US Fighters Fly Out to Meet Russian Bombers

Giddyup, those are Russians: American F-22s flew out to monitor two Russian TU-95 "Bear" bombers flying close to Alaska on Friday, CNN reports. The F-22s stayed close until the Russians left a stretch of mostly international airspace along Alaska's coastline, per Fox News. The nuclear-capable bombers didn't enter US airspace, but not everyone took it kindly: "Putin's Russia is in the nuclear intimidation business and is willing to burn (a lot of) unnecessary bomber fuel," a former Pentagon weapons expert tells the Washington Free Beacon, which broke the story. "Threatening people with nuclear weapons is Russia's national sport." Russian bombers haven't flown that close to Alaska since F-22s intercepted TU-95s there last April. (More F-22 fighter jet stories.)