[ad_1]
A “dangerous” but accidental interaction between a British spy plane and two Russian fighter jets last September, which was played down by the UK at the time, in fact amounted to a “near-shoot down”, leaked intelligence has revealed. A series of US intelligence documents published on social media last week have suggested that the interaction over the Black Sea, off the coast of Ukraine, had been far more serious than UK defence minister Ben Wallace had originally admitted. A missile was fired from one of the Russian SU-27 fighter jets but Mr Wallace claimed that had been down to “technical malfunction”.
Speaking in the Commons last October, Mr Wallace said the interaction had been a “potentially dangerous engagement” but intimated it had not been a deliberate threat from Russian forces.
The 90-minute incident, which took place over the Black Sea on September 29, involved two SU-27 fighter jets tailing an unarmed RAF Rivet Joint spy plane while it was on a routine patrol in international airspace.
Mr Wallace said that during the interaction one of the Su-27s fired a missile near the RAF plane, which he put down to “technical malfunction”, adding that he “did not consider it a deliberate escalation by the Russians”.
He told parliament: “We don’t consider this a deliberate escalation by the Russians, our analysis would concur it was a malfunction.
“However, it is a reminder of quite how dangerous things can be when you choose to use your fighters in the manner that the Russians have done over many periods of time.”
But leaked US military documents circulating online have described the incident as a “near-shoot down of the UK RJ”, which is an abbreviation of the Rivet Joint.
The plane, known as a “nuke sniffer” due to its ability to test the atmosphere for evidence of radioactivity, escaped unscathed but the latest documents suggest this could have been more fortunate than previously admitted.
READ MORE: Russian forces failing to make ‘serious advances’ anywhere in Ukraine [REPORT]
He added: “We welcome Russia’s acknowledgement this was in international airspace, and the UK has conducted regular sorties with the RAF Rivet Joint in international airspace over the Black Sea since 2019 and we will continue to do so.”
The incident is reminiscent of a confrontation between Russian fighter jets and a US reconnaissance drone last month that resulted in the Reaper UAV being downed in the Black Sea.
One of the two Russian fighter jets reportedly crashed into the drone after trying to intimidate it.
[ad_2]
Source link