The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed Saturday that a US B-52H Stratofortress multirole strategic bomber aircraft flew over the Baltic Sea approached to within about 93 miles (150 km) of Russia’s border.
“On March 15, 2019, a US Air Force B-52 aircraft with the transponder switched on performed a flight over international waters of the Baltic Sea parallel to Russia’s territorial waters,” the ministry said. “The plane did not approach Russia’s border closer than 150 kilometers and turned around immediately after Russian air defense systems on combat duty tracked it.”
According to official reports, a B-52 plane was last spotted over the Baltic Sea in 2017.
Early, air traffic network Plane Radar has reported that a US B-52H Stratofortress large-payload multirole strategic bomber aircraft practiced a mock attack on a Russian naval base in the Baltic Sea region.
A strategic bomber of the U.S. Air Force approached to within about 99 miles (160 km) of the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on Friday, according to flight data from air traffic network Plane Radar.
“16:25 Moscow time. A US Air Force Boeing B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber, registration number 61-0009, engaging in imitation of the bombing of the base of the Russian Baltic Fleet,” Plane Radar announced on Twitter on 15 March.
According to the current information, the bomber can fly at high subsonic speeds at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet and can be armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles or a conventional payload of up to 70,000 pounds.