“Watchful Eagle” vs. terrorists

Russian plane “Ilyushin-62.” 

Photo: RIA Novosti

The active stage of the joint antiterrorist maneuvers “The Watchful Eagle-2011” has ended in the Far East. Russian, US and Canadian servicemen were training a scenario of intercepting a plane which had been “captured by terrorists.”

According to this scenario, a passenger plane “Boeing-757” flies from Anchorage (Alaska’s largest city) to Tokyo. On its way, it is captured by terrorists and does not answer dispatchers’ requests. The Russian Air Forces send a plane of distant radar detection “A-50”. It determines the US plane’s location, and two Russian destroyers “Sukhoy-27” are sent to intercept it. After the interception, the plane is “handed over” to the US Air Forces to be identified and convoyed to a US airport.

Then, according to a similar scenario, the American Air Force “saved” a Russian plane “Ilyushin-62”, which was “seized by terrorists” over Russia’s territory.

All the participants of the maneuvers perfectly coped with their roles – and, the Russians understood their US and Canadian colleagues quite well, though they spoke different languages.

This is already the second joint antiterrorist maneuvers of Russia, US and Canada. Experts say that this practice is very useful, not only because of the experience that the participants get. For the Western servicemen, it’s a rare opportunity to communicate with their Russian colleagues and to learn that, whatever anyone may say, Russians do not dislike America at all. For the Russians, it is an opportunity to learn more about the structure of the US army, which, unlike the Russian army, consists only of volunteers.

The maneuvers “The Watchful Eagle-2011” will last till August 11.

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru