Russian Aerospace Forces have flown two of their Tu-160 strategic long range bombers to an airbase in the Russian far-east which is a mere 600 km from the United States mainland.
The supersonic bombers which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons with over 6000 km operating range, have a vast swath of the US mainland in their cross-hairs.
Russian defense ministry has stated that the move was a part of planned tactical flight exercise. The aircraft flew over 6,000km for about 8 hours.
“During the exercise, they will practice being relocated to operational airfields, as well as making flights with aerial refuelling. The event will involve roughly ten Tu-160, Tu-95MS, and Il-78 aircraft,” the ministry noted.