United States and Russia Have an Unsafe Encounter

Anything having to do with the United States and Russia always catches my attention. When I came across on multiple news sources the story of an ‘unsafe interaction’ between the two countries planes, I immediately wanted to know more. ABC news, along with many other news outlets, explain just what happened this weekend between the U.S. Navy plane and the Russian fighter jet. Navy plane P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane had quite an unsafe interaction with a Russian SU-30 fighter jet this Saturday that used its afterburners as it flew in front of the U.S. Navy plane over the Black Sea, according to a U.S. official. This was the first unsafe encounter for a U.S. Military aircraft in months. The Russian plane was a Russian SU-30 “Flanker” fighter. 

So, what actually classifies as an ‘unsafe’ encounter? The U.S. military uses various criteria aside from distance to determine whether an encounter with a foreign military vessel or aircraft should be classified as unsafe. ABC news says, “For example, the speed of an aircraft and rate of closure can factor more than a close distance in an air encounter” (abcnews). Back in May, the Russian fighter came within 20 feet of a P-8 aircraft and was deemed as “safe and professional.” This was the case because at the time, a U.S. official said that because both aircrafts visually identified each other and the Russian aircraft approached the American plane in a professional manner (abcnews.com). However, the Pentagon has deemed the Russian aircraft’s most recent encounter as an unsafe interaction because it came as close as 50 feet to the Navy aircraft.

CNN provides further detail that the intercept of the Russian fighter lasted about 24 minutes. Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza, a spokesperson for the Pentagon, told CNN that, “The U.S aircraft was operating in international airspace and did nothing to provoke this Russian behavior,” (cnn.com). The Russian’s jet’s crossed in front of the U.S. plane from right to left while engaging its afterburners and therefore forcing the P-8 to enter its jet wash. This is the action that caused the US plane to experience “a 15-degree roll and violent turbulence,” according to Baldanza. 

According to CNN, “It has been several months since the last reported unsafe interaction between US and Russian aircraft. The most recent reported incident occurred in June, when a Russian Su-27 fighter flew within five feet of a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea. Prior to that incident there had been several similar encounters in the Black Sea, an area where Russia, the US and NATO operate in close proximity, particularly since Russia boosted its military presence in the region following its annexation of Crimea in 2014 (cnn.com). 

It seems to be somewhat of a somewhat frequently common problem that the US Navy is having to take precautions for and pay close attention to an unsafe interaction or encounter. 

http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-navy-plane-unsafe-encounter-russian-fighter-black/story?id=51419819&cid=clicksource_76_4_article%20roll_articleroll_hed

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/27/politics/russia-us-unsafe-intercept/index.html