Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Open the Frequent Flier Account

The Russians, despite years of claiming NATO is the real military threat to Russia while China is a customer for arms exports, has been coming around to reality. The most recent news is that the Russians will practice shifting European air assets east:

For the first time, Russia practiced quickly moving Su-24M and Su-34 bombers from European bases, to one on the Pacific coast, 6,000 kilometers away. This required in-flight refueling (three times for the Su-24M, twice for the newer Su-34). The exercise included the aircraft carrying weapons, and simulating delivering them on a target before arriving at the Pacific coast base. This particular exercise was aimed at China.

Remember, it's only the Far East when viewed from Moscow. From Peking, it's just the East.