SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
U.S. defense officials say that a Russian fighter jet flew as close as within 3 meters of a US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft in international airspace:
The Pentagon says a Russian fighter plane flew within about 10ft (3m) of one of its reconnaissance aircraft operating over the Black Sea. US officials described the intercept by the SU-27 jet on Wednesday as "dangerous and unprofessional". Russia's defence ministry said the US plane had been approaching Russian territory and the SU-27 pilots had adhered to international rules. Russia is currently carrying out military exercises in the Black Sea.
Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said the US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft had been conducting routine operations in international airspace when the Russian fighter made the unsafe manoeuvre. "These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions, and could result in a miscalculation or accident," he said. A US defence official quoted by AFP news agency said the Russian plane had flown within 30ft of the P-8A before closing to just 10ft.
Also at Reuters. You may remember this similar incident.
Related: UK Defence Minister: New Cold War "Warming Up"
US Jets Scramble to Intercept Russian Planes near US Aircraft Carrier
(Score: 2) by donkeyhotay on Friday September 09 2016, @02:58PM
In my day, the Russians used to send out their Bears to try to find us every day. And when they got close, we would launch a Tomcat or two to "escort" them. This kind of thing happened EVERY day during the cold war, and they would "escort" our recon aircraft.
I have to wonder why the media seems hell-bent on getting us into a war with Russia. This shouldn't even be news.
Here is a typical pic from those days:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/F-14_with_Bear.jpg [wikimedia.org]