Posted on 05/03/2018 9:29:30 AM PDT by fugazi
On April 24th, a Russian fighter engaged in yet another “unprofessional” intercept of a U.S. military plane in international airspace. The Su-27 Flanker reportedly flew within 20 feet of a Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance/patrol aircraft over the Baltic Sea.
The Department of Defense has given little information on the nine-minute encounter other than stating that interactions with foreign militaries are routine and that this event was considered “safe” but “unprofessional.” Military aircraft are free to operate in international airspace and will likely be met when operating near the border of another nation. But with a string of recent provocative and dangerous antics in the air, Russia looks like a nation that has developed an inferiority complex.
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Why does Russia do it? It’s a dominance thing.
For one, American pilots are, without a doubt, the best military aviators in the world. Russian prestige is at stake, and her pilots want to show the world that they are hot stuff. Provided the Russians can avoid accidentally smashing their plane into the American jet, they can harass (unarmed) American pilots with relative impunity. Any negative press about unsafe, unprofessional flying can be framed by Vladimir Putin’s defense officials as whimpering from an effeminate U.S. military.
Two, there’s history: during the beginning of the Cold War, American spy planes flew over Soviet airspace knowing there wasn’t anything the Kremlin could do about it. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had to sit on his hands while American U-2s crisscrossed the skies, as their planes and missiles couldn’t reach the altitudes at which the high flying U-2 operated.
That is, until a surface-to-air missile shot down CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers on May 1, 1960, 58 years ago this week...
(Excerpt) Read more at victoryinstitute.net ...
There is no need to fly that closely. The Chinese took down one of our planes pulling a similar stunt in 2001, killing their pilot.
It’s called short man’s complex.
Watch the birdie!
This has been happening for years......I think some of the pilots like to go rogue from time to time......they know Putin won’t do much about it.
Fly within a few miles of a country’s coastline, expect to be intercepted. And surprise, surprise, other nations may have different views on what “sovereignty” means.
The Hawaiian sign for good luck!
“He says ‘They’re Number One in the Nation!’”
I imagine Americans would have a fit if we had Russian spy planes cruising up and down our coast lines. Nothing wrong with sending a fighter up, but when their pilots act like punks it is just embarrassing.
I am way too slow today!
The fly by was deemed as SAFE.
It wasn’t a MiG 28 in that movie it was a black F-5.
Communicating....
Fighter jocks being fighter jocks.
No vertical stabilizers on these jets? Looks kinda Hollywood.
They’re warning hostile foreign aircraft to back off their borders. Based on where these incidents occur, only a psychopath couldn’t figure that out.
“I imagine Americans would have a fit if we had Russian spy planes cruising up and down our coast lines.”
We do:
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/21/politics/russian-bombers-tensions-trump/index.html
Also, Russian spy ships off the coast of Georgia, near the King’s Bay submarine base:
https://www.cnn.com/2017/03/15/us/russian-spy-ship-georgia-coast/index.html
Brave Russian pilots messing with a Patrol/anti sub plane
I bet the Russians wouldn’t pull that $h*t with an F-22 !
Banking to show that he is armed.
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