(Newswire.net — May 1, 2016) — Washington, DC – U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance plane was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 fighter jet that approached within 25 feet in an “unsafe and unprofessional manner,” Reuters cited the CNN report.
The incident occurred Friday over the Baltic Sea, close to Russian territory. This is not the first time Russian fighter jets intercepted NATO ships and warplanes, however, this time the pilot of the Russian SU-27 executed a barrel roll dangerously close to a U.S. plane.
According to the CNN report, the Russian jet flew 100 feet near the RC-135. Russia Today news cited US Defense Department that update the report claiming that the Russian Su-27 approached belly-up within just 25 feet which is “unsafe and unprofessional.”
The stunt resembles the one “Maverick” (Tom Cruise) executed in the blockbuster Top Gun, when he approached a Russian fighter flying belly up, taking a photo of the Russian pilot. It is unknown if there was any nonverbal communication between the pilots during the real incident though.
The Pentagon stated that the U.S. Air Force RC-135 plane was flying a routine route in international airspace when the incident occurred.
“This unsafe and unprofessional air intercept has the potential to cause serious harm and injury to all aircrews involved,” Pentagon spokesman Commander Bill Urban said in a statement. “More importantly, the unsafe and unprofessional actions of a single pilot have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions between countries,” he said.
Military aviators say it is not unusual for pilots to roll when intercepting another plane exposing missiles under the wing, showing the fighter jet is armed and combat ready. This particular incident, however, was not it. This stunt has only been seen in the Jerry Bruckheimer Top Gun movie.
Another Top Gun-like event happened earlier this month when Russian jets buzzed the USS Donald Cook, a destroyer ship in the Baltic Sea. A photo released by the Pentagon appears to show the Russian jet passing at an extremely low altitude over the ship’s bow.
“It is now completely clear why the United States needed a hype around the interception of the US spy plane over the Baltic Sea and the incident with the destroyer Donald Cook,” Russia Today cited the deputy head of Russia’s Upper House committee for defense and security Frants Klintsevich.
“It was to prepare the information space for deploying four additional NATO battalions to the Baltic region […] On the tip from US, the North Atlantic alliance continues its strategy of encircling Russia,” Klintsevich said.
The Russian Defense Ministry stressed that US surveillance planes should keep a distance from the Russian border or keep a transponder on for automatic identification; suggesting US Reconnaissance warplanes fly incognito in near proximity of the Russian Federation border, provoking incidents.
