This type of activity, and worse, has been going on in international waters for 60 years.
It's routine. They do it, we do it. And a lot worse too.
Why the big protest now?
Agreed. We’ve been doing this for years.
It could not have gotten worse without them hitting the ship.
Simple--It makes Obama look bad.
No one does it this close to a ship. The Russians were testing our close approach allowance orders. Try to get this close to a Russian destroyer and you’d be fired on a couple of miles out - at least. Those planes were inside the kill zone for the ship.
Gary Powers.....
Maverick: Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.
Air Boss Johnson: Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.
Something for grandma Clinton to shake her fist at...
If we had a real President, and a missile was fired across their bow during a pass, would they call that incomprehensible? Putin can do anything he wants with our Pussy in Chief...he knows it and he is proving it.
Jet? 10 meters?
10 Meters is not “normal” and within safety precautions for a jet.
They were just saying hello.
Outdated cold warriers are annoying.
Its the obama putin piising contest.
I doubt we have any orders allowing us to fire on anything, that is why the USS Cole was hit by terrorists.
Nanny, Nanny, Boo, Boo
Whatcha gona Dooooo?
Because Odrama wants us not to pay attention to something else.
Sea Story Time!: I got home from leave just as the October War was starting in the Med. After two weeks they sent me back to Naples to Submarine Group 8, who just happened to have Captain Bo Bohannan who was the skipper of the first submarine I actually sailed on as the US Chief of Staff to ADM Kenny McKey. Captain Bohannan assigned me to write the “Patrol Report” for SUBBRU 8, since they hadn’t had time to do it themselves. When I couldn’t keep up, they brought the Commissioning Crew from Los Angeles over to help me. That gave me some slack, so they sent me out to Independence CV-62 as the “Submarine Liaison Officer”. So that sets the scene.
We had a Russian Kashin that was shadowing the Task Force 69, and OPSEC on Independence was not really great. They would start night flight ops at 1800 like clock work. The great thing was they were down one ship for Starboard Plane Guard, so five minutes before Flight Ops, the Kashin turns to assume the Starboard Plane Guard position in perfect formation when the Independence came around to launch course.
I don’t recall that during the Cold War days. We had to refuel at night to avoid the Russians maneuvering in front of us and interfering. The few times we were buzzed wasn’t really a buzz as much as an aircraft crossing from side to side at an altitude high enough to not constitute a threat.
From the picture on the internet, the Russian aircraft was almost reach out and touchable.
My question is WTF is a US Navy destroyer doing in the Baltic?
This country is broke - we can’t afford to be wasting our money defending wealthy Northern European welfare states that are perfectly capable of patrolling their own seas.
The Child-In-Chief wants to puff up what little chest he has.
Because there's video of it now, and Russia has been flexing more and more muscle lately. It all paints a worrisome picture.
30 meters is quite close. Would be a shame if the warplanes were actually shot down.