MONTAUK AIR FORCE STATION


Cold War Context

THE SOVIET BOMBER THREAT


In the years following the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union embarked on programs to develop both an atomic bomb and the aircraft needed to deliver them to targets almost anywhere on the planet.

This combination of a growing Soviet nuclear capability and the deployment of increasing numbers of long range Soviet strategic bomber aircraft helped to spur the deployment of air defenses for the continental United States throughout the 1950s and into the early 1960s.

Included in these air defenses were early warning radar sites, gap filler radar sites, dedicated fighter-interceptor aircraft, surface to air guided missile systems, computer assisted command and control facilities and more.

The Air Force's radar installation at Montauk (active from 1948 through 1981) was established directly as a result of this growing Soviet strategic nuclear bombing force. This page presents links to additional information regarding some of the most important Soviet bomber types of that era.


Tupolev Tu-95 Bear

Tupolev Tu-4 Bull

Tupolev Tu-16 Badger

Myasishchev MYA-4 Bison

Myasishchev Bounder


Don Bender
November 10, 2000


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Photo: Enhanced official U.S. Navy photo by Donald E. Bender

SITE CURATOR: DONALD E. BENDER
E-Mail: [email protected]


Copyright 2000 by Donald E. Bender. All Rights Reserved.