The analysts were not allowed to know, for security reasons, that Soviet Bison and Bear bombers had critical reliability problems.
It was a Russian "Bear" bomber, one of several that had been dogging the fishing vessel in the past few days.
At about the time the Bear bombers were near Iceland, two Russian Blackjack bombers flew along the Norwegian coastline.
During the exercise, two old turbo-prop Bear bombers approached Iceland while a couple of new Blackjack bombers approached Norway.
Bear Cub using a Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" bomber as the launch platform for a liquid-fueled rocket.
After forty years prowling the perimeters of western defences this is the first Bear bomber to enter NATO airspace by invitation.
Recently, the Russians held a cold war style military exercise in which two old Bear bombers approached Iceland.
The squadron participated in the interception of Soviet TU-95 Bear bombers on many occasions, the first of which occurred off Long Island in 1975.
It had located two Tupolev Tu- 142 Bear bombers approaching from the north, still scanning the sea with their radars, searching.
It was a Soviet Bear bomber, a huge four-engine turboprop.