The Russians Buzzed us Again! Provocations and War Games Risk Real War

by NEWSREP · May 2, 2016

It’s happened again. Last Friday, a Russian Air Force fighter jet intercepted an American Reconnaissance Plane over the Baltic Sea, in international airspace, and engaged in a dangerous game of high-speed intimidation. The message was clear: get out of here. At one point, the Russian jet did a barrel roll over the American plane at a distance of just 25 feet, a hazardous act that risked the lives of all the aviators involved on both sides.

This was the fourth such provocative incident between the Russian and American militaries in the Baltic in as many weeks. The April 29 encounter featured a Russian Su-27, a single-seat fighter capable of flying at twice the speed of sound and famed for its impressive maneuverability. Its quarry, a U.S. Air Force RC-135, was its opposite in every way: slow, lumbering, unarmed and incapable of evasive maneuvers. The military equivalent of the Boeing 707, the venerable RC-135 is neither fast nor lethal but carries a crew of electronic intercept specialists. In layman’s terms, it’s a spy plane.

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Susan B
To the pilots, it is just their way of following their leaders example. Putin misses no opportunity to push against Pres. Obama whenever he can, and receives little push back in return. If that is our national reaction to a bully, then why should a Russian pilot...or for that matter, a Chinese or North Korean leader or pilot feel like it could be a dangerous thing to do? I do hope that Vienna1683 is correct in that the Russian and American pilots will work this out in their own way in time. Not knowing who will be at our presidential helm next year makes the issue even more perilous. Though Clinton or Sanders may continue to try to ignore national insults, I don't believe Trump would take one so meekly. Just guessing but "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!" sounds more like a Trump presidential decision. And I'm definitely not advocating for anyone!!
Pat G
That's interesting! It would be great if the pilots could develop their own informal system and avoid an escalation into an unfortunate incident, but I doubt that's possible now. There is so much more technology available and in use than during the cold war, I'm sure that now Russia can see what the pilots are doing minute to minute. If the pilots did not perform as instructed, it wouldn't surprise me if Putin would be waiting in the hangar when they returned to personally slap them around! Seriously, I don't know anything about what pilots can do, maybe it is a possibility. Would be nice! Thanks Vienna!
Vienna1683
This used to happen all the time over the North Pole during the Cold War. American and Russian pilots then worked out an informal system to communicate to prevent an accidental shoot down. If the Reds were bad boys and penetrated our airspace, we intercepted them and gave them a thumbs down pilot to pilot. If they were good boys and turned around before entering our airspace, our pilots would show them a Playboy foldout. Because these pilots were at the tip of the spear far removed from the desk jocky's in the Kremlin and the Pentagon, and because they had not way of communicating but could only jam incoming hostile signals, they developed this informal way of getting the message across and returning home to their loved ones. Maybe the pilots in this story can develop their own informal system.
Pat G
What is wrong with those foolhardy Russian pilots doing a barrel roll over our plane! Don't they understand that their immature, reckless actions put everyone on both sides in imminent danger? (Hey, can't we hide a fighter jet behind our plane and roll back over thiers?)