traditional ports of call for Soviet warships.

Russian marines practised landings under fire at the weekend in exercises on the country's Far East coast as part of Stability-2008. Ships and submarines from the Russian Pacific Fleet, backed by air support, also took part in the engagement.

Russia says that the month-long large-scale military exercises, which continue until October 21, are intended to rehearse strategic deployment of its armed forces, including the "nuclear triad" of air, sea and ground missiles.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 891656.ece

Russia's strategic bombers to drill with full combat payloads
15:49 | 02/ 10/ 2008



MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russian strategic bombers will conduct training flights with full combat payloads and live fire all cruise missiles on board for the first time in over two decades, an Air Force spokesman said.

The live firing exercises in Russia's northern latitudes on October 6-12 are part of the Stability-2008 strategic maneuvers in various regions of Russia and Belarus with the goal of practicing strategic deployment of the Armed Forces, including the nuclear triad, to counter potential threats near the Russian border.

"During these exercises, for the first time in many years, the crews of Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers will fly missions carrying the maximum combat payload and fire all the cruise missiles on board," Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said.

Tu-95MS and Tu-160 aircraft can carry six and 12 Kh-55 (AS-15 Kent) long-range cruise missiles respectively.

Drik said that the scope of the exercises would be unprecedented and involve, apart from the Tu-160s and Tu-95s, the Tu-22M3 Backfire strategic bombers, air superiority fighters, interceptors and aerial tankers.

"The number and variety of aircraft involved in the drills shows the wide range of tasks that will be accomplished during the week-long exercise," the spokesman said.

Former Air Force commander, General of the Army Pyotr Deynekin, said Russian Tu-95 bombers had conducted live firing of all their cruise missiles only once before, in 1984.

"Tu-160 bombers have never done this because it is very expensive," the general said.

According to various sources, in addition to 16 Tu-160 bombers the Russian Air Force currently has 40 Tu-95MS bombers and 141 Tu-22M3 bombers in service.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081002/117389135.html

Russia conducts military drills in Far East

13:41 | 29/ 09/ 2008



VLADIVOSTOK, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has started a tactical exercise in the country's Far East as part of the Stability-2008 strategic maneuvers, a military spokesman said on Monday.

The Bereg (Coast) exercise will run from September 29 though October 5, and involves units of the Far East Military District, based in the Primorye Territory, as well as the Far Eastern air and air defense forces and the Pacific Fleet.

"The exercise aims to practice the deployment of the combined-arms task force in a simulated operation to defend the infrastructure of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands from possible terrorist attacks, to guarantee safe navigation and to deal with consequences of natural and industrial disasters," a spokesman for the Far East Military District said.

The Stability-2008 drills will last until October 21 in various regions of Russia and Belarus with the goal of practicing strategic deployment of the Armed Forces, including the nuclear triad, to counter potential threats near the Russian border.

The maneuvers include a number of theater-level, tactical and command-and-post exercises under a common strategic concept.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080929/117244055.html