2020 QRA vs Bears
 

Bears still going 50+ years.
Several changes in that time, the latest shown in recent photos.
Third photo taken from below, a lower fuselage appendage with a hole; also note that the top of the fin protrusion is forward opposed to the other aircraft to the rear.
ELINT plus tanker support ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla...tland-51789577

Six RAF jets intercept Russian aircraft heading for Scottish coast
 

Just read this on the Beeb's website. Six Typhoons in the air on a Saturday!

I was wondering about that white appendage under the fuselage too.

Anyone got ideas?

BEAR J - TU-142MR -- The TU-142MR was a further modification of the Tu-142M used for submarine communication relay. This allowed national command authorities and strategic missile-carrying submarines to communicate. The underfuselage search radar has been removed, and the aircraft is equipped with an underfuselage winch pod for a several kilometer long trailing wire antenna.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....96a65edbf.jpeg

Bear J
 

Looks like these guys were also picked up by RNoAF F16s and the first Norwegian F35 QRA intercept. In those images the Bears had Mig-31 Escort.

IIRC< that trailing antenna could be 20km long! Which is why we had to identify the type before manoeuvring through their centreline.

It is good of the RuAF to provide training opportunities for QRA.

Always wonder why they don't send 4 and then do a double dispersal, would give everybody a busy day.

Nicely worded Dan. ;)

From The Irish Times, 8th March 2020

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irel...tion-1.4196696

JAS

Some video footage on Twitter. Good to see the solitary pilot has to formate in autopilot and film with a handheld video camera! :eek:

Interesting that the very distinctive sound of the Bear could even be picked up by the camera inside the jet!

...
From distant memory of learned explanations in Aviation Week, the 707 TACAMO had two trailing wires - 19000 and 29000 ft.

The idea was that the aircraft flew in tight circles at high level while one wire excited the other and the longer one had much of its length hanging vertical - something to do with getting the correct polar diagram for VLF comms with deep submerged subs.

During early testing, the 160 KIAS tight circles at high level caused the wire to wrap itself round the back end of the 707 which caused a bit of alarm.

But the trailing wires probably had a better kill range than the BEAR tail gunner, if you needed to get within range of either. Unless he now has access to SDAAM.

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LFH,actually it has a loudspeaker on the end,so if you get the height correct it can `dip`,a technique invented by missionary Nate Saint,lowering trinkets to the aborigines in the S American jungle.They can now `shout` to the sub,and await replies from the Engineer tapping on the hull with a big spanner.....

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Naaah Sycamore !! ... You're confusing that with the WWI anti U-boat programme for spraying green paint on the surface of the 'oggin so it obscured the lens of Herr Kapitan's periscope, in the hope that he didn't realised he'd surfaced and kept ascending until he was high enough to be shot down by a Biff or Ninak.

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It is good, but those Bears are Russian Navy.

Shades of Red October in March

IG

That's correct. Tu-142 belong to Navy, while Tu-95 - to AF.

Strange to see that such flights are being discussed since they are quite routine since 60's. Here in Russia they are called "flights for a corner". This is because the planes first go straight northbound and then (after leaving behind Norwegian waters on the left) make a 90+ deg left turn to North Atlantic.

Point taken but bet QRA teams love this.

Gosh, just think, if they hadn't been intercepted they would have flown straight into our airspace, maybe even attacked Oban! What a load of tosh, but par for the course from so-called defence correspondents in the media these days.