American newspaper reveals about the encounter between Russian and British planes
According to the Washington Post, the incident that occurred in late September 2022 is said to be much more serious than London has admitted.
Russia and NATO are one 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 said on April 9, citing a new document from a trove of recently leaked Pentagon documents.
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| Su-27. Photo: TASS |
According to the Washington Post, the incident that occurred in late September 2022 is said to be much more serious than London has admitted.
In October 2022, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace spoke to Parliament about the incident, adding that Moscow blamed a technical problem and London accepted this explanation.
The document cited by Washington describes it as a “near miss to shoot down a UK RJ” – a reference to the nickname ‘River Joint’ commonly used for RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft.
In October 2022, the UK said the plane was intercepted by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets over the Black Sea and one of the planes “launched a missile” near the British plane.
According to the Washington Post, the incident is likely to trigger Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which could lead to direct involvement of NATO forces in the conflict in Ukraine, or even direct conflict between Moscow and the military bloc.
Neither the US, UK nor Russia commented on the contents of the document.
The Washington Post said the US has taken a more cautious approach to reconnaissance missions in the Black Sea region and specifically asked its Air Force to stay away from the Crimean Peninsula.
The document also includes a map showing lines drawn across the Black Sea to mark areas where US surveillance aircraft can and cannot fly.
Some of the drawings suggest that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin may have ordered the US Air Force to keep its planes 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. UAV flights take place monthly.
In March, the US accused one of the two Russian Su-27 aircraft of hitting the propeller of the MQ-9, causing the UAV to crash into the Black Sea. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the MQ-9 UAV lost control due to a sudden change in flight path and then crashed into the sea. During this process, the Russian aircraft did not use weapons to attack the US UAV.
According to CNN, the Pentagon has continued to reroute its surveillance drone flights over the Black Sea following this incident./.