How come I always have to find out important news from the BBC? And, yes, that is a rhetorical question.

I wonder if Sarah Palin saw it flying in?

Nothing really to see here, folks. Standard operating procedure for both sides. The Long Range Flight+the Intercept. Bet you that those CF-18 jet jockeys and the the crew of the bomber have some nice pics of each other to hang up on their squadron common room.

You're probably right rat.

That was the way back in the Cold War. Both sides would snap pictures of each other. You could probably find books full of these @ Amazon. That's where they got that scene from in Top Gun, except for the flying upside down or the flipping the bird.