Russian Bombers Skirt West Coast;US Marines Train in Bulgaria

Russia sent an offbeat Independence Day greeting to the US in the form of 4 nuclear bombers patrolling along the West Coast.On 4 July at 10:30 am,2 TU-95 Bear bombers approached the Alaskan coast and were intercepted by 2 US Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighters.Thirty minutes later,2 more TU-95s neared the California coastline and were intercepted by 2 USAF F-15 Eagles.Neither pair of the Russian Bear bombers entered the 12-mile wide expanse of US airspace,North American Aerospace Defense Command said.Interception of the bombers could have occurred up to 200 miles out from the coast,a US official noted.
A similar incident occurred on 4 July 2013.Such Russian patrols are not unprecedented,but we are positioned to respond whether Alaska or California,NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek stated.Worldwide,Russian military aircraft have been stepping up aggressive behaviour since the Russian invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine,and NATO's response to it with sanctions and increased readiness.*
Part of NATO's response is the ongoing series of exercises by the US Marine Corps' Black Sea Rotational Force and NATO allies.US Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa announced Monday 6 July that Platinum Lion 15-3 was underway at the Novo Selo Training Area in Bulgaria.Besides the BSRF Marines,participants in the two-week series of drills include Bulgaria,Romania,the UK and Albania.The exercise will strengthen the partnerships between the NATO allies and improve their military skill sets by sharing knowledge.Troops will also get to bond on a personal level,improving their cohesion as potential warfighters.
Platinum Lion 15-3 will foster interoperability through sharing ideas,thoughts,tactics,training and procedures.Among the rotations will be:
1.Classroom training;
2.Multiple live-fire events;
3.Military police training;
4.Maneuver training;and
5.A culminating event in the form of a 3-day live-fire platoon attack exercise to provide a challenging and realistic training scenario.*
I believe we have a lot to learn from each other,said US Marine Captain Michael R McNicoll,Commanding Officer of Company G,2nd Battalion,8th Marine Regiment.
Platinum Lion became one of the greatest examples in Europe of connected forces and NATO smart defence initiatives,added Colonel Iavor Mateev,Head of the Joint Military Facilities Department at the Bulgarian Defence Ministry.

Combat Air Patrol Observed Near Camp David

When the president is in residence at the Camp David retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains,the normal restricted airspace over the camp is extended outward from 3 nautical miles,or 6.5 miles,to 10 nautical miles,or about 22 miles in diameter.As the president is at Camp David this weekend,I know that combat air patrols by NORAD military aircraft may be visible.Still,they are more often heard than seen as they carry out their part in Operation Noble Eagle,as the post 9-11 airspace protection mission is known.I indeed hear them as I walk near the Mason-Dixon line,the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania which lies beneath the expanded restricted airspace.The jet engine noise of a sudden becomes very loud.I pause and,looking up,regard the swift low passage of an F-15 Eagle,painted olive drab or gray,hurtling north toward the edge of the security perimeter with jaw-dropping speed.This is better than an air show;it is the real deal,a combat air patrol protecting the President of the United States and his family and guests,as well as their neighbors in Northern Maryland and South Central Pennsylvania.The F-15 banks to the left and the right before vanishing over the horizon.There may be another,unseen fighter aloft at a greater altitude also participating in the patrol.Suffice it to say,the Air National Guard F-15 had made my walk one of the safest in the world on that sunny morning. NORAD,the North American Aerospace Defense Command,is the binational U.S.-Canadian organization that monitors and defends the continent's sovereign airspace.