Russia's 'Dark' Warplanes Are Spooking Europe

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Two Russian bombers, flying with their transponders turned off to avoid detection, swooped so close to the Irish coast that Dublin's control tower delayed the takeoff of one passenger plane and ordered another to alter its route to steer clear of the bombers. The Feb. 18 incident, disclosed last week by the Irish government, was only the latest in an alarming series of close calls with Russian warplanes in the skies over Europe.

In December, a Russian military intelligence plane nearly collided with an SAS passenger jet over southern Sweden, according to the Swedish air force chief. Earlier in the year, a Russian plane flew close to another SAS jet that had just taken off from Copenhagen. Russia has denied that its aircraft were dangerously close to either plane.

Over the past year, Russian military aircraft have probed and sometimes violated the borders of European nations' airspace more than 100 times, according to NATO.

There doesn't seem to be much the Europeans can do.

(Or is there?)

Bronk says the best solution, for now, is deterrence. "You keep a large force of armed fighter jets" on duty round-the-clock, he says, "with a very clear policy that if you enter our airspace, you'll be shot down."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/russias-dark-warplanes-spooking-europe-155640779.html

Let's see if Russia takes this threat seriously.