Rus aerial activity endangering Civilian Air Traffic over North Sea

[papasmurf]

It's hardly an empty air route though, even in these times. Such maneuvers by the Russians are dangerous.

Close to an empty air route, given the few aircraft currently flying. There also appears to be a significant number of helicopters, they would be taking people to and from oil/gas production platforms.

When those "Russian Bears" fly over out to sea where live I can just make out the markings on them them with my Zeiss Jenoptem binoculars, I can't do that with large passenger airliners they fly too high.

[Borg Refinery]

What you have missed is the amount of air traffic there would be in normal times. Currently most of the World's passenger aircraft are parked up on the ground. (Also what is not obvious is height separation.)

Ah now the altitude point did occur to me, apparently they like to play games and 'buzz' other aircraft and fly at low altitudes. This happened with another TU-142 off alaska apparently.



It's hardly an empty air route though, even in these times. Such maneuvers by the Russians are dangerous.

[Barry]

This shows the decrease owing to the dreaded virus. Bear in mind it has nothing to do with the military threat posed by Russian planes.

https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/1257721412330160132">//https://twitter.com/flightradar24/status/1257721412330160132

[papasmurf]

No idea but this 'visualization' video indicates it's hardly empty.



https://nats.aero/blog/2014/11/take-guided-tour-uk-skies/">https://nats.aero/blog/2014/11/take-gui ... -uk-skies/">https://nats.aero/blog/2014/11/take-guided-tour-uk-skies/



I'm really not familiar with air traffic or flight paths, so if I've missed something feel free to point it out, I won't twig it.

What you have missed is the amount of air traffic there would be in normal times. Currently most of the World's passenger aircraft are parked up on the ground. (Also what is not obvious is height separation.)

[Borg Refinery]

But what would it be like normally?

No idea but this 'visualization' video indicates it's hardly empty.



https://nats.aero/blog/2014/11/take-guided-tour-uk-skies/">https://nats.aero/blog/2014/11/take-gui ... -uk-skies/">https://nats.aero/blog/2014/11/take-guided-tour-uk-skies/



I'm really not familiar with air traffic or flight paths, so if I've missed something feel free to point it out, I won't twig it.

[papasmurf]

(shrug)



https://www.flightradar24.com/58.67,-3.99/4">https://www.flightradar24.com/58.67,-3.99/4

But what would it be like normally?

[Borg Refinery]

What civilian air traffic over the North Sea? (Think about it.)

(shrug)



https://www.flightradar24.com/58.67,-3.99/4">https://www.flightradar24.com/58.67,-3.99/4



https://ibb.co/991ZRnJ">



Tried clicking on a few, def civvie air traffic.



Interestingly these were not typical Rus planes.



"What is a Russian Tu-142 BEAR-F?



It's a Maritime Recon / Anti-Submarine Warfare aircraft, operating in a similar way to our

@P8A_PoseidonRAF

.



Tu-142s can drop sonobuoys to detect & track subs. They can also be fitted with torpedoes, depth charges, and mines."

[papasmurf]

What civilian air traffic over the North Sea? (Think about it.)

[Borg Refinery]

https://ibb.co/Rp6VQ5r">



https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2020/04/russian-sub-hunter-worries-air-traffic-controllers-norway-scrambled-f-16s-and-f-35s">https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/secur ... -and-f-35s">https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2020/04/russian-sub-hunter-worries-air-traffic-controllers-norway-scrambled-f-16s-and-f-35s



Lots of Rus activity in around Estonia, Lithuania also. They're also doing outrageous stuff like this -

When the much-anticipated Russian delivery arrived, however, the Italians discovered that the vast majority of the supplies were useless for coronavirus treatment. It was like a plot out of Occupied, the hit Norwegian television series about a mysterious takeover of Norway.



"Of those Russian supplies, 80 percent were completely useless or of little use to Italy. In other words, the delivery was more like a pretext," an Italian government official told the leading newspaper La Stampa. According to the official, the Russian delivery contained, for example, equipment for bacteriological disinfection and a field laboratory for chemical-biological sterilization—not the ventilators and personal protective equipment so desperately needed by the Italians.



The Kremlin's aid is indeed rather unusual. The medical experts were dispatched by the Russian defense ministry, not the health ministry, La Stampa reported. What's more, many are senior biological, chemical, and nuclear officers in the medical branch of the Russian armed forces—hardly the front-line medics ordinarily dispatched to help fight a humanitarian crisis.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/30/russia-china-coronavirus-geopolitics/">https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/30/ru ... opolitics/">https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/30/russia-china-coronavirus-geopolitics/



..On a tangential note, we could probably do with a fleet of 6th gen stealth fighters pronto. Hope this gets finished:



https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forget-f-35-tempest-could-be-future-armed-lasers-hypersonic-missiles-and-swarms-26441">https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ ... arms-26441">https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/forget-f-35-tempest-could-be-future-armed-lasers-hypersonic-missiles-and-swarms-26441



The yanks have got the hump about sending us more F-35 5th gen stealth fighters at the wrong time; https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/05/republicans-move-block-48-us-fighter-jets-deployed-britain-huawei/">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/0 ... in-huawei/">https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/05/republicans-move-block-48-us-fighter-jets-deployed-britain-huawei/



..mind you, it's probably a blessing, considering how fault-ridden and unreliable they are.