On Tuesday, U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jets intercepted Russian bombers flying near Alaska
on two separate occasions.
North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD stated the first formation of Russian
aircraft consisted of two Tu-95 bombers, accompanied by two Su-35 fighter jets and was supported
by an A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft.
The second formation consisted of two Tu-95 bombers supported by an A-50.
NORAD confirmed that the Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace
and at no time did they enter United States sovereign airspace.
General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, the NORAD Commander said,
"For the eighth time this year, Russian military aircraft have penetrated our Canadian or Alaskan
Air Defense Identification Zones and each and every time NORAD forces were ready to
meet this challenge”
He added, “Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, NORAD constantly
monitors the northern approaches to our nations and our operations make it clear that we will
conduct homeland defense efforts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”
In this video Defense Updates analyzes why Russian Tupolev Tu-95 supported by Sukhoi
Su-35 didn’t dare to enter U.S airspace as it faced F 22 Raptor ?
Let’s get started.
This video is sponsored by War Thunder.
If you are, like us, fascinated by military vehicles and technology, I recommend you give
War Thunder a try.
It's a military vehicle combat game which you can download and play for free on PC,
PlayStation4 and Xbox One - with cross-platform support.
It has a huge variety of more than 1200 playable aircraft, tanks, helicopters and ships from
the 1930s to the 1990s, which you can take to battle on land, in the air and at sea on
more than 80 theaters of war.
War Thunder has been kind enough to offer all Defense Updates viewers a special bonus,
which will grant you a free premium tank or aircraft or ship and three days of premium
account time for registering using our link in the description below.
So, take the plunge and join the more than 20 million players from all over the world!
The Tupolev Tu-95 also named as “Bear” in the West is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered
strategic bomber and missile platform.
The bomber was designed by Tupolev aerospace and defense company.
First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Union in 1956 and is expected
to serve the Russian Aerospace Forces until at least 2040.
It is powered by 4 Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engine.
The aircraft can fly at a maximum speed of 516 mph or 830 km/h and has a range of 15,000
km or 9,321 mi.
It can carry unto 15,000 kg or 33,000 lb of weapons.
The Tu-95 has also seen many upgrades that include better avionics, sensors, and weapons
package.
The latest modernization of the bombers provided it with the ability to carry Kh-101/102 stealth
cruise missile.
This upgrade saw the installation of four underwing pylons for up to 8 Kh-101/102 cruise
missiles as well as adjusting aircraft's main weapons bay for cruise missiles of size the
Kh-101/102
The Kh-101 missile is an air-launched low radar cross-section missile.
Kh-102 is a nuclear version.
The Kh-101 has a 400 kg or 880 lb high-explosive, penetrating, or cluster warhead and the Kh-102
has a 250 kT nuclear warhead.
The missile has a maximum speed of around Mach 0.8 and is estimated to have a range
of around 1250 miles or 2,000 km
The Sukhoi Su-35 is single-seat, twin-engine, supermaneuverable aircraft, designed by the
Sukhoi Design Bureau and built by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant.
The type was originally developed by the Soviet Union from the Su-27 and was known as the
Su-27M.
It incorporated canards and a multi-function radar giving it multi-role capabilities.
The first prototype made its maiden flight in June 1988.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union Sukhoi re-designated it as the Su-35 to attract
export orders.
In 2003, Sukhoi embarked on a second modernization of the Su-27 to serve as an interim aircraft
awaiting the development of the Sukhoi PAK FA (Su-57) program.
Also known as the Su-35, this version has a redesigned cockpit and weapons-control system
and features thrust-vectoring engines in place of the canards.
The type made its first flight in February 2008.
Although it was designed for export, the Russian Air Force became the launch customer in 2009,
with the production version designated Su-35S.
The aircraft has a top speed of Mach 2.25
In January 2016, Russia made the first combat deployment of the Su-35S when it sent a deployment
of four aircraft to Syria.
This occurred following the increased tensions between Russia and Turkey as result of reported
incursions by Russian aircraft into the Turkish airspace and the shootdown of a Russian Su-24
bomber by a Turkish F-16 fighter in November 2015
F 22 is still the most potent fighter jet in the world even though more than 2 decades
have passed since the first one was produced.
It is to be noted that even today F 22 can’t be exported to any country as per American
Federal Law which is a stark contrast to other fighters including the F 35.
F 22 Raptor is the first operational aircraft to combine supercruise and super-maneuverability.
Supercruise is the ability to have sustained supersonic flight without having to use the
highly inefficient afterburners.
With this F 22 can intercept targets which subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to
pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach.
F 22 incorporates super-maneuverability which makes it a capable dogfighter.
In AN/APG-77 radar, F 22 possess the most powerful sensor ever mounted on a fighter.
It has a range of around 400 km against 1 m2 target.
The radar changes frequencies more than 1,000 times per second to resist jamming and have
Low Probability of Intercept meaning that the enemy has no warning that a radar lock
has been achieved against it.
F 22 Raptor is developed from grounds up to be stealthy.
F22 is the stealthiest fighter ever build & has very low RCS (Radar Cross Section) of
only 0.0001 m2.
It can be armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder & AIM-120 AMRAAM air to air missions.
F 22 Raptor are integrated with AIM-120D.
The AIM-120D is the latest development of the AMRAAM missile family designed and built
by Raytheon.
It includes several new enhancements for improved performance.
This includes a two-way data link, superior navigation through GPS-enhanced Inertial Measurement
Unit, much larger no escape zone and improved high-angle off-boresight capability apart
from an increase in range by 50%.
The software algorithm has seen a lot of work and has a much better capability especially
in dealing with new forms of electronic attack.
AIM-120D has much accurate guidance over its whole flight envelop which improves the kill
probability.
It also has improved kinematics and GPS Inertial Measurement Unit for better performance.
AIM-120D's range is thought to be more than 167 km or 105 miles.
It will have no problem locking on a large target like Tupolev Tu-95.
The missile also has better range and agility when compared to anything Russian Su 35 possesses
including R77-1 missile which is the upgraded variant of the original R77 missile.
Also, F 22 is stealthy unlike Su 35, so it can fire the missile without getting into
tracking range of the rival.
The act is clearly intentional and this points to new-found confidence in Russia which now
thinks that it can take on the U.S military.
But it is to be noted that Russia’s Defense Budget is around 10% of the American defense
budget.
Russia has not yet serially produced its Su 57 5th generation stealth fighter nor does
it has a stealth bomber.
America has 187 F 22 Raptor and as of now 500 F 35s have already been built, the bulk
of which is received by U.S military
It remains to be seen how things pan out in the future.