A Russian fighter jet came within five feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft (code for spy plane) over the Baltic Sea on Monday, in an encounter the American pilot determined was unsafe.
The incident occurred Monday morning as an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft flew in international airspace above the Baltic Sea.
It was intercepted by a Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter jet, which approached at a high speed.
The Russian fighter “came within several feet” of the RC-135, according to Capt. Joseph Alonso, a spokesman for U.S. European Command. A separate defense official said the fighter came within five feet of the RC-135 as it flew alongside it for several minutes.
This month alone, the United States has shot down a Syrian warplane, come close to shooting another and downed two Iranian-made drones that were nearing American-backed troops on the ground.
Russia has retaliated by threatening to treat American planes as targets; in a dramatic “Top Gun”-style maneuver on Monday, one of Moscow's jets buzzed within five feet of an American spy plane.
Long-running tensions between the United States and Russia erupted publicly on Monday as Moscow condemned the American military's downing of a Syrian warplane and threatened to target aircraft flown by the United States and its allies west of the Euphrates.
The Russians also said they had suspended their use of a hotline that the American and Russian militaries used to avoid collisions of their aircraft in Syrian airspace.
Russian jet came within 5 feet of US plane
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Video of the close flyby
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