"Unprofessional air intercepts have the potential to cause harm to all aircrews involved," said Pentagon spokesman Army Colonel Steve Warren in a statement. "More importantly, the careless and unprofessional actions of a single pilot have the potential to escalate tensions between countries."
According to the Pentagon, a U.S. RC-135U, a reconnaissance plane was flying in international airspace over the Baltic Sea north of Poland when a Russian SU-27 fighter intercepted the U.S. aircraft using "unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers" in close proximity.
The encounter took place on Tuesday and was only publicly discussed by the Pentagon in recent days.
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday dismissed the U.S. claim, saying the incident happened when the Russian fighter on duty spotted an unknown target over the Baltic Sea that was moving toward the Russian border.
"As to the judgement about the professionalism of Russian pilots, this is up to the Russian side, and the U.S. reconnaissance aircraft can only perform routine fights near the U.S. borders," said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
china.org.cn - Xinhua
13/4/15
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Russian Defense Ministry rejects Pentagon’s interpretation of April 7 Baltic air incident...
ReplyDeleteThe actions by the Russian pilot of a Su-27 (Flanker) fighter jet that flew close to a US reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea may deteriorate the US-Russia relations, Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright said on Sunday in an interpretation of the air accident rejected by Russia’s Defense Ministry.
A US RC-135U reconnaissance plane was intercepted by Russia’s Su-27 fighter during a flight in international air space close to the Russian borders on April 7. The US claimed that the Russian fighter jet had come to a dangerously close distance of 6 meters. The Pentagon has called the intercept "unsafe and unprofessional."
However, spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, Maj.-Gen Igor Konashenkov said that "no extraordinary situations emerged" when the Russian fighter jet flew around the US reconnaissance plane...........tass.ru
13/4/15