Posted on 04/16/2016 5:24:46 PM PDT by Beave Meister
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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
Mysterious deep water loss of Russian sub in 5,4,3,.....
So is this based on the old Ukraine/Russian border or the new one?
And how “close” is close?
Typically, no. However, in certain places around the world, fighter aircraft are assigned to protect assets involved in the Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance Program (PARPRO). When I was in Korea in the early 90s, the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan picked up the PARPRO protection mission for RC-135s, EP-3s, U-2s and other assets flying strategic collection missions against North Korea.
I’m not aware of dedicated PARPRO protection assets for missions flows in the Baltic, with one important caveat. Since Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia joined NATO more than a decade ago, various alliance countries have deployed fighter aircraft and support personnel to bases in the Baltics on a rotating basis. Currently, this “air policing” mission is being performed by RAF Typhoons and F-16s from Portugal.
While the primary mission for these assets is defending Baltic airspace, they do respond to Russian provocations in the region. It was revealed earlier this year that air police fighters scrambled back in 2013 when the Russians staged a simulated nuclear strike mission against Sweden, and the Swedish Air Force was caught unprepared and couldn’t respond.
This past week, there was no indication the air police assets were scrambled when Russian jets buzzed the USS Donald Cook or looped that RC-135. Putin has correctly calculated that he will pay no price for such actions, and more incidents of this type are on the way.
With our ball less leader, the Russians will eventually shot down someone they don’t like. We’ll likely retreat.
The US Navy ships being buzzed need a new hobby: kite flying. Get some large, transparent kites, whose purpose is classified.
Now imagine what happens when a high performance, high speed aircraft runs into a strong kite line? I imagine it would be something like what happens when a new Ginsu knife cuts a ripe tomato.
The next Republican president will do two or three things to put Putin back in his box.
1. Provide long-range escort fighters or staggered fighter protection via NATO bases.
2. Suddenly shoulder-fired AA missiles are going to start popping up in the Ukraine and Syria, in the hands of “friendlies” who are being attacked by the Russians.
After losing about 5-10 planes, Putin will get the message.
In Afghanistan, our Stingers (and the British BlowPipe) missiles shot down over 50, and maybe as many as 80 Soviet jets, bombers, and helicopters in a short period of time.
This denied the Soviets air superiority re bombing targets on the ground, and air/troop mobility, esp. of the Spetnaz troops in the mountains. This deprived them of the ability to land on the top of mountains and large hills, thus gaining a firing ability against the Mujaheedin below.
That is why either Gorbachev or Yeltsin (or both)started troop removals in the late 80s. Without air superiority, they were doomed to terrible ambushes on the ground and knew it.
“more incidents of this type are on the way.”
One wonders if the fighter “lit up” the RC135. Probably not, but the behavior may have been one step short of that. Like ISIS pulling up short on a beheading, the victim never knows when it is going to happen for real.
Let’s say that the Russians start positioning themselves on the ground for a possible invasion of a neighboring country, and when an RC135 is sent to look at it electronically, the Russians put a fighter on it’s tail. Is the invasion going to be real? The crew of the 135 could be the first to know when a threat indicator goes off.
Don’t recall ever seeing a pic of a RC-135. Lots of appendages.
My own preference to 1. get out of Nato.
2. close our borders 3. mind our own business and problems 4. NUKE UP.
These birds fly over my neighborhood on a daily basis.
Offut Air Force base where they are stationed is about 13 miles straight east of me. It is interesting that they have been in the news quite a bit recently.
>2. Suddenly shoulder-fired AA missiles are going to start popping up in the Ukraine and Syria, in the hands of “friendlies” who are being attacked by the Russians.
Just the Ukraine. I don’t trust anyone in Syria who would not turn over our weapons that we give them over to someone like Al-Qaeda or ISIS.
I mean that I don’t trust anyone in Syria to not give our weapons over to any of the Islamists. Please disregard my private message. It was a accident.
“Friendlies” could be US military of Middle Eastern birth/heritage. In a turban and big coat, nobody would know who the heroic guy was who shot down a Syrian or Russian plane or chopper.
You know that all those guys look alike with those beards, turbans, and camelhair sweaters. sarc/
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