"You get airborne as fast as you can," says the CF-18 pilot, identified by his call sign - Nojo. "You end up running to the jet."

Less than 30 minutes later, somewhere high above the Arctic Ocean, Nojo and his fellow pilot identified the intruders: multiple "Bears," long-range Russian bombers, 130 kilometres from Canadian airspace and closing fast.

"You truck on out, usually pretty fast, you get the jet in the position where you can fly up behind the target and you have a look at it. Then you throw one jet on the wing so the Bear knows you're following him and the other jet you just stack out a little bit so he's in a farther trail position."

Nojo got pretty close.

"You can definitely see the tail gunner. You wave back and forth. There's an exchange of pleasantries."

Nojo and his partner escorted the Bears into and back out of Canadian airspace and peeled off only when it was clear they were headed home. It was one of two intercept missions he flew last fall, one of which was at night, when he had to light up the Bears with the jet's spotlight.

Any CF-18 mission is thrilling, but these were special.

"We do a lot of training," says Nojo. "To actually do an operational mission was definitely exciting."

Records obtained by The Canadian Press show that Russian bombers are again regular visitors along Canadian and U.S. Arctic airspace. One military analyst says it's all part of the Russian effort to re-establish itself on the world stage, especially in the Arctic.

"The Russians are just telling all the Arctic nations, 'We're back,' " says Rob Huebert of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.

Since Russian president Vladimir Putin announced last August that Russia would resume its long-range air patrols, about two Tu-95 bombers a month have been flying into the buffer zone just outside Canadian and U.S. airspace in the Arctic.

"It's a section of airspace emanating from both of our countries," says USAF Col. John Zentner, chief of NORAD current operations. "It's a section of airspace that we've identified that allows us to transition from offshore flights to those approaching our mainland."

Documents show that Canadian CF-18 Hornets have flown five such Bear intercept missions - one in 2006 and two each in September and November last year.

American jets have flown another 12 such missions in the Arctic, Zentner says.

Although Zentner won't discuss where the flights go, Huebert says his sources suggest the Bears fly along - but not into - Canadian airspace adjacent to the western High Arctic islands.

"They've been scrupulously flying where international law allows them to fly, but they're coming right up."

Bears first flew during the Cold War as turbo-prop-powered long-range bombers and surveillance aircraft and are the Russian answer to the U.S. B-52. The Bear-H version involved in the most recent flights is designed to carry and launch 10 cruise missiles.

Civilian aircraft are required to file flight plans that allow NORAD to identify them as they enter the buffer zone. Russian planes don't file such plans and are intercepted after they are spotted so they can be identified.

"When NORAD perceives an unidentified air track that's about to penetrate our air defence identification zone, then we'll launch appropriately to identify the aircraft," Zentner says, adding that all unidentified aircraft are intercepted.

Zentner accepts Russian statements that the bomber flights are intended merely as training missions.

"I really do believe they're training flights for the Russian pilots," he says. "We have no information to back up anything other than the fact they'd be training flights."

Russian military media even announce when flights are planned, although specific details are not released.

"It's a completely different strategic dynamic involved than compared to 20 years ago," Zentner says.

That doesn't mean the flights don't serve a strategic purpose, says Huebert.

"It indicates quite clearly (Russia's) renewed interest and enforcement capability in the Arctic. It's clearly a restatement for Putin to say the Russian armed forces are back in town."

Nojo and his colleagues are happy to escort them around.

"You sit on the wing and you're seen to support Canadian sovereignty."