Sweden Says Russian Planes that violated Swedish Airspace had nuclear weapons
 

Swedish TV4 reports that Russian planes that entered Swedish airspace on 2nd of March were carrying nukes onboard. This was stated by the Swedish AF.
Crazy people.

https://www.tv4.se/artikel/6cNV5sPAa...venskt-luftrum

How do they claim to know this ?

From the reports, the Russian pilots made it clear. How they did this isn't explained, but the inference seems to be they tipped their wings to show what they were carrying. Images of the Su-24s show they had a store of some sort under the fuselage.

Sweden Says Russian Planes that violated Swedish Airspace we carrying nuclear weapons
 

https://www.tv4.se/artikel/6cNV5sPAa...venskt-luftrum

Translated: https://www-tv4-se.translate.goog/ar..._x_tr_pto=wapp

"Two of the Russian planes that violated Swedish airspace near Gotland on March 2 were equipped with nuclear weapons, TV4 Nyheterna experiences. According to information taken by the channel, the violation was a deliberate act with the aim of intimidating Sweden."

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3c0684b934.jpg

Perhaps they were rotating stocks out of Kaliningrad, the escorts being there to ensure no departure from the route rather than defend the formation.

There is nowhere to hide anything on a SU24 or 27. They hang out pretty well.

Then they were bloody poor navigators. Children of the magenta line with U/S kit. They were well within Swedish airspace where Finnish and Swedish AF's were having a joint drill.

i have no idea how distinctive bombs are/can be . Is it so obvious ?

I believe the fast jet jocks here can give authentic insight, but the pictures from ID sorties are very detailed.

How can they be so certain about what was actually affixed to those pylons?
Short of some extremely sensitive instruments which seem beyond airborne use in a fighter it is at best an estimate.
Not to endorse any of the recent Russian activities but let's keep it factual.

I would be very surprised if they were real nuclear weapons ( although I have been very surprised by Vlad a lot lately) . Could they have been what we used to call “shapes”, ie inert practice weapons?

Still pretty aggressive though!

"Sweden - which is neutral and not a NATO member - deployed two JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets that are said to have taken images of the Russian aircraft which confirmed they were equipped with nuclear weapons."

https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-n...dates-12541713

I am also skeptical that Sweden would be able to confirm that an Su-24 was carrying a nuclear weapon with optical imagery. Perhaps something was lost in translation. There is a difference between a nuclear-capable delivery vehicle (e.g., gravity bomb, cruise missile) and the associated nuclear warhead. I am not aware of any nuclear weapon where the presence of a nuclear warhead can be confirmed by external inspection. Even retired systems such as the Polaris SLBM or Russian SS-N-6 that had an external reentry vehicle (RV), you still couldn't tell by external inspection if the RV contained a nuclear warhead. The standard method to confirm the presence of a nuclear warhead in arms control regimes is by using radiation detection equipment. Doubt the Gripens got close enough to use that scheme.

The USA use a helicopter to check radiation levels around locations where mass gatherings are planned. Perhaps someone can speak to the detection range of portable detection equioment?

Mjb

Every nuclear warhead is clearly distuingishable from a traditional weapon just by the looks of it. And from a dummy trainer as well. And for a good reason, imagine loading a live nuke for target practices instead of a traditional explosives and the consequences. Or instead of a dummy.

take the WE.177 as an example

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....4100cc45e6.jpg

edit: here's an actual night sortie picture of a russian violating finnish airspace. The swedish incident was in bright daylight...
I havo no doubts that the swedes know what they are talking about.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e1c57bd35e.jpg

Am trying to find online a Russian equivalent of Beamr's WE177 diagram.
They don't appear to be as willing to share as the West!
Presumably there are Russian versions of the coloured stripes - or Cyrillic writing of some kind...
Noting also that things have changed considerably and that B61 training rounds differ in entire colour from live rounds.
All OSINT - but won't post the detail here so as not to irritate people.

I don't think a paint scheme can confirm anything other than someone has painted something the colour they wanted to.

", imagine loading a live nuke for target practices instead of a traditional explosives and the consequences. Or instead of a dummy."

Given the Barnes Wallis theory "You can't make anything fool proof - the fools are so damn clever"

I'm sure it's been done several times over the years somewhere

V Interesting BEAMR but the main obvious difference on the WE177 illustration is the paint job - and that could be changed for all sorts of reasons

Mistakes happen - and as the current war shows, the Russian armed forces are nowhere near as competent as previously supposed…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_U...apons_incident

Indeed - especially in current circumstances.

Again they might have spotted what looked like nukes - as of what was actually affixed to the pylons is anyone's guess. But a good headline for sure...