Russian long ranged patrol aircraft (bombers) flying into congested air corridors over the North Atlantic could spark a major incident with NATO.
The Russians turn off their transponders with makes them hard to detect for civilian air control radars, and they are frequently observed on the edges of the sovereign airspace of European states and entering civilian air routes. The North Atlantic is the busiest oceanic air route in the world, handling most international air traffic between North America and Europe and beyond. An airliner out in the Atlantic flying at 600 knots and traveling 12 miles in little over a minute has little time to react if an unknown or hostile aircraft has entered its flight path, and there are hundreds of airliners using these air routes at any given minute of the day.
Every time the Russians do it it causes havoc in the air routes and delays and flight cancellations. NATO fighter aircraft, mainly British and Norwegian, are scrambled to intercept the Russians and escort them away. The worst area for it is now off the north and west coast of Ireland. Ireland has no long ranged military radar system and no fighter jets, and it is also provocative to British security interests and the Russian know it. Because of it neutral Ireland has been forced to make a secret deal with the British government to allow RAF fighter jets to cross over Ireland and patrol Irish air space when a Russian bomber is detected on NATO radars. The issue has embarrassed the Irish government into defending its own airspace through buying long ranged military radars and modern fighter jets for the first time. The F-16 or the Swedish Gripen seem to be the front runners.
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