Tu-95MS
Russian Air Force

NATO: Bear-H
Operator: 79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment VVS
Location: Ukrainka Air Base (Russia)
Timeframe: 1993-94
Loadout: Nuclear Strike
- Weapons bay closed / Display 2x Kh-55

Personal interest: During my US Air Force service in Alaska, the Russian Aerospace Forces regularly flew Tu-95MS bombers into the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone to test the response of NORAD and the US Air Force. However, due to Russian budget limitations following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the bomber flights abruptly ceased in February 1994.

Model Specifications: This model represents a Tu-95MS cruise missile platform, modernized to carry the Kh-55 on a rotary launcher in the weapons bay. It is painted with a modern scheme as it appeared in the early 1990s.

Secondary Interests:
Cold War: The Tu-95 entered Soviet and Russian service in 1956, operating through the entirely of the Cold War and beyond. I would not have expected these vintage bombers would still be performing the same mission during my USAF air defense support in Alaska.

Russian Federation Threat: Russia resumed practicing airstrikes against US targets and testing US air defense in late 2000. Bear bombers often were escorted by Su-35 or MiG-31 fighters over the Bering Sea and Beaufort Sea. On one occasion in June 2012, two Bear bombers violated US airspace along the Alaska Peninsula. From 2012 through 2015, Bear bombers flew as far south as the Oregon and northern California coastline.