Tag Archives: Aircraft

Britain says fighters intercept Russian aircraft approaching Baltic states

RAF Typhoons fly above RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland,

LONDON (Reuters) – British Typhoon fighter jets have intercepted three Russian military transport aircraft approaching the Baltic States, the defense ministry said on Thursday.

The British fighters, scrambled from the Amari air base in Estonia, intercepted the Russian aircraft, which were not transmitting a recognized identification code and were unresponsive, the ministry said.

“We were able to instantly respond to this act of Russian aggression – demonstration of our commitment to NATO’s collective defense,” Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said in a statement.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Andrew Roche)

Russian forces in Syria fired on Israeli aircraft: Israeli newspaper

Vladimir Putin and Netanyahu

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Russian forces in Syria have fired at least twice on Israeli military aircraft, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek improved operational coordination with Moscow, Israel’s top-selling newspaper said on Friday.

Asked about the alleged incidents, however, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “In this case, Israeli press reports are far from reality.”

But Netanyahu, in remarks published by Israeli reporters whom he briefed by phone on his talks on Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said “there have been problems” regarding Israeli military freedom of operation in Syria.

He gave no details, but said: “If you don’t deal with the friction, it could develop into something more serious.”

The unsourced report in Yedioth Ahronoth made no mention of dates or locations for the two reported incidents, nor did it give any indication of whether the Israeli planes were hit.

Russia mounted its military intervention in Syria in September to shore Damascus up amid a now 5-year-old rebellion.

Separately, Israel’s Channel 10 TV said a Russian warplane approached an Israeli warplane off the Mediterranean coast of Syria last week but that there was no contact between them.

An Israeli military spokesman declined comment. Netanyahu’s office and the Russian embassy in Israel did not immediately respond.

Israel, which says it has carried out dozens of bombings in Syria to foil suspected arms handovers to Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, was quick to set up an operational hotline with Moscow designed to avoid accidentally trading fire with Russian interventionary forces.

In Moscow on Thursday, Netanyahu told Putin in televised remarks: “I came here with one main goal – to strengthen the security coordination between us so as to avoid mishaps, misunderstandings and unnecessary confrontations.”

In an apparent allusion to Syria, Putin said: “I think there are understandable reasons for these intensive contacts (with Israel), given the complicated situation in the region.”

According to Yedioth, the reported Russian fire on Israeli planes was first raised with Putin by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who visited Moscow on March 15. At the time, Putin responded that he was unaware of the incidents, Yedioth said.

(Writing by Dan Williams and Jeffrey Heller; Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Russian Bombers Fly Near U.S. On Fourth of July

Officials at NORAD have confirmed that four Russian long-range bombers flew close to U.S. shores on Independence Day.

The first set of two bombers was intercepted by military fighter jets off the Alaskan coast.  The second pair were intercepted off the California coast.  Both sets stayed just far enough away from the coastline to be international airspace.

The first incident happened around 7:30 a.m. Pacific Time when two Air Force F-22 jets scrambled to intercept two Tupolev Tu-95 bombers.  Both of the two Russian planes were capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The second incident happened 30 minutes later off the central California coast.  The bombers in this case were the same as the previous incident where they could carry nuclear payloads.

Officials would not say how close to American airspace the bombers reached before being intercepted by American aircraft.

“These are not unprecedented flights, but we are postured to respond whether Alaska or California,” NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said. “At no time did the bombers enter North American sovereign airspace.”

U.S. To Send More Weapons, Soldiers to NATO

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday that the U.S. will send weapons, aircraft and troops as needed to NATO’s new rapid reaction force.  The force will defend Europe in the event of an aggressive move by Russia or ISIS.

President Obama made the commitment last year during a NATO summit but Carter is revealing the details of the plan.

“We do not seek a cold, let alone a hot war with Russia,” Carter said at Atlantik Brucke, a Berlin think tank that focuses on the German-U.S. relationship. “We do not seek to make Russia an enemy. But make no mistake: we will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us. We will stand up to Russia’s actions and their attempts to re-establish a Soviet-era sphere of influence.”

The U.S. will provide intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, transport aircraft and a range of weapons from bombers and fighters to ship-based missiles.  A large ground force is not part of the U.S. commitment.

Carter is attending his first NATO meeting as Defense Secretary and plans to bring a two-pronged approach to NATO’s needs:  the first is a strong defense against Russia in an attempt to stop them from establishing a Soviet-era influence on the region while partnering with Russia to fight Islamic terrorism.

Rescue Agency Admits Air Asia Flight “Likely At Bottom of Sea”

Search and rescue officials were admitting to the press what AirAsia officials have been trying to avoid:  that flight QZ8501 is at the bottom of the sea.

“Based on the co-ordinates given to us and evaluation that the estimated crash position is in the sea, the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea,” Bambang Soelistyo, Indonesia’s search and rescue agency head, told reporters at a news conference in Jakarta.

The plane disappeared on Sunday carrying 162 people.  Officials say that the pilots requested a change in course due to bad weather but then disappeared without a distress call.

A spokesman for the Indonesian air force says that they have spotted an oil slick but they have not confirmed that is the location of the downed plane.

We are very devastated by what’s happened, it’s unbelievable,” AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes said.

ISIS Training Pilots To Fly Stolen Jets

ISIS reportedly has captured three fighter jets and is training former Iraqi military pilots to fly them.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the planes were taken when the terrorists captured the al-Jarrah airport east of Aleppo.  The pilots have been making training flights around the airport in preparation for attacks on western aircraft that has been targeting terrorist strongholds.

“They have trainers, Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein,” Rami Abdulrahman of the SOHR told Reuters.  “People saw the flights, they went up many times from the airport and they are flying in the skies outside the airport and coming back.”

U.S. Central Command would not confirm the reports of the ISIS pilots.

“We’re not aware of (Islamic State) conducting any flight operations in Syria or elsewhere,” U.S. Central Command spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder said.  “We continue to keep a close eye on (Islamic State) activity in Syria and Iraq and will continue to conduct strikes against their equipment, facilities, fighters and centres of gravity, wherever they may be.”

Social media accounts connected to ISIS have shown captured aircraft.

Eleven Commercial Aircraft Missing From Libyan Airport

Western intelligence agencies are scrambling after discovering that 11 commercial aircraft have disappeared from the airport in Tripoli airport.

Islamist militias took control of the airport last month as they continue to take over the country.  There have been continual battles around the airport between the rival Islamist groups that have resulted in intelligence agencies not being able to confirm which groups may have flown the aircraft to other locations.

The fear is that many of the planes will be used to make attacks on September 11th, the 13th anniversary of the attacks on New York and the 2nd anniversary of the attack on the Benghazi embassy assault.

The airport still has seven aircraft in various states of damage sitting around the terminal.  However, Libyan Airlines had 14 planes this summer and state-owned Afriqiyah Airways had 13 aircraft.  All but 11 have been found since the airport was closed in mid-July.

Military forces all across North Africa have been placed on a heightened alert because of the missing planes.

New Surveillance Tracks Entire City Simultaneously

Security critics are raising the alarm about a new surveillance system that can track all the citizens and vehicles in a small city at the same time.

Dayton, Ohio based Persistent Surveillance Systems has been demonstrating a system where a low flying aircraft continually monitors traffic and humans in a wide area.  While the system cannot show individual details like hair color, the motion of the objects and their travel locations can help police and federal agents identify and track civilians.

The system does not require a warrant from a judge to be used for tracking an individual.

Defense contractors are working on similar systems for military use but the PSS unit is designed to be used by civilian sources as well.

Ross McNutt of PSS says that a single camera from their system mounted on the top of the Washington Monument would allow police to monitor and track every person and vehicle that uses or approaches the National Mall.  He says the devices could help police make a significant dent in crime levels.

US Airways Flight Delayed By Tuberculosis Scare

A US Airways Express flight from Texas to Arizona ended up being more dramatic than passengers had expected when they boarded.

First responders boarded the plane upon landing in Phoenix and removed a man who was told to put on a medical mask. A spokesman for US Airways said the airline was notified after the plane left Austin the passenger’s status had been changed to “no-fly” because of medical conditions.

Passengers told Fox News they were told to get tuberculosis tests and vaccinations by a first responder who boarded the plane while it was on the tarmac. Federal and Maricopa County health officials said they had no immediate confirmation the passenger had an infectious disease.

However, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health told ABC15 passengers “faced little risk of contagion.”

Tuberculosis can be spread through the air.