Su-27 Intercepts US Spy Plane Heading Into Russian Airspace

[Hindustani78]

Su-27 Intercepts US Spy Plane Heading Into Russian Airspace / Sputnik International

11.04.2015
The US RC-135U reconnaissance plane was flying towards the Russian border with its transponder switched off, a Defense Ministry spokesman said in Moscow Saturday.
Maj.-General Igor Konashenkov said that an unidentified airborne target was spotted over the Baltic Sea by Russian air defenders on April 7 flying directly towards the Russian border.

A Su-27 fighter jet was scrambled to inspect the target. Moving up to the unidentified aircraft the Russian pilot flew around it several times, made sure it was a US RC-135U reconnaissance plane and reported its tail number to ground control.

“I want to emphasize that the RC-135U was moving towards the Russian border with its transponder switched off… As to the professional qualities of our pilots, this is something for the Russian military command to evaluate. Moreover, US reconnaissance planes are supposed to fly along US borders only and nowhere else,” Konashenkov said, adding that no “emergency situations” were registered during Tuesday’s mid-air encounter.

A Pentagon spokesman said on Saturday that a Russian Su-27 jet fighter on Tuesday flew dangerously close to and nearly collided with a US reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

RC-135U

Last incident was in the middle of here...let's see where it ends up this time (note no Russia territory nearby...that's Sweden and Finland in the olive green near the top, NATO in purple).

 

[Hindustani78]

On April 7 similar event took place in which the NATO Fighter Jets took off in response.


NATO fighter jets raised from Lithuania over Russian transport plane - EN.DELFI
BNS
Tuesday, April 7, 2015

NATO air policing jets were Tuesday scrambled from Šiauliai, northern Lithuania, to accompany a Russian transport airplane.

Captain Donatas Suchockis, public relations officer at the Lithuanian army's Joint Staff, said the fighter-jets took off in response to a signal received at about 3:30 p.m. about an Il-76 airplane flying from mainland Russia to its Kaliningrad region.

In his words, the airplane had a flight plan, responded to communication and had its transponder switched on.

This is the second time this week when NATO fighter-jets take off from Šiauliai to accompany Russian airplanes. A Russian fighter-jet Su-24 was identified and accompanied while flying with its transponder switched off on Monday afternoon.


Last week, NATO jets in the Baltic states were scrambled three times over Russian airplanes.

 

[Hindustani78]

Ministry of National Defence Republic of Lithuania :: News » News Releases
2015.04.13

On April 6-12 NATO fighter jets conducting the Baltic Air Policing Mission were scrambled three times. Out of the three Russian aircraft that had been intercepted, the IL-20 electronic reconnaissance aircraft was not on the pre-filed flight plan and not using its on-board transponder, but maintained communication with air traffic control centre, likewise, the SU-24 tactical bomber was not an the pre-filed flight plan, was flying with a switched off on-board transponder but maintained radio communication.

On April 10 it was reported to the Surveillance Centre of the Lithuanian Navy that a military vessel of the Russian Federation used radio communication to direct civilian ships in the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Lithuania to change route due to military drills taking place in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation.

The Lithuanian Air Force’s Mi-8 was dispatched to monitor and identify the military vessel: a Stereguchij class corvette of the Russian Baltic Fleet was identified roughly 34 nautical miles offshore in the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Lithuania.

Foreign ships are allowed to cross the exclusive economic zone of Lithuania, military vessels too, if they observe the laws of the coastal state and the duties not to interfere with the exclusive rights of the coastal state in its exclusive economic zone.

***********
Pentagon warns Russia about consequences of incident over Baltic Sea - EN.DELFI
Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright pointed out potential consequences both to flight safety and bilateral relations of the US and Russia.

"Unprofessional air intercepts have the potential to cause harm to all aircrews involved. More importantly, the careless actions of a single pilot have the potential to escalate tensions between countries," Wright said, foxnews.com reports.

United States said that Russia's fighter aircraft intercepted the American RC-135U at a high rate of speed from the rear and later, being close the to the reconnaissance aircraft, made "unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvres".

 

[munchkin]

Tell you what, next time Russia shoot it down. What's the US gonna do about it? The US won't go to war with Russia.

 

[vostok]

View attachment 214119
RC-135U


View attachment 214130
Last incident was in the middle of here...let's see where it ends up this time (note no Russia territory nearby...that's Sweden and Finland in the olive green near the top, NATO in purple).

Actually there is Kaliningrad region near - just near the center of this map, Russian semi-exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.

 

[Penguin]

Tell you what, next time Russia shoot it down. What's the US gonna do about it? The US won't go to war with Russia.

You can't go shoot aircraft in international airspace. The idea is idiotic.

 

[munchkin]

You can't go shoot aircraft in international airspace. The idea is idiotic.

There is no rule what is international space, what isn't international space, just as there is no rule what is international waters, what isn't international waters.

 

[Barmaley]

note no Russia territory nearby.

American education.

 

[Víðarr]

note no Russia territory nearby

Yes there is:

Note the orange bellow between Lithuania and Poland, on the Baltic Coast. That orange blob is Kaliningrad - Russia's link to the Baltic Sea, apart from:

Primorsk, Leningrad Oblast

and

Big port Saint Petersburg

Though neither of these two service military equipment like Kaliningrad does - as the home of Балтийский флот.

American education.

Don't respond like this, just politely explain the situation. It's not that hard. These types of responses help no one.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

American education.

I was taught this in school

Now...well...you fell apart and are a bit of a mess since then.

 

[SipahSalar]

I was taught this in school

View attachment 214818

Now...well...you fell apart and are a bit of a mess since then.

That is kind of irrelevant to the topic... Do they also teach Vietnam and Korea at US schools?

 

[Penguin]

There is no rule what is international space, what isn't international space, just as there is no rule what is international waters, what isn't international waters.

You are very un/misinformed on this topic. I suggest you educate yourself. Here is a start.

What is meant by international waters and airspace? - Law and Government
Territorial waters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Penguin]

That is kind of irrelevant to the topic... Do they also teach Vietnam and Korea at US schools?

No it isn't. Kaliningrad is not very obvious to all.

 

[Hindustani78]

You can't go shoot aircraft in international airspace. The idea is idiotic.

Russians are unhappy .

The RC-135U is one of the most secretive US surveillance planes: deployed at RAF Mildenhall, in the UK, it provides strategic electronic reconnaissance information, performing signal analysis by means of a wide variety of commercial off-the-shelf and proprietary hardware and software, including the Automatic Electronic Emitter Locating System. It’s pretty clear why the Russian are unhappy when one of these planes flies in the vicinity of their bases.

One more detail worth a note is the fact that the Russians say the US plane was flying with its transponder switched off: Russian spy planes that regularly fly with no transponder near Sweden have raised concern among Swedish authorities.

Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the RC-135U was intercepted after the Russian radars detected an unidentified airborne target over the Baltic, flying with its transponder switched off, towards the Russian border.


So here again the same MH17 case is coming. How come Russian Radars havnt detected MH17 ?