Russian Military Plane Flies 500 Feet Above U.S. Warship, NATO Vessels

Military tensions between the United States and Russia never seem to show any signs of ceasing. Just a day after the Inquisitr reported about an incident where a Russian fighter jet, reportedly a Sukhoi 27, flew dangerously close to an U.S. RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, fresh reports have been released of another such encounter between the two militaries. According to CNN, the latest incident involves a Russian Maritime Patrol Aircraft and four NATO warships — one of which included the destroyer USS Jason Dunham. The incident reportedly happened in the Baltic Sea on Thursday. The earlier incident dates back to Saturday, May 30, 2015, and happened in the Black Sea.

CNN has added in the report that this latest incident involving the U.S., Russia, and NATO has not yet been publicly acknowledged. In fact, the report goes on to say that personnel aboard USS Jason Dunham captured the entire incident on video. The video, which is currently in the possession of the Pentagon, has not yet been released into the public domain. On Saturday, an official from the U.S Defense Department confirmed that the incident did happen.

According to fresh reports, the Russian military plane flew above the decks of one of the four NATO vessels at an altitude of just 500 feet. While not as close as the previous incident where the Russian fighter plane was just 10 feet away from the U.S. plane, this is still dangerously close by any stretch of imagination. According to a U.S. Military official, the ships in the group included warships from Germany, Britain, and France. The Russian aircraft is believed to be similar to the U.S.’ P8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

The U.S. military official termed the incident to be a routine, but borderline uncomfortable, event.;

“We are not calling this safe and professional. We are calling it routine, but we are on the edge of being very uncomfortable,” the told CNN.

He did, however, add that none of the four warships felt threatened by the Russian military plane.This could be because of the fact that the Russian military plane did not have any strike capabilities. That said, the flight path the Russian military plane chose is unusual. It also flew lower and closer than what has been previously observed.

Do you think the frequent military trysts between the U.S. and Russia could escalate into something more serious in the days to come?

[Image Via Wikimedia Commons]