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From: ricko@rosevax.Rosemount.COM (Rick O'Brien)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Airspace penetration
Summary: Reasonably solid references
Message-ID: <3285@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 20 Jan 89 05:05:22 GMT
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> The Canadian and US Forces make a regular habit of greeting Soviet
> aircraft that approach this continent.  A few months ago, a letter from
> the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa was published in the Globe & Mail.  It
> protested that an earlier article on this subject was misleading: that
> in fact the Soviets had *never* broken Canadian airspace.  That
> statement went unchallenged.

It is very probably true.  The intercepts are conducted with full armament
and the approaching aircraft are considered hostile.  I suspect that any
Soviet war planes would be shot down if they crossed into American or
Canadian airspace.  Check out the May 9 and May 16, 1988 issues of 'Aviation
Week & Space Technology' for some excellent articles on the Alaskan Air
Command and the conduct of the intercepts, which are made in international
airspace.  One point worth noting, the incoming Soviet aircraft are not 
intercepted if they are accompanied by escorting fighters.  This is to 
minimize the chances of an international incident.

Rick O'Brien: No experience, just an avid reader.