How Dare They?!

“On the morning of April 7, a US RC-135U, flying a routine route in international airspace, was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 Flanker in an unsafe and unprofessional manner,” the Washington Free Beacon (WFB) cited Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen M. Lainez as saying.

“The United States is raising this incident with Russia in the appropriate diplomatic and official channels,” she added.

The official said that a Russian Su-27 (NATO designation – Flanker) passed within a half-dozen meters of the unarmed reconnaissance aircraft, whereas the Sukhoi’s wingspan is 14.7 meters. The Pentagon spokeswoman dubbed the behavior of Russian pilot “reckless” and endangering the safety of the RC-135 crew.

  RT

”A half-dozen meters.” 14.7 divided by 2 = 7.35. A half-dozen minus 7.35 = negative 1.35 meters. Either that “whereas” about the wingspan of the Russian plane is extraneous, or there should have been a collision.

I take it there was no collision. So the other possible way to report this is that the Russians are excellent flyers. Or the Americans are excellent defensive flyers and dodged out of range by a narrow margin of “a half-dozen meters”.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, said that the interception was launched after “Russian air defense radars spotted an unidentified air target over the Baltic Sea making steady progress toward the national border.” The aircraft had its transponder turned off, Konashenkov said.

So, naturally, they would want to know WTF, wouldn't they? Apparently, they identified the plane as a US spy plane and took it from there.

After the Su-27 made several fly-bys around the spy plane, the RC-135U altered course and moved away from Russian border.

And we’re damned insulted.

NATO has recently been engaged in a massive military buildup along Russia’s western borders as part of its Operation Atlantic Resolve.

[...]

“In connection with the incident over the Baltic one should keep in mind that Russia is a Baltic country, whereas the US is not,” [head of Russia’s Upper House Committee for Foreign Relations, Konstantin] Kosachev said.

And as Dick Cheney would say, “So?”