Russian Bombers stationed on Cuba ??

[bosshawk]

If I remember correctly from my days in a different world, the Backfire and Blackjack have no where near enough range to make it to Cuba and the idea of using tankers is pretty remote, since the few tankers that they have do not have the range needed, either.  The Russians don't have a lot of friends in this hemisphere who would be willing to allow their tankers to land and refuel, either. 

TU-95s are the only choice and they have flown nonstop from Russian bases to Cuba for years and have been intercepted by US and Canadian fighters every time that they come this way.  The past few years, the Russian AF has had big problems and they haven't been coming to Cuba.

My knowledge of the issue goes back to the Cuban Missile Crisis.  How many of you folks can name the year of that incident?

[SarDragon]

I was in high school then, but don't exactly recall the year, but 1962 comes to mind. I'm too lazy to look it up tonight.

[jimmydeanno]

The Tu-22's and the Tu-160's would require tanker support, something the Russians are pretty short on these days.

Russia is pretty strapped for cash these days too.  They're making deals with China for loans in exchange for oil.

[tarheel gumby]

October 1963 ? My father was serving on DDG 4 the USS Larwence, that was his first cruise.

[bosshawk]

The date is around Oct 23, 1962: I could be off a few days.  I was a 1/Lt in the US Army and I kept getting messages from the Pentagon to ship all the 60 ft flatcars that I might have at my post to Ft. Hood, Texas.  Seems they were shipping an Armored Div to Florida to prepare for the invasion of Cuba.

I got transferred to the Army Intel School right after that to attend the Imagery Interpretation Officers Course and the first day of school, we were told that some of our instructors were still at an AF base in Florida, where they were interpreting all of the low level photos taken during the Cuban Crisis.  When they returned about a month later, they had some interesting stories to tell.

At that time, the Russians had some IL-28 Beagle bombers in Cuba: medium bombers that had very short range.  In later years, the Bears(TU-95s) made the nonstop trip from Russia to Cuba very regularly.  When the USSR folded, they quickly ran out of money and the trips stopped.  Now, they seem to be interested in starting them again.  The Bear is the only thing that has the range to make that flight.  The Backfire and TU-160 simply don't have that kind of range and there aren't too many countries enroute that would allow them or tankers to land to refuel.  Based on past experience, I wouldn't get too exercised about the possibility of the Russians basing bombers anywhere in the Western Hemisphere.