Canadian fighters scramble for Russian bombers

Regular readers will remember I am an advocate for the Forces. I do think they have been under resourced for many years (yes, under Liberal governments too).

And I support updating air support -- and am prepared to be convinced that the new fighter contract (single sourced though it is) makes sense.

But...

The fuss made over scrambling fighters to intercept Russian bombers flying 100 km beyond Canadian airspace in the North Atlantic seems, errrh, shall we say, forced.

Indeed, it's almost as if the scramble was for media more than anything else -- seriously, was there a fear the Russians were going to turn and bomb Newfoundland's northern coast with conventional weapons?

Yes, Canadian airspace must be seen to be protected but the Russians weren't in it -- sending up patrol jets made sense -- but the pressers were just that, pressers and earned media.