Ummm, about KEF and all....

No Bear? No problem!

From Keflavik, London, Naples, Sardinia, Rota, to Souda Bay - that has been the mantra of the Navy for the last decade (+). And now....

Maj. Gen. Pavel Androsov, the commander of Russia's long-range aviation forces, said its long-range strategic bombers, once part of the Soviet Union's nuclear forces, had held new flight exercises that included passing by a United States naval base in Guam and trips to the North and South Poles. The bombers also fired eight training missiles at unspecified targets and hit them all, according to General Androsov, who spoke at a news conference. The path of the test flights and the performance of the missiles could not be independently verified but appeared to be another instance of Russia, flush with money from its oil and gas exports, trying to reassert itself as a military and global power.

Almost feeling like an Ensign on my first deployment again...

"We have decided to restore flights by Russian strategic aviation on a permanent basis," Putin told reporters after inspecting joint military exercises with China and four Central Asian states in Russia's Ural mountains.

"Today, August 17 at 00:00 hours, 14 strategic bombers took to the air from seven airfields across the country, along with support and refueling aircraft ... From today such patrols will be carried out on a regular basis.

Actually, this stuff does get my blood pumping - to an extent. But really - should we jump - or should we use this as a chance to let the dormant fear Europeans have - The Russian - bubble for awhile to help them wake up and develop a viable military power and let them deal with it? And now...

Russia has been marking Aviation Day on Sunday and the country's only aircraft carrier 'Admiral Kuznetsov' is at sea again. The largest ship of the Russian fleet is home to 6,000 servicemen.

Lex feels it too. Oh, want to know who led the charge to gut the USN in Europe and the Med over this decade? Ask Galrahn.