In September 2006, a U.S. F-15 Eagle from Elmendorf Air Force Base intercepted a Russian Tu-95 Bear bomber on a training exercise near the west coast of Alaska.(Photo: U.S. Air Force)
From Baltic To Asia, East-West Aerial Confrontations Heat Up -- Reuters
(Reuters) - From the skies of the Baltic to the South China Sea, a new era of confrontation with Russia and China is pitting U.S. and allied pilots against their counterparts on a scale not seen since the Cold War era.
It is, current and former officials say, a major shift for air crews who by and large have spent more than a decade flying largely uncontested missions over Afghanistan and Iraq.
Lying behind the aerial sabre-rattling are high tensions between the West and Russia over Moscow's perceived role in Ukraine's separatist conflict.
And China, as it builds up its military on the back of economic growth, has become more assertive over multiple maritime boundary rows with neighbors, some of them allied by treaty with the United States.
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My Comment: These aerial "confrontations" are still not at level of the Cold War .... and in should be noted that the West have done more than their fair share of testing aerial boundaries. But as both China and Russia revamp and modernize their air fleets .... more confrontations and encounters are going to be the norm not the exception in the years to come.
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