russian bombers intercepted again

[rhino]

twice this month russian bombers have been intercepted by the raf on the outskirts of british airspace.

this is acommon practice really but with hightened press coverage, what are they up to?

[Camel Spider]

Used to be a Cold War thing to test our defences, this is to be expected after Putin stated his Bomber fleet would resume these flights. Just a bit of Sabre rattling by the Russians.The aircraft are tracked first by the Norwegians and then ourselves and the Interception is ordered once they reach a certain range from our Boundary. They dont enter UK airspace. Good practice for our crews but nothing to worry about really, after all rattling a sabre makes noise but drawing it doesnt so if they were genuinely hostile they would come in low level and pop up suddenly.

[golach]

Used to be a Cold War thing to test our defences, this is to be expected after Putin stated his Bomber fleet would resume these flights. Just a bit of Sabre rattling by the Russians.The aircraft are tracked first by the Norwegians and then ourselves and the Interception is ordered once they reach a certain range from our Boundary. They dont enter UK airspace. Good practice for our crews but nothing to worry about really, after all rattling a sabre makes noise but drawing it doesnt so if they were genuinely hostile they would come in low level and pop up suddenly.
This has been going on for years, RAF Leuchers was built for just that purpose, and it is an every day occurrence, the newspapers need to fill up the pages, the RAF have been hunting Bears for many years now

[JAWS]

I suspect, as is usual, that those of a Political Mentality and Media in the various Countries take it far more seriously than the air crews involved.
At the height of the Cold War the various crews used to take holiday photos of one another.

There was a famous one where you could see a Russian airman smiling away holding up what was obviously a Coca Cola Bottle at a window of his bomber.

Unless there are specific circumstances which are causing things to heat up then it's all very much part of a game. In view of the fact that neither side are likely to start shooting at one another I suspect it makes a change from just going through the same old routine every day.