The Pentagon has released what is possibly the most troubling video we have seen of a so-called 'unsafe intercept' between one of its aircraft and Russian fighters. The incident occurred on August 28th, 2020, when the U.S. Air Force sent six B-52s, four of which are forward deployed to RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom, to traverse every NATO member country's airspace in a show of strength and solidarity for the alliance. This included flights over Eastern Europe and the tense Black Sea region, where the intercept took place. You can read all about this highly unique large-scale bomber mission in this recent War Zone piece.
The maneuver the Su-27s executed is sometimes referred to as a 'head-butt' and it has the potential to be extremely dangerous depending on how it is performed. Regardless, it's never welcome. In the video, can see the Su-27 pull up close to the B-52's left-wing before pulling forward, up, and crossing in front of and above the bomber's forward path. It's easy to miss, but another clip towards the end of the video shows a Su-27 doing a similar maneuver, but directly in front of the nose of the B-52 at incredibly close range. To call the maneuver dangerous or unprofessional would be an understatement.
The Pentagon states:
The Su-27s seen in the video likely originated out of Crimea. A contingent of Flankers is tasked with a standing alert to intercept NATO aircraft venturing east over the Black Sea from Russia's primary airbase there. B-52s and B-1Bs have been active in the area in recent months, including practicing launching cruise missile strikes, an act that Moscow is clearly not pleased with.
We constantly hear of unsafe intercepts between U.S., Russian, and Chinese aircraft, but rarely have we seen such remarkable footage that highlights exactly what went on. In fact, the lack of good video evidence has been an issue in the past. Considering that the B-52 crew was ready and waiting with a video camera in the cockpit shows that this is now changing.
This incident is yet another sign that we are barreling into a timeframe of peculiarly strong posturing on both sides. You can read a summary of these recent events here.
We will update this post as more information comes available.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com
"front" - Google News
August 30, 2020 at 09:41AM
https://ift.tt/3hK6L5J
Pentagon Releases Terrifying Video Of Russian Su-27 Turning Directly In Front Of A B-52 - The Drive
"front" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3aZh1mr
https://ift.tt/3b2xvu5
No comments:
Post a Comment