[Mariner]

"I doubt we have any orders allowing us to fire on anything, that is why the USS Cole was hit by terrorists."

The Russians don't fire on us and we don't fire on them.

As soon as the aircraft was ID'd as Russian the skipper will order all fire control radar turned off.

Both sides have been FASTIDIOUS at showing restraint.

And for good reason.

It's fun out there.

[EQAndyBuzz]

What I find amusing about all of this is the notion that the US Navy had no idea there were Russian fighters and helos in the vicinity. They saw them from at least 50 miles out, knew their intentions since they weren’t carrying weapons and probably had a laugh knowing the Russkies would politicize this to make Obama look weak.

If the jets had visible weapons on it, the Russkies wouldn’t have gotten within 50 miles of the ship. The US would have had planes scrambled as soon as it was evident there were weapons.

This was no big deal.

[ameribbean expat]

Interested to know your opinion on China. I agree the US and Russia like to pull each other’s tails but don’t let it get out of hand,and have done so for so long it’s basically SOP.

[fortheDeclaration]

Yes, they are checking our reaction time, to see if we are at General Quarters, or being caught unawares.

We need to show them that we are prepared to shoot them down and could have done so while they were at a safe distance.

If they see that we are not ready for them they will note that we are lax.