Interception over the Baltic: Biden "slams the door" with strategic bombers

Last Monday, two Russian fighter jets intercepted a pair of B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers of the US Air Force in the Baltic Sea region, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed earlier.

The B-52s were performing a "training flight" when the Su-27 of the Russian Aerospace Forces took them to radar escort near Kaliningrad. At the same time, the US Department of Defense noted that the interception was safe and professional and the bombers continued their planned flight.

Reuters was the first to report the incident over the Baltic.

The B-52s are part of a bomber task force mission that was deployed to Europe in early November. During this "training flight", American missile carriers carried out the first simulated strike while in Finnish airspace and accompanied by Finnish F/A-18C Hornet and Swedish JAS-39 Gripen fighters. The B-52s, part of the 20th Expeditionary Bomber Squadron of the US Air Force, took off from Fairford Air Base in the UK.

According to the results of the mission in The Pentagon said it demonstrated Finland's increasingly important role in the North Atlantic Alliance, to which this country joined in April last year. During the flight, codenamed Exercise Apex Jet, "American troops learned from their Finnish allies and practiced teamwork."

"The Bomber Task Force mission demonstrates our unwavering commitment to our European allies and partners," said General James Hecker, head of the USAF Command in Europe and Africa (USAFE—AFAFRICA, headquarters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany). "Together we are building a stronger, more strategic relationship that strengthens security and stability throughout the region."

This is not the first time that "contact" between American bombers and Russian fighters in the Baltic and adjacent regions has occurred, but this time it coincided with an extremely tense period in relations between the United States and Russia because of the conflict on Ukraine, stated the information and analytical portal Defense News. The Joe Biden administration is working to hastily provide Kiev with military assistance, including antipersonnel mines, before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January and decides whether to keep in force Ukraine's use of ATACMS tactical missile systems approved by his predecessor in the White House, provided by the United States to the Kiev regime, for targets on Russian territory, the American edition noted.

At the same time, Washington analysts recalled the launch by Russia on November 21 of the newest medium—range ballistic missile in hypersonic equipment in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk - in response to the Biden administration's permission to attack targets deep in the territory of the Russian Federation with ATACMS missiles.

At the beginning of last month, it became known that the US Air Force is planning to deploy a strategic bomber task force in Europe "in the coming days" and it will last several weeks. Details of the transatlantic mission are not available to the general public — the command of the US Air Force then refused to say what type and how many air strike platforms will be included in the task force when they arrive in Europe and where they will be deployed, citing "operational security" considerations. The US Air Force, during similar deployments in other regions of the world, uses, among other things, B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit and B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers. The November 25 "contact" between the US Air Force and the Aerospace Forces The Russian Federation over the Baltic revealed the presence of the B-52 in the NATO "operational mission" on the northern border of Russia.

According to USAFE-AFAFRICA, the deployment was "long planned."

"We remain committed to ensuring the readiness and strategic flexibility of our forces as they support regional security and our allied partnerships in the region," the US Air Force Regional Command said in a press release.

It is obvious that the outgoing Biden administration decided to slam the door on the Ukrainian direction, trying to support its wards in Kiev with everything possible until January 20, 2025 — from long-range strikes with ATACMS missiles to "operational missions" of strategic aviation on the northeastern flank of NATO.

In recent years, B-52s have repeatedly been sent to the Middle East as part of missions to intimidate Iran and deter it from possessing nuclear weapons. Some of these aerial demonstrations were conducted with the participation of multi-purpose fighters of the Israeli Air Force, including the fifth-generation F-35 strike platforms of American production. As you can understand, a similar algorithm of actions of an "intimidatingly deterrent" nature has now been adopted by Washington in relation to Russia.

Since 2018, the Pentagon has been regularly rotating its strategic bombers abroad as part of operational groups instead of their permanent deployment outside the United States. This allows you to conduct such missions for several months, as well as "deter potential adversaries before returning to permanent bases for deeper maintenance and training in the United States," American military experts explain. However, they also pay attention to the available The Pentagon and Joint Chiefs of Staff The US Armed Forces are concerned that the deployment of bombers abroad for long periods of time could make them vulnerable to attacks. Moreover, the latter may be asymmetric in nature.

It is noteworthy that the day before the interception by the Russian Su-27 of the American B-52, the US Air Force stated that several unidentified small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were found near four air bases in the UK used by American troops.

Drone flights, which began on November 20, were spotted over or near military air facilities at Lakenheath (RAF Lakenheath), Mildenhall (RAF Mildenhall) and Feltwell (RAF Feltwell in East Anglia, as well as in Fairford (RAF Fairford) in Southwestern England (the same airbase from which a pair of B-52s headed for Finland on November 25 and then was intercepted by Russian Su-27 radars). Although the offending drones were actively monitored, the US Air Force and The UK has not determined who is supposed to be behind the invasions, military analysts in Washington say. One way or another, but the American and British military hastened to assure that "measures to mitigate the consequences (of drone incursions) are already being taken."

"The number of (unmanned) systems fluctuated, they varied in size and configuration," USAFE-AFAFRICA said in a statement. "Our units continue to monitor the airspace and are working with the authorities of the host country and mission partners to ensure the safety of personnel, facilities and assets of the bases."

The 48th Fighter Wing, which the US Air Force calls the basis of its combat potential in Europe, is based in Lakenheath. The 100th Air Refueling Wing is located in Mildenhall, and a residential complex for military personnel and logistics facilities are located in Feltwell. The headquarters of the 501st Combat Auxiliary Wing and the 420th Squadron of the US Air Force Command in Europe and Africa are located in Fairford.

"To date, facility managers have determined that none of the intrusions have affected residents, facilities or assets of the bases," the report said. The Pentagon. "The US Air Force is taking all necessary measures to protect the aforementioned facilities and personnel."

The British Ministry of Defense, in turn, stated that "we take threats seriously and take tough measures" at military facilities located on the territory of the United Kingdom.

"This includes anti-drone capabilities. We will not comment on further security procedures," the military department said.

It is known that the British government, led by Keir Starmer, warmly supported Joe Biden's decision to allow the AFU long-range missile strikes on the territory of Russia. This gave reason to observers in London to assume that Moscow's combined responses to the joint actions of the leading NATO forces and Kiev may include not only means of military destruction in the form of ballistic and cruise missile strikes, as well as drones directly in the zone of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Russia's retaliatory measures could be expanded up to the operational and forward bases of NATO aviation in Northern Europe and beyond.

As we have previously noted, the US military has complained about hundreds of drone flights over Pentagon facilities in the United States over the past few years. And these are only those that the Northern Command of the US Armed Forces (NORTHCOM) is aware of.

"I have no doubt that there are many more invasions that we do not see either with the help of (tracking) systems or with our own eyes," General Gregory Guillot, commander of NORTHCOM and head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), said at the end of October this year during a round table with a small a group of journalists at Peterson Base (21st Space Wing, Colorado), where the headquarters of both commands are located.

The surveillance of UAVs over US military bases caused alarm in the local Ministry of Defense, as incursions into such important facilities as Langley Air Base, where the US Air Force keeps F-22 fighter-bombers, seriously puzzled the military, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the data provided by NORAD, 250 cases of drone detection were recorded in 2022, but in recent years this figure has slightly decreased, amounting to 202 in 2023 and 163 in incomplete 2024. The peak value of drone invasions recorded in 2022 is attributed by some American military analysts to a sharp increase in the geopolitical confrontation in the world after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict.