Russian jet flies within five feet of US aircraft in ‘unsafe’ intercept

Intercepts normal events but close range flying very rare

Picture source: NORAD (for visual reference only)

A Russian jet apparently came within just five feet of a US Navy plane over the Mediterranean – an event that was deemed by a former US Navy official to be a possible intimidation tactic by Russia.

Last week, a Russian jet came abnormally close to a US plane in an otherwise typical interception event. Intercepting aircraft normally identify and monitor international or unidentified aircraft at a reasonable distance from areas of interest. Nevertheless, the proximity was rare.

Retired US Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass who is a TOPGUN instructor told Insider that the Russian jet’s maneuver close to a US one was like intimidation. He likened the incident to two cars racing on ground and coming within inches of each other.

Snodgrass told the media outlet that Russia has done similar intercepts in the past in an attempt to chase aircrafts away or intimidate them. This time around, Russian Su-35 fighter jets flew dangerously close to US Navy P-8A patrol aircraft over the Mediterranean, which Snodgrass said would possibly have resulted in a collision if the aircrafts came any closer.

With regards to the US, Russia has apparently done several “unsafe” intercepts, with the latest ones also labelled the same and “unprofessional” by US defense officials.

Snodgrass further pondered that the close range intercept was a possible result of the rising crisis in Eastern Europe, which has placed Russia and the US face to face in mounting tensions.

In recent weeks, there have been several statements exchanged with the US maintaining that Russia was possibly going to attack Ukraine, while Moscow has explicitly denied it.

In this regard, Snodgrass said that whenever relations have become more tense between the two nations, it has created similar sentiment in the air crews adopting more aggressive tactics.

He, however, elaborated that it was not certain whether the Russian pilot making the intercept was acting on his own accord or responding to orders to do so.

The former navy official has also been a part of similar intercepts and told Insider that he was not familiar with the US ever having made aggressive ones.

Snodgrass said that such intercepts should be made smartly and that not doing so and coming in with raging tactics could end up causing damage to those who do so.