Recently, the US Air Force B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber flew near St. Petersburg. Russian military expert Vladislav Shurygin drew his attention to this point, commenting on the leak of the American “strategist” in his blog “RAMZAY”, assessing how dangerous it was for Russia.
Shurygin noted that said flight was accompanied by Polish Air Force F-16 fighters and was insignificant, both from a military and training point of view.
It may have been a demonstration flight, intended to remind the Russians that the Americans have B-52s. But most likely it is the development of an intra-European agenda, a propaganda message that America is with them,” he suggested.
In his opinion, the B – 52 itself is a large defenseless target, and for about forty years it has been clear to everyone that the time for such strike aircraft has passed. These “strategists” have long been retrained as carriers of cruise missiles, and they simply do not need to fly to Europe, since launches are carried out at 1.5-2.5 thousand km from the target .
He recalled that during the Cold War, the United States had a plan of attack against the USSR called the “Big Spear”. The American B-52s were supposed to launch a large number of missiles from the North Pole and no one was going to send “strategists” to Europe because of the great risk.
The threat to Russia could only come from this “strategist” if he suddenly fired all his ammunition from the KR into Russian territory.
But even then, the launch range of the missiles would be such that we could start intercepting them with confidence – not to mention that it would immediately become a pretext for war. Therefore, there is no serious threat from this aircraft. On the contrary, it was excellent training for our air defense. We remembered how B-52 looked on the indicator screens we worked with. Our anti-aircraft gunners and pilots, who, most likely, were combat bred, observed and practiced. How difficult is the B-52? If he was in the zone of our air defense, for her it is not a goal, but a dream
– explained the expert.
Such aircraft can be used against low-tech countries or where there is no air defense. It is a political and symbolic gesture, but devoid of meaning, which was very much appreciated in Ukraine. Washington’s show of support for Kiev was likely successful.