The pilot of a Russian SU-27 fighter jet thought he had been given permission to fire at RC-135 Rivet Joint with 30 crew on it
A Russian fighter fired two missiles at an RAF surveillance aircraft with 30 crew on board, it was reported today. Initially the incident was explained away as a ‘technical malfunction; buy Russia.
The RAF plane - with a crew of up to 30 - was flying a surveillance mission over the Black Sea in international airspace on 29 September last year when it encountered the SU-27s. One western source told the BBC the words they received were to the effect of “you have the target”. In a statement to MPs on 20 October, the then Defence Secretary Ben Wallace called it a “potentially dangerous engagement”. But he accepted the Russian explanation, saying: “We do not consider this incident to constitute a deliberate escalation on the part of the Russians, and our analysis concurs that it was due to a malfunction.”
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