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Bombers never got close enough: U.S.

PEARL HARBOR (Hawaii): The U.S. Pacific Fleet commander said Russian bombers never got within 500 km of Guam this week and did not fly over the U.S. territory as a Russian air force general claimed.

Navy Adm. Robert F. Willard disputed that U.S. fighters intercepted the bombers. The admiral said the Russian aircraft never got close enough to the Pacific island or the massive U.S. military exercises being held nearby, to warrant such action.

“U.S. planes went to an orbit point in preparation for an intercept that never occurred because the Bears didn’t get close enough,” said Adm. Willard in an interview using a slang term for the Russian planes.

Earlier, a Russian Air Force general said a pair of Tu-95 bombers reached Guam as part of an exercise intended to demonstrate the Kremlin’s resurgent military power.

The general said the bomber’s crews smiled at the pilots of the U.S. fighter jets scrambled to intercept them.

The U.S. military is holding large-scale war games in waters and air space near Guam. The “Valiant Shield” drills are among the largest U.S. military exercises held anywhere in the world, involving over 22,000 troops, more than 30 ships and some 275 planes.

Adm. Willard, a former Navy fighter pilot and aircraft carrier commander, said Russian air forces have not tried to push their way in to watch U.S. carrier training much recently. But he said it was something that happened often in the days of the Soviet Union.

“We’re very accustomed to this and it wasn’t a particular surprise to us,” he said. “It was standard operating procedure for those of us that have that experience.”

In Soviet days, U.S. fighter jets would fly out to “escort” the planes, he said. The U.S. and Russia still have procedures they follow in such circumstances to ensure the safety of their forces, he added.

The Russian planes flew to the Pacific as part of its own exercise that saw strategic bombers flying 40 sorties and launching eight cruise missiles, said Maj. Gen. Pavel Androsov, who commands Russia’s long-range bomber force.

During the Cold War, Soviet bombers routinely flew far over the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The manoeuvres came to a halt after the post-Soviet economic meltdown, but booming oil prices have allowed Russia to pour money into military budgets.

The Kremlin also has taken an increasingly assertive posture on the international stage amid increasingly chilly relations with the United States and NATO. — AP

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