Russian Fighters Intercept U.S. Reconnaissance Planes over Black Sea

Air Force Magazine ^ | 26 June 2020 | Brian W. Everstine

[Alas Babylon!]

Russian aircraft on June 26 again intercepted U.S. aircraft in international airspace, this time USAF and U.S. Navy reconnaissance planes along with a refueling tanker operating in the Black Sea. The intercept is at least the eighth interaction between U.S. and Russian aircraft across the globe within the last month.

The Russian Ministry of Defense released a video showing a Navy P-8, along with a USAF KC-135 refueling an RC-135 reconnaissance plane over international waters. The MOD said an Su-30 fighter from the country’s Southern Military District responded, and “approached from a safe distance” to identify the aircraft, according to a translated version of the statement.

Neither the Defense Department nor U.S. European Command immediately responded to requests for comment.

The aircraft, once intercepted, changed direction away from its original heading toward Russia, the MOD alleges. The Su-30 then returned to base.

It is the second intercept in the Black Sea region in about a month. On May 29, Russian Su-27 and Su-30SM fighters intercepted USAF B-1s that were flying with Ukrainian Su-27s and MiG-29s in the area.

U.S. and Russian aircraft have been intercepting each other regularly across the globe the past few months, including in the Baltic Sea of Eastern Europe where Russian Su-27s intercepted a B-52 on June 15. North American Aerospace Defense Command fighters have intercepted Russian aircraft five times in the last month, including a June 24 intercept of Russian reconnaissance planes off the Alaskan coast. Russian fighters intercepted a B-52 flying over the Sea of Okhotsk on June 19.

[Alas Babylon!]

I know we get a lot of stories here about Russian Bear Bombers flying off our coasts, but guess what?

WE do it back!

[2banana]

Good training flights

[Alas Babylon!]

Two aircraft in my USAF career I have flown on:

The RC-135 and KC-135.

The RC is special. Lots of rivets in that joint.

[HangnJudge]

[dfwgator]

Russia is not our enemy.

[Azeem]

“Two aircraft in my USAF career I have flown on”

I know them well. The job was on the RC-135 but the trips home was on the KC-135. I wonder if the USAF finally retired the RC-135 with the bent airframe from sliding off the runway.

[HangnJudge]

... Russia is not our enemy.
Nations spy on friends all the time however

[dfwgator]

Trust, but verify.

[CharleysPride]

Our carrot-stick approach is clearly not working.

The Russians put a bounty on US troops, Putin is invited to the G-8.

Maybe they think this will get him a weekend at MAL

[tenger]

#metoo.

just thinking today about the thrill of watching the refueling of our bird from the cockpit and later from the boom of the tanker.

Me and My RC.

[moovova]

Where’s Maverick when you need him?

(No...not McCain.)

[BradyLS]

How many rivets are there in the RC-135?

[ASA Vet]

The best flight I ever hitched was on a SAC KC-135 out of Hickam to Kadena. The flight chief allowed me to go down into the refuelers pit. I fell asleep on the nice pad.

[libertylover]

I worked on both of them at Offutt, probably that exact tail number for the RC, but never flew on either of them.

[ASA Vet]

One per air craft.

[DesertRhino]

That story about bounty came from the intelligence Community. You know, the same guys who told us Trump is a Russian asset, and Flynn was a Russian spy. It was probably neocon BS.

[McGruff]

an Su-30 fighter from the country’s Southern Military District responded, and “approached from a safe distance...

Russians going soft on us? Pilot was probably reassigned to the Siberian air base.

[Trailerpark Badass]

Not our “friends,” either.

[dfwgator]

There are no “friends”, only interests.

[Trailerpark Badass]

Exactly. But interms of foreign policy, that assumes “diplomats” who put our interests first, which I think we can agree is no longer automatically the case. Which argues for a much less term interventionist foreign policy.

Curious about your opinion about moving US bases from Germany to Poland. Do you think that will be a provocation to the Russians? And if so, is it a worthwhile one?