Watch For Bears Around Alaska... And Guam?

Summer picnic grounds aren't the only places you may run into bears. Cold War-era Tupolev Tu-95 bombers have returned to the skies over the Pacific and Arctic... their Russian crews exchanging 'greetings' with NATO pilots.

Canada's National Post reports a resurgence in flights of the turboprop aircraft, known by the NATO code name "Bear." A Tu-95 overflew the US Navy base on Guam last week, with other recent Bear sightings in British airspace over the North Sea... far removed from the planes' typical habitats, usually lumbering near the edge of US and Canadian airspace, testing the radar and fighter responses of the North American Air Defense (NORAD.)

Such sightings were commonplace during the Cold War, but fell off dramatically after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 -- to only one or two patrol flights a year. Today, however, Russia has placed renewed resources into its military, including its fleet of nuclear-capable bombers... and is apparently eager to throw its weight around once again.

In fact, a Russian general recently boasted about the 13-hour sortie to Guam, saying it was part of a "tradition of our long-range aviation, to fly far into the ocean, to meet [US] aircraft carriers and greet [US pilots] visually."

Major-General Pavel Androsov, chief of long-range aviation in the Russian air force, said the Tu-95 crew "exchanged smiles" with US pilots... just as crews did during the Cold War.

"Yesterday we revived this tradition," he said. "I think the result was good. We met our colleagues -- fighter jet pilots from [US] aircraft carriers. We exchanged smiles and returned home."

As ANN reported, a Bear came within 15 miles of the Alaskan coast last October... a situation that no doubt led to even more "smiles" being exchanged.

Androsov said the flights will continue, as Russian President Vladimir Putin recently made additional resources available for long-range crews. Putin himself once made a five-hour flight onboard a Tu-95.

"The President learned about the pilots' work the hard way," said Lieutenant-General Igor Khvorov, adding the West will have to accept the resurgence in Russia's aviation power.

"But I don't see anything unusual; this is business as usual," he said.

One analyst believes that attitude will lead to the same problems for Russia, as it did for the once-mighty Soviet Union.

"The Soviet Union collapsed because they couldn't afford the military that they had built up," says John Thompson, president of the Toronto-based Mackenzie Institute. "Now the Russians have a bit of money and a lot of attitude and they're making the same mistake: They're spending more on their military and trying to act like a superpower ... but they can't afford it. It's posturing."

FMI: www.norad.mil