Defence of the Realm ?

[Churchill]

AtW,

What makes you the expert on Russian military hardware? I'm not, I'm only asking how you 'know so much' because I can assure you, unless you were ex Russian Air Force or FSB or KGB or whatever then you're pissing in the wind. How do you know they haven't perfected this.

Oh and when it comes to Satellite imagery, there is a reason why the UK's nuclear deterrent is based at Faslane, can you think why? I'll give you a small clue, it concerns weather patterns and cloud cover.

I'll give you another clue. Very deep water as soon as you enter the Clyde Estuary.

[AtW]

Desperate or otherwise, I have already had two very enjoyable visits to Moscow and St Petersburg - shall I make a third visit - who knows ?

How as the tea on Lubyanka tovarisch?

It cracks me up when foreigners derive conclusions about Russia on the basis of their short trips. Did you know that in Soviet Union special hotels, special restaurants, special guides were created for foreign visitors only?

Try visiting Chechnya, make sure you've got a will updated first though.

[AtW]

Oh and when it comes to Satellite imagery, there is a reason why the UK's nuclear deterrent is based at Faslane, can you think why?

Is it a marginal constituency? Yes, that gotto be it!

Submarines are not airplanes - one they go deep underwater they are much harder to detect than huge airplane.

[TimberWolf]

To be fair our submarines usually end up hitting something if they have to go underwater, and have to surface

[Incognito]

I'll give you another clue. Very deep water as soon as you enter the Clyde Estuary.

Linky

The cloud cover offered by the Clyde has traditionally made Faslane the preferred base for such submarines

Reason being, the damn Ruskkies couldn't take pictures of the boats in dock to determine how many were out on patrol. Devonport is a far better location logistically. Trust me, I've done postings at both.

[AtW]

Reason being, the damn Ruskkies couldn't take pictures of the boats in dock to determine how many were out on patrol.

That was easier to check by talking to prostitutes.

Your example is off in any case (modern satellites can see through clouds) - airplane takes off and then flies, it can be seen by radars and from space - there ain't no clouds all the way from airbase till NY you know. US satellites are very good at intercepts - they'd know Tu-160 received clearance to take off at the same time as commander of the airplane gets it, there people assigned to monitor these things 24/7 on both sides.

[AlfredJPruffock]

How as the tea on Lubyanka tovarisch?

It cracks me up when foreigners derive conclusions about Russia on the basis of their short trips. Did you know that in Soviet Union special hotels, special restaurants, special guides were created for foreign visitors only?

Try visiting Chechnya, make sure you've got a will updated first though.

Of course I do - you are refering to Intourist - when I visited I travelled independently as it was just after the demise of the Soviet Union.

St Petersburg remains one of my favourite citys.

Try visiting Wishaw l - make sure you've got your will updated !

[Incognito]

To be fair our submarines usually end up hitting something if they have to go underwater, and have to surface

The guy in charge of the perisher course that got a court martial for that was my captain on one of my old ships. Top bloke.

[Incognito]

That was easier to check by talking to prostitutes.

Your example is off in any case (modern satellites can see through clouds) - airplane takes off and then flies, it can be seen by radars and from space - there ain't no clouds all the way from airbase till NY you know. US satellites are very good at intercepts - they'd know Tu-160 received clearance to take off at the same time as commander of the airplane gets it, there people assigned to monitor these things 24/7 on both sides.

Accepted cloud cover can be penetrated now by a small percentage of specialised military satellites, but then you have the fact that on average these satellites are passing a specific point on the earth twice a day, you'd have to be quite lucky to catch an actual take off.

I'm also sure that comms traffic is encrypted. I may stand corrected though.

And Radar isn't infallible you know, terrain can interfere with your interception and only the truly monstrous Ballistic early warning systems would be able to track at distances of thousands of miles and they normally intercept once airborne and how can you distinguish between a Tu-160 and a normal cargo plane if the TU-160 isn't travelling at supersonic speeds?

[AtW]

Accepted cloud cover can be penetrated now by a small percentage of specialised military satellites

Have you seen Google Earth? They show my car parked next to my house, does it mean there were no clouds in UK when they made the shots? And that's cheap commercial grade satellite!

I'm also sure that comms traffic is encrypted. I may stand corrected though.

Do you know the design and creation dates of electronic equipment used in Russian military airplanes? That's 30-40 years ago. It does not take a genius to figure out that a big distinctive airplane is about to take off, it's huge and very poor stealth wise - it's signature is very distinct.

how can you distinguish between a Tu-160 and a normal cargo plane if the TU-160 isn't travelling at supersonic speeds?

The radio-electronic signature of Tu-160 and something like Boeing 747 are pretty distinct - did not they teach you that in UK GCSEs?

Nuclear capable airplanes are tracked from take off to landing. There are people assigned to do this job 24/7, same goes for submarines or any other strategic assets.

What you don't want to achieve however is allow the other party to know limits when they detect you, so you have to introduce element of uncertainity so that they can't be sure where they are detected and sometimes you pretend you did not detect at long range to create false feeling that they were undetected: this kind of stuff is priceless with the only downside being some amateurs on CUK would question such strategy.