Russia Stress-Tests Allied Air Command

Over less than six hours,NATO fighter aircraft were scrambled 10 times, from the North Atlantic and North Sea to the Black Sea,on 29 March 2021,to intercept groups of Russian warplanes.It was a level of agitation seldom,if ever,seen in the past seven years. The activity began when Norwegian F-16 Fighting Falcons intercepted two Tu-95 Bear bombers near the coast of Norway.The Bears then headed south to the North Sea, causing British Eurofighter Typhoons and Belgian F-16s to be scrambled.Later on, Norwegian F-16s were sent up again to check out two Tu-160 White Swan bombers (NATO codeword "Blackjack") in international airspace.The Russian probing flights did not activate their transponders, leaving doubt as to their intentions.* Another group of three unspecified Russian warplanes neared NATO airspace over the Black Sea, where they were met and followed by Turkish, Romanian and Bulgarian fighters until they departed the region.Separately, Italian fighters surveilled a Russian Il-38 Maritime Patrol Aircraft escorted by MiG fighters over the Baltic Sea near the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, which is wedged between Lithuania and Poland. Said BG Andrew Hansen, Deputy Chief of Staff Operations at Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany: Intercepting multiple groups of Russian aircraft demonstrates NATO forces' readiness and capability to guard Allied skies 24 hours a day,7 days a week,365 days a year.The men and women at NATO'S Combined Air Operations Centres in Uedem ,Germany and Torrejon, Spain responded to unidentified aircraft near the Alliance's borders by launching fighters...to investigate and protect Allied airspace.* Interestingly, another such surge of Russian provocation occurred in 2014 following their seizure of Crimea and instigation of hostilities in Eastern Ukraine.At that time,Igor Sutyagin,a Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London and former analyst of military and technological policy at the Russian Academy of Sciences said: They are training in conditions close to combat.The Kremlin is playing from a position of weakness.It's like poker,bluff-trying to intimidate the West and raise fears.* At that time, the Russian surge was similar to Monday's incidents, only they occurred over a 48 hour period, during which eight Russian warplanes were intercepted by NATO over the North Atlantic/North Sea, four over the Black Sea, and more than 10 in the Baltic Sea Region.* Tensions between Russia and the West have intensified of late over such issues as Russia's Solar Wind cyber attacks on the US,as well as interference in the 2020 US presidential election; the poisoning, arrest and sentencing to labour camp of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny;and continued truce violations by Russian-backed militants in Eastern Ukraine, resulting in the death of Ukrainian Soldiers.Additionally,Russia deployed intermediate range nuclear-capable missiles on their European territory in violation of the INF Treaty, causing the demise of the Treaty.*