Interconnected topics?

Interesting headlines here today: www.spacewar.com...

1. Russia, Turkey to develop military ties despite US sanctions

www.spacewar.com...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow and Ankara's military cooperation would not be deterred by US sanctions on Turkey for acquiring a Russian missile defence system...

2. NATO intercepted hundreds of Russian planes over Europe in 2020

www.spacewar.com...

Over 400 interceptions of unknown aircraft in NATO airspace, nearly all responses to Russian military planes, occurred in 2020, NATO said on Monday...

3. Swiss get 24/7 fighter jet protection

www.spacewar.com...

Switzerland will get round-the-clock airspace protection starting this week, the military said Tuesday, nearly seven years after the country was unable to scramble fighter jets to respond to an hijacking outside of business hours....

a reply to: CopeLongCut

Are we going to see more American troops on a new battle field in 2021 ?

A lot of movement (tactical?) seems to happening.a reply to: musicismagic

originally posted by: CopeLongCut
A lot of movement (tactical?) seems to happening.a reply to: musicismagic

Iwakuni is not that far from me. We usually get the military jets over us. Within the last 45 days though, its been somewhat quiet here.

A show of forces for a transition of power maybe? Interesting to watch where the worlds military's start deploying to. It'll give us a glimpse of allies and axis powers. reply to: musicismagic

a reply to: CopeLongCut

2. Business as usual. There were 300 in 2019.

3. They actually proposed this years ago. They attempted to go to 24/7 in 2009. In 2014, a hijacked plane landed in Switzerland, and their Air Force was sitting on the ground because it was after business hours.

a reply to: CopeLongCut



"3. Swiss get 24/7 fighter jet protection"


Hopefully the bankers can now get a good night's sleep.


Awfully stressful counting numbers all day.

Russia and Turkey's relationship has been gaining momentum for a while, which is surprising considering the difference of interests regarding syria, I think it's more about the weapons trading going on between them.
They would be a very useful ally in that region for russia.

The swiss have been getting breached very regularly by Russian flights, as have many of the countries in that region.

Not so sure its bracing for something big, but you do get the feeling theres a lot of unsurity within each country at the moment. I know a lot of lockdowns in the UK seem to be issued around the time of big events expected in the US.

It's all about January 20th most probably.

originally posted by: CopeLongCut
A lot of movement (tactical?) seems to happening.a reply to: musicismagic

I would truly like to see your validation to that statement. What movement and where?

originally posted by: musicismagic

originally posted by: CopeLongCut
A lot of movement (tactical?) seems to happening.a reply to: musicismagic

Iwakuni is not that far from me. We usually get the military jets over us. Within the last 45 days though, its been somewhat quiet here.

That is telling. Are they keeping their planes on the ground purposely? Limiting air time while bringing their planes up to maximum readiness?

Zap?

Edit: This isn't computing for me. I go to Google earth and zoom in on Switzerland and start wondering why this little nation in the middle of western Europe needs 24/7 NATO military aircraft coverage.
Something doesn't compute here.


edit: Wondering what Switzerland's attitude is here?

a reply to: CharlesT

Squadron change over and holidays. VMFA(AW)-242 is becoming VMFA-242, and changing to F-35Bs from F-18s. That means less flying as there's a slight gap between the two types being on station, and as the F-35s stand up and pilots and maintainers transition. A lot of overseas units also fly a lot less this time of year. Sometimes they stand down from somewhere around the 23rd until the 4th or 5th.

originally posted by: CharlesT

Zap?

Edit: This isn't computing for me. I go to Google earth and zoom in on Switzerland and start wondering why this little nation in the middle of western Europe needs 24/7 NATO military aircraft coverage.
Something doesn't compute here.

edit: Wondering what Switzerland's attitude is here?

It's not 24/7 NATO coverage, it's 24/7 Swiss Air Force ready alert, with two aircraft. It's no different than what every other country in the world does. Prior to today, they had aircraft on ready alert from 9-5, Monday-Friday. If anything happened outside those hours, such as the 2014 Ethiopian flight that was hijacked by the copilot, they either couldn't intercept and monitor the aircraft involved, or had to rely on their neighbors to do it for them.

The Swiss government has been trying to do this since 2009. The 2014 hijacking really brought the point home, but it still took them six years to get to this point. The Swiss just approved the purchase of new fighter aircraft in a public vote, with the decision to be made, tentatively, next year on which aircraft they will purchase.

This was over the continental US this afternoon at 3pm. Normally there are a couple dozen military flights airborne at that time. The KC-135 over the Great Lakes was returning with two KC-10s from Moron AB in Spain after supporting operations over the Med.

a reply to: Zaphod58 Sounds like you know a great more than me. But, tactically in the present tense. Makes sense.