Russian Tu-95MS "Bear" strategic bomber.

(European News Agency file photo)

[Compiled by Chen Chengliang/Comprehensive Report] At a time when Moscow threatened not to rule out the use of nuclear weapons, NATO and Russia would conduct separate "nuclear exercises", the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) issued a statement on the 18th saying that Russia has two nuclear weapons capable of carrying. The Tu-95 strategic bomber (TU-95) approached Alaska in the United States on the 17th and flew into the air defense identification zone. The US Air Force dispatched two F-16s to intercept it.

An "Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone" is an international airspace adjacent to areas such as the United States or Canada.

The NORAD statement said the Russian strategic bomber "entered and operated within the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ)" but remained in international airspace, did not enter sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada, and was not considered a threat or provocation.

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However, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, threatened Russia might try to take back Alaska when the United States sanctioned Moscow in July.

NORAD said the command "tracks and actively identifies foreign military aircraft entering the ADIZ and routinely monitors the movements of foreign aircraft and escorts them out of the ADIZ as necessary."

NATO's annual nuclear weapons exercise code-named "Steadfast Noon" was launched on the 17th and lasted for 2 weeks. It took place in the UK, Belgium and the North Sea. A total of 60 military aircraft from 14 countries participated, including the US B-52 strategic bomber; NATO's exercise An unexpected encounter with Russia's annual nuclear weapons exercise "Grom" has experts worried that it may go wrong.

The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement on the 18th saying that the Russian Aerospace Forces TU-95MS strategic bomber patrolled over the Pacific Ocean, Bering Sea and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk for more than 12 hours.

MiG-31 aircraft of the Pacific Fleet Naval Air Force escort.

Tu-95 strategic bomber, NATO code name: Bear (Bear), is manufactured by the Tupolev Design Bureau of the Soviet Union. It is the only large-scale four-turboprop engine swept-wing long-range strategic bomber in service in the world, an air-launched missile launch platform, and maritime reconnaissance. aircraft, and military airliners.

The Tu-95's unique Contra-rotating propellers make it have a fairly good flight speed. Although it is not comparable to a jet aircraft, among the propeller aircraft, the Tu-95 has the fastest flight speed.

The Tu-95 is the only strategic bomber still using propellers and one of the loudest military aircraft in flight, especially because its propeller tips move faster than the speed of sound.

The Tu-95 served in a large number of the Soviet Air Force and the Soviet Naval Air Force during the Cold War. The model used by the Soviet Naval Air Force was renamed Tu-142, which has maintained the world record for the flight speed of propeller aircraft since the 1960s.