Old Cold War Games
Interesting tale of how fighters were scrambled to intercept Russian spyplanes over interbational waters - in 2007 ...
Two Bears were spotted during a major Royal Navy exercise to the north of the Outer Hebrides. Commanders believe they were planning to spy on the warships, including the aircraft carrier Illustrious.Two Tornado F3 fighters took off from RAF Leuchars in Fife and intercepted the Bears in international airspace.
The pilots were close enough to wave but there was no radio contact.
After shadowing the Russians for some 15 minutes, they watched as the giant bombers turned and headed home to their base in Murmansk. In similar skirmishes during the 1970s and 80s, Soviet spies were sometimes spotted watching from the perimeter of RAF stations to time exactly how long it took jets to take off and intercept Bear bombers, probing the UK's defences and testing the response.
While such visits from the Russians have become extremely rare, the latest one is a reminder that Moscow's long-term ambitions are not entirely clear and that the old Cold War rivalries could well resurface.
Is this the "Old Cold War" or the "Old Cold War Reheated" as the article suggests - or is the New Cold War a continuation of the Old Cold War by other means?
After all certain countries from the "Old Cold War" are quite happy to supply certain countries from the "New Cold War" with nuclear technology and arms - so how can we be sure this isn't the "Old Cold War" with a new set of proxy client states?
Tags: soviet russia, cold war, arms race, spyplanes, proxy states