Originally Posted by
ORAC
The fli side was that whilst the Russians theoretically had the aircraft to attack the UK around North Cape their role for the Badgers and Backfires was tactical and based on use in the Central Region and the Bears would have been Carrier Battle Group hunting.
From my studies the Bear could come from anywhere in the USSR and attack from whatever direction it wished. The Carrier Battle Group war would have been an interesting 'clean' war game with 'hack the shad' and 'hammer the jammer' being part of the argo of the 'game'.
For the Backfire/Badger/Blinder the issue was not quite as simple. The Badger did not have the range to reach UK and return on the NC route. The Backfire would have been limited to one sortie per day on that route. The Blinder wasn't a player.
Using the Baltap route the Badger could saturate the UKADR and the Backfire could mount 2 sorties per day. Blinder had some potential and it was believed the Fencer too could mount a realistic threat.
It would be interesting to find out what their plans had actually been.