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THIS is the dramatic moment US fighter jets came face to face with Putin and Xi’s nuclear-armed bombers for the first time.
The flight marks a chilling escalation towards World War 3 as the warplanes flew near US territory in Alaska.
X/Osinttechnical
X/Osinttechnical
X/Osinttechnical
EPA
US and Canadian fighter jets detected, tracked and intercepted two Russian Tupolev TU-95 and two Chinese Xi’an H-6 bombers late on Wednesday.
Russian Su-30 and Su-35 fighters provided cover for the bombers as they sought to provoke the US.
The joint bomber patrol highlights the growing military partnership between the autocratic nations with the brazenness of its flights worrying western capitals.
The planes were picked up by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) through satellite and RADAR.
Norad said the four bombers did not enter US or Canadian airspace but operated in the Alaskan air defence identification zone (ADIZ) and did not present a threat.
An ADIZ is a self-declared buffer zone in international airspace in which countries monitor flight movements for potential security threats.
Russia’s defence ministry said the five-hour joint patrol took place in a “new area of joint action”.
They said the planes “acted strictly in accordance with international legal statutes” and “did not violate the airspace of foreign countries”.
A Chinese spokesperson said on Thursday the patrols had “nothing to do with the current international situation” and the manoeuvre was not aimed at any third country.
The Chinese-Russian manoeuvre marks a further expansion of the countries’ increasing military co-operation.
Senior US defence officials told lawmakers earlier this year that the US military was revising its force towards Russia and China.
Alexey Muraviev, a professor of national security and strategic studies at Curtin University in Perth, told the Financial Times the flight was near Alaska for a reason.
He said the manoeuvre was “a continuation of their efforts to put pressure on the US in the Arctic region”.
One expert on Russian-Chinese military co-operation at the University of New South Wales in Sydney said the flight marked a worrying first.
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X/OsinttechnicalAlexander Korolev said :“It is not unusual for Russian bombers flying through the [Alaska] ADIZ to be intercepted, but I believe it is the first occurrence of a joint Russian and Chinese flight in that zone.”
Although Beijing and Moscow do not have a mutual defence treaty, they have been training together for almost 20 years.
That activity has intensified over the past six years, but had remained in airspace around Japan and over the western Pacific Ocean, east of Taiwan and the Philippines.
The latest patrol was “notable for being the first intercept of Chinese military aircraft near Alaska”, Korolev said.
Defence experts said the joint drills and patrols offered more practical benefits for China’s People’s Liberation Army.
It has not fought a war since 1979 and could learn from the Russian military’s recent combat experience in Ukraine.
For Moscow, the military alignment with Beijing strengthens its claim to being a global military power and strengthens ties with ally China.
Norad noted that the aircraft did not enter US or Canadian sovereign airspace and were not considered a threat.
“Norad will continue to monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence,” the binational command said in a statement.
Putin launches new nuclear-capable ballistic missile ‘super weapon’
By Aiya Zhussupova and Will Stewart
VLADIMIR Putin has test-fired a new nuclear-capable ballistic missile that the world “has never seen” before.
The “super weapon” is understood to be capable of dodging Western detection thanks to its unpredictable manoeuvres.
The suspected advanced rocket was launched last week from the Kapustin Yar test range – leaving a bizarre smoke trail behind.
The intercontinental missile was spotted “waltzing” across the sky from different regions in Russia and even Iran.
Shocked witnesses have caught the unusual “pirouettes” on camera with the clips showing white smoke twirls.
The Russian defence ministry refused to name the secret rocket that was fired from a mobile missile launcher.
But it has boasted the success of the testing, adding that “objectives were completed in full” – without any further details.
Reuters
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English (US)