A Russian Su-35 Flanker fighter shadows U.S. F-15s as they refuel over Syria in September. The photo, taken by a camera on one of the American planes, shows the Russian pilot far closer than the three-mile safety limit set in a 2015 U.S.-Russian agreement. PHOTO: U.S. AIR FORCE
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Pilots See Close Calls With Russian Jets Over Syria
As planes share crowded airspace fighting parallel wars, militaries struggle to minimize threat of an accident
One night this past fall, a U.S. radar plane flying a routine pattern over Syria picked up a signal from an incoming Russian fighter jet.
The American crew radioed repeated warnings on a frequency universally used for distress signals. The Russian pilot didn’t respond.
Instead, as the U.S. plane began a wide sweep to the south, the Russian fighter, an advanced Su-35 Flanker, turned north and east across the American plane’s nose, churned up a wave of turbulent air in its path and briefly disrupted its sensitive electronics.
“We assessed that guy to be within one-eighth of a mile—a few hundred feet away—and unaware of it,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Paul Birch, commander of the 380th Expeditionary Operations Group, a unit based in the Persian Gulf.
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WNU Editor: The skies above Syria are an international incident waiting to happen .... I am just surprised that the ultimate serious incident has not happened yet (i.e. jets firing at each other) between Russian and U.S. aircraft.
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