NATO response to Russian sabre rattling

[Kirkhill]

Might resonate more strongly if Russia weren't killing the people killing ISIL.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Might resonate more strongly if Russia weren't killing the people killing ISIL.

Or at least some of them - but hey, it's the U.S.'s fault for not sharing all their marked maps with Russia, right?

Funny how that gets lost in a lot of media coverage/debate - a bit messier than the old Fulda Gap red-and-blue map, indeed.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Might resonate more strongly if Russia weren't killing the people killing ISIL.

Or occupying nearby peninsulas that don't belong to them.  :nod:

 

[The Bread Guy]

Or occupying nearby peninsulas that don't belong to them.  :nod:

<Boris Badinov accent>
"But it's ALWAYS belonged to us -- just ask us!"
</Boris Badinov accent>

 

[CougarKing]

Rocky and Bullwinkle aside and Boris Badinov aside...  [

Meanwhile the USAF sends F22s to the Black Sea region:

US sends F-22 warplanes to the Black Sea

Source: Business Insider (Facebook page)

 

[The Bread Guy]

Russia, last week:  :tsktsk:

A senior Russian diplomat on Wednesday warned NATO not to build up its naval forces in the Black Sea, saying such a move would undermine regional security and Moscow’s already frayed ties with the alliance.

Russian state media reported earlier this month that the USS Porter, a U.S. naval destroyer, had entered the Black Sea on a routine deployment, a move it said raised hackles in Moscow because it had recently been fitted with a new missile system.

Under the Montreux Convention, countries which don’t have a Black Sea coastline cannot keep their warships there for more than 21 days. NATO members Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria are all Black Sea Basin countries.

Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014, has its own Black Sea Fleet based at Sevastopol.

“If a decision is made to create a permanent force, of course, it would be destabilising, because this is not a NATO sea,” Russian news agencies quoted Andrei Kelin, a senior Foreign Ministry official, as saying ...

 

[CougarKing]

Although not military,  don't the Icelandic Coast Guard and their police force still count as some sort of security force?

Defense News

Iceland Authorizes Return of US Troops Amid Russian Threat
Agence France-Presse 12:03 p.m. EDT June 30, 2016

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Washington and Reykjavik have signed a deal authorizing the occasional return of US forces to Iceland — a NATO member with no military of its own — amid rising tensions with Moscow, Iceland's foreign ministry said Thursday.

"The security environment in Europe, including in the North Atlantic, has changed for the past 10 years, and Icelandic and US authorities agree on the need to reflect this in a new declaration," Iceland's Foreign Minister Lilja Alfredsdottir said in a statement. "In particular, we want, in this new declaration, to highlight the rotational presence of US military forces in Iceland, which constitutes a gradation in our cooperation."

The United States has guaranteed Iceland's defense since 1951 following an agreement between the two countries.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[CBH99]

Russia, last week:  :tsktsk:

To be fair, I believe Russia has a point.

The west has built up military forces right up to Russia's borders, and has warships regularly patrolling the Black Sea.  This is traditional Russian territory, within their traditional geographical sphere of influence.

And yet when Russian military forces intercept or even come near our forces - which are parked right near the Russian border - our media has a storm with it.

I'm sure if Russian naval ships were patrolling just off the coast of Vancouver Island, we'd probably have some folks to meet them there. 

It seems to me that NATO is just as guilty of building tensions in the region as Russia is, whether we want to admit that to ourselves or not.

 

[CougarKing]

An update that goes with the parallel thread on Canada sending troops to Latvia for new NATO brigade thread.

Defense News

NATO Agrees On E. European Rotational Troops At Warsaw Summit
Jaroslaw Adamowski, Defense News 1:44 p.m. EDT July 8, 2016


WARSAW, Poland — NATO leaders agreed to deploy four multinational battalions to Poland and the three Baltic States in a bid to show the alliance’s readiness to contain an increasingly bellicose Russia. The plan was agreed July 8 at the summit in Poland’s capital Warsaw.

NATO will deploy troops to Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia with the aim to strengthen the alliance’s military presence on its eastern flank.

(...SNIPPED)

 

[Kirkhill]

To be fair, I believe Russia has a point.

The west has built up military forces right up to Russia's borders, and has warships regularly patrolling the Black Sea.  This is traditional Russian territory, within their traditional geographical sphere of influence.

And yet when Russian military forces intercept or even come near our forces - which are parked right near the Russian border - our media has a storm with it.

I'm sure if Russian naval ships were patrolling just off the coast of Vancouver Island, we'd probably have some folks to meet them there. 

It seems to me that NATO is just as guilty of building tensions in the region as Russia is, whether we want to admit that to ourselves or not.

The problem is: what is the appropriate response to the combined threat of external subversion (by means of exploiting minority discontent) and little green men volunteering to show up on their holidays with tanks and MRLs?

If you won't abide by the rules then you can't expect people to put much faith in you.

 

[cupper]

Rocky and Bullwinkle aside and Boris Badinov aside...  [

Meanwhile the USAF sends F22s to the Black Sea region:

US sends F-22 warplanes to the Black Sea

Source: Business Insider (Facebook page)

Didn't see that coming.  [

 

[MarkOttawa]

USAF B-2s to Arctic over Norwegian Sea:

B-2 stealth bombers just flew their first Arctic missions, and it’s an unmistakable message to Russia

    *Three US B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flew an extended sortie over the Norwegian Sea, a strategically important space in the increasing tensions with Russia.
    *The B-2s, part of the 509th Bomb Wing from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, also made their first visit to Iceland last month and flew with Royal Air Force F-35s, the first time B-2s had flown with foreign F-35s.
 
In a clear message to Russian forces, three US B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flew an extended sortie over the Arctic Circle for the first time on Sept. 5, the Air Force’s 509th Bomb Wing confirmed to Insider.

“This familiarization was the B-2’s first mission this far north in the European theater,” according to a Facebook post from the US Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa.

Details about the sortie over the Norwegian Sea are scarce, but the aircraft involved completed a night refueling over the Arctic Circle as part of Bomber Task Force Europe. In March, Norway accused Russia of jamming its GPS systems and interfering in encrypted communications systems.

“Training outside the U.S. enables aircrew and Airmen to become familiar with other theaters and airspace, and enhances enduring skills and relationships necessary to confront a broad range of global challenges,” US Air Force spokesman Capt. Christopher Bowyer-Meeder told Insider.

Read More: Stunning photos show US Air Force B-2 stealth bombers training with British F-35 fighters for the first time https://www.businessinsider.com/british-f35s-air-force-b2s-train-together-first-time-2019-8

The B-2s are part of the 509th Bomb Wing from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. They are deployed to Royal Air Force Base Fairford near Gloucestershire, England where last month they flew with non-US F-35s for the first time. RAF Fairford is the forward operating location for US Air Force in Europe’s bombers.

Four KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft from the 100th Air Refueling Wing stationed at RAF Mildenhall joined the B-2s on the mission over the Norwegian Sea [emphasis added].

A spokesperson from the 509th Bomb Wing told Insider that no other NATO aircraft were involved in the mission, and the bombers did not have any ammunition on board.

Last month, the B-2 also made its very first visit to Iceland, establishing the Air Force’s presence in a region Russia considers its dominion. Iceland’s Keflavik Air Base was established during the Cold War as a deterrent to the Soviet Union, and the B-2s’ brief stopoff there demonstrated its ability to operate in cold-weather conditions.

In the past year, US forces have completed several missions from the region to deter Russian aggression against NATO allies, including B-52 training near the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia forcibly took in 2014. That aggression kicked off the European Deterrance Initiative to ensure quick reaction to threats and assure NATO allies of the US’s commitment to defense.

    A B-2 Spirit assigned to Whiteman AFB, Missouri, approaches to receive fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to RAF Mildenhall over the Norwegian Sea, Sept. 5, 2019. This was an extended duration flight that proved the B-2’s ability to operate in the Arctic circle.
    Staff Sgt. Jordan Castelan /US Air Force / DVIDS
https://www.businessinsider.sg/b-2-stealth-bomber-flew-first-sortie-over-the-arctic-2019-9/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[GR66]

If the Americans were smart they'd simply fly their tankers up in the region then put out a press release that the stealth bombers did a sortie there.  It would drive the Russians nuts trying how to figure out how to track the totally invisible bombers!

 

[The Bread Guy]

If the Americans were smart they'd simply fly their tankers up in the region then put out a press release that the stealth bombers did a sortie there.  It would drive the Russians nuts trying how to figure out how to track the totally invisible bombers!

 

[Cloud Cover]

Great. You just solved the RCAF fighter replacement dilemma.