US special operations forces on Wednesday dropped a long-range missile out of a C-130 transport plane in Arctic Circle in what a US military officer described as an “intentional provocation” toward Russia.
“It puts this thing within range of Russia. We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory,” Lt. Col. Lawrence Melnicoff, the head of US Special Operations Command Europe, told Stars and Stripes ahead of the launch.
The missile was dropped off the coast of Norway in the Norwegian Sea near the Andoya Space Center. It marked the first test of a new program known as Rapid Dragon, a palletized munition system that was created to use standard airdrop procedures using air-to-surface missiles.
The missile drop comes as tensions are soaring between the US and Russia over Ukraine. President Biden recently warned that the risk of nuclear “armageddon” is at its highest point since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, yet the US provocations against Russia continue.
The missile test coincided with drills that are being held in Poland and Romania that are part of Atreus, a program launched by US European Command that explores new military options for the US and its allies. The drills are preparations for any potential future conflict with Russia in Europe.
While some of the US’s allies don’t have long-range bombers, they could use the Rapid Dragon program to make up for the lack of the capability. According to Stars and Stripes, similar drills have been held under Atreus in the Baltics and Romania that have involved flying High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to different areas to offload them for quick-strike targeting.
At least not as provocative as the Russian fighter jet fired a missile next to a RAF plane couple weeks ago.
It’s only provocative when the US does it. When Russia does it … well, they didn’t do anything, it was all mainstream media lies
It is provocative when you flat a** admit it:
“It puts this thing within range of Russia. We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory,” Lt. Col. Lawrence Melnicoff, the head of US Special Operations Command Europe, told Stars and Stripes ahead of the launch.
Yes, the US was being provocative. But nobody wants to admit Russia was as well
C’mon, if we were to compare the provocations from each, do you really think they are even close to being equal? Not saying the old Soviet Union wouldn’t have acted similarly had they “won” the cold war but that would only be conjecture. What the US did is in the history books. Maybe not for some of the commenters here, but it’s still history.
You don’t think that firing a missile at an RAF jet (although they later blamed “technical malfunction”) and flying aircraft as close as 15 feet to NATO aircraft is pretty freaking provocative? Everyone here would be screaming for blood if the US did such a thing.
I was talking overall. I don’t give Russia a pass on anything.
True. You are far more even-keeled than the average poster here on that issue.
Puff out your chest and draw a line in the sand, er ice with a emphatic cmom bear i double-dog dare ya!
That’ll show em? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e996d82bfad20c801b39ba4c2ef3da3d7d37b82c11181947b968a52dbdbeeb1.jpg
Sounds like some Orwell ‘Doublespeak’, provocative without being escalatory.
You betcha. War is Peace, you know.
Paging Dr Strangelove
I am not religious but I seem to remember that Jesus Christ allegedly said
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I enjoy reading your posts Wendell, it’s like doing a crossword puzzle…
🙂
“It puts this thing within range of Russia.” For the first time. And it is not an escalation? Melnicoff was asleep during English classes in all of his schools.
uncle sam has had russia surrounded for decades now
That kind of thing could get transport aircraft used an any different way bigger targets than they might not already be. The MOAB w was dropped on Afghanistan from a C130 – which makes it a bomber.
“”We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory,””
in other words; exactly what north korea repeatedly does
Somebody wants a war… “Provocative without being escalatory”? Don’t forget to use a condom…. Don’t you think that war is sexually explicit?…. “Rapid Dragon”?….
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