I find this just a tad creepy ...

[Pixelated]

So I'm reading this news story about Russia scrambling a fighter jet to intercept a nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber ... and I'm also watching a 1980s movie on YouTube titled "Countdown to Looking Glass" ... and I'm thinking well, golly gee ... is life starting to imitate art?

The movie is one of the nuclear holocaust we're-all-gonna-die movies made during that decade.

[Tanasi]

We and the Brits have been turning back Russian bombers that are also nuke capable. New president and the Russians and others are testing him.

[s_stabeler]

it's worth noting that typically, for reasons that should be obvious, when doing a mission like this, the bombers don't actually have nukes on board- and I believe it's possible for the intercepting fighters are able to determine that from mid-air. (because if a bomber that actually did contain nukes was spotted, then depending on exactly where it is, it could well just plain be shot down. (I'm speculating, but if it was close enough that it could drop a nuke before being shot down if the intercepting fighter waits, it would probably be shot down))

[Tanasi]

If these bombers were armed with nukes, it wouldn't be with convention gravity type nukes but stand off cruise missiles that have a range of around 1Kmiles. Our and their satellites are more than capable of detecting aircraft leaving the ground and tracking them in flight. Can the bombers loadouts be detected by fighter aircraft, I don't know if so then they'd be putting off enough radiation to be dangerous to the crews. Our BUFF is easily detected, the Bone is somewhat harder to pickup but the Boomerang is significantly harder to find for them and us.
The probe our defenses and we probe theirs, it all just part of the game.

[s_stabeler]

I am more thinking of being able to tell if a bomber has live munitions aboard, not what those munitions are.

[Pixelated]

it's worth noting that typically, for reasons that should be obvious, when doing a mission like this, the bombers don't actually have nukes on board- ...

Oh, I have no doubt about that. It's more of a thumb-the-nose, "Nyaaah, nyaaah" gesture.

[s_stabeler]

Not...entirely. It's also often a test of the other country's ability to respond to a bomber incursion.