US media reveals details of the encounter between Russian and British aircraft.
According to the Washington Post, the incident, which occurred in late September 2022, was believed to be far more serious than what London has admitted.
Russia and NATO are just a step away from a potential all-out war in 2022 after a Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British surveillance plane, the Washington Post reported on April 9, citing a new document from a recently leaked Pentagon archive.
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| Su-27. Photo: TASS |
According to the Washington Post, the incident, which occurred in late September 2022, was believed to be far more serious than what London has admitted.
In October 2022, British Defence Minister Ben Wallace addressed Parliament on the incident, adding that Moscow blamed a technical malfunction and London accepted this explanation.
The document cited by Washington describes this as a “near-shootdown of the UK’s RJ” – a reference to the ‘River Joint’ nickname commonly used for the RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.
In October 2022, the UK stated that the plane had been intercepted over the Black Sea by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets, and that one of these jets had "fired a missile" near the British aircraft.
According to the Washington Post, the incident could trigger Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, potentially leading to direct involvement of NATO forces in the conflict in Ukraine, or even direct conflict between Moscow and the military alliance.
Neither the US, the UK, nor Russia have commented on the contents of the document.
The Washington Post suggests that the U.S. has a more cautious approach to surveillance missions in the Black Sea region and specifically requires its Air Force to stay away from the Crimean Peninsula.
The document also included a map with lines drawn on the Black Sea to mark areas where U.S. surveillance aircraft could and could not fly.
Some of the drawings suggest that U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin may have ordered the U.S. Air Force to keep its aircraft away from the Crimean Peninsula.
Unlike France and the UK, which conduct manned surveillance flights over the Black Sea, the US uses unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including the RQ-4 Global Hawk, RQ-170 Sentinel, and MQ-9 Reaper. These UAV flights take place monthly.
In March, the US accused one of two Russian Su-27s of colliding with the rotor blades of an MQ-9 drone, causing it to crash into the Black Sea. Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the MQ-9 drone lost control due to a sudden change in flight path and subsequently crashed into the sea. Throughout this incident, the Russian aircraft did not use any weapons to attack the American drone.
According to CNN, the Pentagon has resumed rerouting its surveillance drone flights over the Black Sea following this incident.
