It’s not exactly the same as playing “chicken,” but military aircraft commonly intercept their counterparts from other countries, especially when they represent nations that are at tension with one another. So we don’t get surprised by what are routine intercepts.
However, the September 7th intercept of a U.S. spy plane as it approached Russian territory does have a couple of unusual features. For one thing, the U.S. plane had turned off its transponder, meaning its identification and location would no longer be sent to air traffic control. For another, the Russian interceptors got as close as ten feet to the American plane and stayed at that distance for some time.
“On September 7, the US P-8 Poseidon surveillance airplanes tried to approach the Russian border twice… with their transponders off,” Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
The Pentagon has protested that this “standoff” endangered the lives of those on the aircraft.
Two unnamed US defense officials earlier accused Russian jets of carrying out an “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept of the US spy aircraft, which was on a “regular patrol” over the Black Sea. The officials were speaking of the incident with Reuters.
They said the Russian SU-27 came within about 3 meters of the US plane, and the standoff lasted for about 19 minutes.
Keep in mind that the source of this story is RT, which is a Russian media outlet. However, that in no way diminishes the importance of the story.
The significance of this event and those like it, is that Cold War II is well underway. Currently it’s a war of words, sanctions, finances, and opposing militaries poking at each other. Let’s hope it doesn’t escalate beyond that.
The depressing part of these tensions are that they’re being sponsored, in part, by our Nobel Peace Prize laureate president. I sure don’t remember him promising Cold War II during his campaigns.
Source: RT
Yep
any one assulting usa, should be seen as act of war.
LMAO
I hope that the next time that the Russians shoot them down
Not if act was a spy plane over their territory.
And you two morons know this how? I am a retired member of the U. S. Air Force with security clearances Obama and the Clintons couldn’t get. Our aircrews are the best trained in the world, and do their damnedest to abide by regulations. The reason this happened is because our so-called “Commander-in-Chief” has no nutsack. Our allies don’t trust us and our enemies don’t fear us. This c**p didn’t happen when Ronald Wilson Reagan was in the White House.