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Russian Fighter Jet Comes Within Feet Of U.S. Reconnaissance Aircraft Days After Buzzing Naval Ship

By Becky Padilla
Published on: 08:27 PST, Apr 18, 2016

This isn’t the first time this has happened, but it is the second incident in just over a week that has been reported. A Russian fighter jet came dangerously close to a U.S. aircraft during a flight in international airspace last week, and pulled a Top Gun stunt, executing a barrel roll over the American plane. Considering there is supposed to be a certain degree of understanding of all sides’ intentions, especially during times of heightened tensions, it appears Russia and the U.S. have a different understanding.

He Said, He Said

The U.S. says an Air Force reconnaissance plane was flying in international airspace last Thursday when it was approached over the Baltic Sea in a threatening and “unsafe manner” by a Russian fighter plane. However, the Wall Street Journal says, Russian officials state those reports were “not true” and Russian aircraft had simply scrambled to respond to an unidentified target that was approaching their border at high speed.

Likewise, just days earlier during exercises between the U.S. and Polish military, several unarmed Sukhoi Su-24 fighters buzzed the U.S. Navy ship USS Donald Cook. Navy Capt. Danny Hernandez classified this behavior as “unsafe and unprofessional” when he spoke with Fox News and other media. He continued by saying “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.”

However, Russia argues that their behavior is purely “defensive.” The Russian ambassador to NATO, Alexander Grushko, shared Russia’s supposed concern, and explained the Russian military’s behavior is due to what they perceive to be the U.S. operating in Russia’s backyard. “We have a new military buildup in the Baltic area that from our point of view is completely unjustified.”

Vladimir Putin is not known for sitting around and letting things happen to him. He not only runs his military from a strong podium, he gets in his own aircraft and participates. So, is it really a surprise his pilots are performing these maneuvers? Since there had been previous agreements in place between NATO and Russia, possibly. However, Russia’s stance is that they are behaving more aggressively toward American vessels because they are unnerved by what they see as a buildup of U.S. assets in the Baltic Sea.

In February, NATO approved the outline for a new deterrence strategy. In July, at the alliance summit in Warsaw, Poland, this proposal could lead to a “multinational alliance force positioned in Poland and the Baltic States,” which would only give steam to Russia’s reported concerns of military presence there.

Playing Chicken

Any time there is an incident at sea within 2,000 feet from a Naval vessel, details of that incident are compiled and added to an existing list of encounters, and classified as to their perceived threat level. The encounter last week when the Russian aircraft buzzed the Donald Cook will be added to the list. However, it seems those flybys were simple posturing on Russia’s part. Capt. Rick Hoffman, a retired Navy commanding officer, told the Navy Times that the Russian maneuvers were “definitely provocative, but it doesn’t amount to a threat.”

“You don’t get to kill people just because they’re being annoying.”

Russia is using increasingly aggressive tactics against the American presence, and playing what could be described as a “game of chicken.” Depending on who you listen to, it is either posturing or it is of growing concern. Eugene Rumer, a former national intelligence officer and current director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says, “They don’t want to take on the U.S. in an outright military confrontation, but the way I read this body language of theirs, they are not just going to stand by and watch it, they are going to make it difficult. They will use the entire toolkit they have, and harassment is part of the arsenal.”

Do you think Russia is simply posturing, or is Putin sending his aircraft to intentionally behave more aggressively toward the American presence? We’ll see what comes out of the NATO summit in July, and what happens between now and then in the Baltic Sea.

[Photo by U.S. Navy/Getty Images]

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