The Russians joint air traffic coordination partners are coming!

Dimitri Soudas, yesterday : "Two CF-18 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept Russian bombers that came within 55 kilometres of Canada’s Arctic territory, just as Prime Minister Stephen Harper prepares to make a high-profile visit to the region."

Oh noes ... Steve in danger ...

Last year it was Obama who was in danger :

"On the eve of Barack Obama's visit to Ottawa, a Russian jet approached Canada's Arctic air space and had to be turned away by Canadian warplanes, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Friday at a news conference on Parliament Hill.
Two of Canada's CF-18 fighter jets were scrambled ..."

And just last month Airshow MacKay did his bit to resuscitate an event that happens monthly in the Arctic into a new Red Dawn :

"Two CF-18s were scrambled to intercept two Russian military planes 463 kilometres east of Goose Bay Labrador. "This was a message, clearly, to them that we will have CF-18 fighter planes there to greet them every time."

Meanwhile back in the real world ....

The Aug 10 photo above shows Russian (on the right), Canadian (on the left), and US personnel flying over the Pacific Ocean while participating in Operation Vigilant Eagle, a joint hijacking simulation exercise employing fighter jets and civilian air traffic controllers from all three countries that has been planned for three years.

The three day exercise, according to NORAD, was "designed to establish clear communication processes that would allow the forces to work together during a real crisis."

A real crisis, mind you. Not a fake-a-loo $9-billlion-plus no-bid contract F-35 fighter jet funding crisis.

Earlier this year NATO announced the Cooperative Airspace Initiative :

NATO and Russia have begun a testing phase of a joint system for air traffic coordination. The system focuses primarily on the fight against terrorism and will provide a shared radar picture of air traffic and early notification of suspicious air activities.

Joint air traffic coordination?

Where's the fun in that?

Let's give the last word back to the PMO's Dimitri Soudas today, who is presumably still dodging a summons to appear before the Ethics Committee :

"as the new, highly capable and technologically-advanced F-35 comes into service. It is the best plane our Government could provide our Forces, and when you are a pilot staring down Russian long range bombers, that's an important fact to remember."

Yeah. Stare that down, you pesky Red Menace air traffic coordination partners, you.

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Alert : The. Russians. Still. Have. Planes.

Frankly I don't think we can be expected to write a whole new blogpost every time Flying Ace "Airshow MacKay" and his trusty sidekick Woodstock Kory climb up on top of the Con doghouse to fight off the Red Baron yet again in the Arctic, so this time we're just going with what David Pugliese reported last time 18 months ago (h/t Maclean's) :

"The military officers I was talking to yesterday were full of kudos for Defence Minister Peter MacKay for a move that one described as “playing the media like a finely-tuned fiddle.”

The officer was referring to the breathless Canadian news media coverage of the flight of two Russian bombers that were “intercepted” by Canadian CF-18s … Yesterday’s incident prompted some amusement at NDHQ about how gullible some in the news media can be and how easily some journalists swallowed the government’s bait hook, line and sinker."

We would just like to add in the media's defence that this time they didn't actually swallow, opting instead to quietly spit it out into a hankie afterwards.

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Update : Ok, here we go - the government talking points from conservative.ca :

Info-Alert

Subject: Ignatieff Liberals Embarrassed by Russian Bomber Flights Over Arctic

"Mere days ago Michael Ignatieff pledged to cancel the new fighter jets the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces urgently need.

Embarrassingly for him, Russian bomber flights over the Arctic -- just two days ago -- underscore why our men and women in uniform need modern equipment to do their jobs."
Perhaps because he wasn't in Canada at the time, Mr. Ignatieff is unaware of how past Liberal governments gutted our military. More proof that Michael Ignatieff isn't in it for Canadians. He's just in it for himself."

etc ... etc ...

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