Breaking!! Russian Jet intercepts USAF Plane in “Unsafe Manner”

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton | April 17, 2016 9:14 am

Three days ago[1] a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a USAF plane. It was a US RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft. This is just the latest badger poke by the russkies. They are building up their military and getting frisky globally. How long until we have a full blown conflict with them? Hard to tell, but it’s coming. Why was there no response by the Russians using the GUARD channel? As Denise Simon[2] points out, that is the common airband channel for all aircraft regardless of tail number or flag. Essentially this appears to come close to electronic warfare. Our boys were flying a routine mission over the Baltic Sea when the interception happened.

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From Weasel Zippers:

A Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft on Thursday in the latest military provocation by Moscow over the Baltic Sea, the U.S. European Command said Saturday.

“On April 14, a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft flying a routine route in international airspace over the Baltic Sea was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 in an unsafe and unprofessional manner,” said Navy Capt. Danny Hernandez.

“This intercept comes shortly after the unsafe Russian encounters with USS Donald Cook,” he added. “There have been repeated incidents over the last year where Russian military aircraft have come close enough to other air and sea traffic to raise serious safety concerns, and we are very concerned with any such behavior.”

Hernandez said the U.S. aircraft, a militarized Boeing 707 jet, was operating in international airspace “and at no time crossed into Russian territory.”

“This unsafe and unprofessional air intercept has the potential to cause serious harm and injury to all aircrews involved,” he said. “More importantly, the unsafe and unprofessional actions of a single pilot have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries.”

Russia has denied the action was reckless or provocative. They always do. That doesn’t make it true, far from it. The incident comes shortly after Russian aircraft repeatedly buzzed the USS Donald Cook this past week, including an incident Tuesday in which a Russian Su-24 flew 30 feet (nine meters) above the ship in a “simulated attack profile,” according to the US military’s European Command. Navy Captain Hernandez said the US aircraft, a militarized Boeing 707 jet, was operating in international airspace “and at no time crossed into Russian territory.” According to Hernandez, the Su-27 carried out “erratic and aggressive maneuvers” by approaching the RC-135 at a high rate of speed from the side. The Russian jet “then proceeded to perform an aggressive maneuver that posed a threat to the safety of the US aircrew in the RC-135U,” the spokesman said. “More specifically, the SU-27 closed within 50 feet of the wing-tip of the RC-135 and conducted a barrel roll starting from the left side of the aircraft, going over the top of the aircraft and ended up to the right of the aircraft,” he said. The US government is protesting all the incidents this week to the Russian government through diplomatic channels, he said. Yeah, I’m sure that will leave them quaking in their boots guys. We better elect a strong leader this time, or we may all be speaking in Russian from gulags before long.

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