The U.S. won big against Russia in the 1867 Alaska purchase.
The U.S. also won big against Russia over Alaskan skies on Monday. The victory came in America’s response to two groups of Russian aircraft which entered the Alaska air identification zone without notice. The first group involved two Russian Tu-95 bombers and the second group involved two Tu-95s and two Su-35 escort fighters. Each was welcomed by two F-22 fighter jets.
In a contest — either a missile standoff or a gunfight — the F-22s would have outmatched their Su-35 challengers. No military contest is assured in outcome, but two factors would have supported American victory had the Russian pilots decided to press their luck.
First, the F-22 is a far superior aircraft to the Su-35 in avionics, maintenance, and airframe. These systems and capabilities allow the F-22 to engage enemy aircraft before they are even detected. The Russians would not have known about the F-22 intercepting aircraft until the F-22s were right on top of them. In a true battle, the Russians would not have known about the F-22s until their Su-35s and Tu-95s exploded.
Second, the F-22 is better piloted. Russian pilots lack the training and flight hours of American fighter pilots. Matched to the F-22s superior armament and superior avionics, the F-22 pilots would also have had a much greater ability to set the engagement from an advantageous position. This is something that too many miss when they note the Su-35’s impressive maneuverability as an indication of its superior dog-fighting capability.
Oh, and the Tu-95s are a relic of the Cold War.
But what also makes this incident important is how the U.S. Air Force responded to it. It released photos that provide a necessary U.S. counterpunch to Russia’s propaganda over intercepts of U.S. spy planes by Russian fighter jets. The Russians like to release photos of these intercepts in order to intimidate U.S. policymakers. By releasing its own, more compelling photos, the U.S. reminds Russia who masters the Alaskan skies. This is necessary deterrence with extremely sharp teeth.
NORAD fighters intercepted Russian bombers+fighters entering Alaskan ADIZ May 20. 2x Tu-95s were intercepted by 2x F-22s; a second group of 2x Tu-95+2x Su-35 was intercepted later by 2 more F-22’s; NORAD E-3 provided overall surveillance. The aircraft remained in int’l airspace pic.twitter.com/VrNuSWFOQm
— North American Aerospace Defense Command (@NORADCommand) May 21, 2019
