For Soviet flights close to state borders, all routes had to avoid sectors which took the ac to less than 50km from the border, and had to avoid approach angles to a state border closer than 30 degrees (In the case of certain flights, the state border included those of Warsaw Pact countries).
When carrrying out Elint gathering flights, these rules were not enforced. For example, Blinder ac (operating as a pair, at least once a month along the NATO border) occassionaly penetrated West German airspace by as much as 80km. The lead ac Elint gathered, (including locating the relatively easy to find Pershing 2) while No2 ac navigated. NATO radars were stimulated from standby to active mode by use of the Blinder's Rubin-1L nav radar, steered in manual in the expected direction of the threat radar.
These missions were afforded top priority, sometimes taking places when the weather was deemed otherwise unsuitable for flying.
Recce flights by Tu-22s were countered by NATO fighters. For example, Norwegian F16s would position themsleves underneath the payload bay to avoid photograph taking. Problem was, oblique cameras were later fitted in addition to the verticals. The first F16 would then act as a spotter, and the second would block either the oblique or vertical camera thought to be in use, depending on the direction of the target.
Total flight duration for an Atlantic recce launching from Zyabravoka, Sol'tsy, Olenyegorsk, and Severomorsk (via Trondheim), including two in-flight refuelling from Tu-16s was about 9 hrs. For the Blinder, this limit was due to pilot fatigue in the single-seat cockpit.
Last edited by seafuryfan; 1st Jan 2010 at 12:57.
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