The Washington Post (WP), citing leaked Pentagon and US intelligence data on the web, writes that in late September 2022, a Russian Su-27 fighter fired a missile near a British RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and “lightly did not hit it.
Documents obtained by WP indicate that the incident with the aircraft is referred to as a “British RJ nearly shot down” (RC-135V Rivet Joint). This aircraft is used to collect radio broadcasts and other electronic communications.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace previously spoke about the incident in October, writes the Washington Post. The head of the department called the rocket launch “potentially dangerous” and attributed it to a “technical malfunction”. Wallace added that he had spoken to a senior Russian Defense Ministry official about it. The Russian Defense Ministry did not comment on this incident.
Additionally, according to the newspaper, a map of the Black Sea with a line depicted about 80.4 km from the coast marked SECDEF Directed Standoff was recently leaked on the web. According to WP, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin “most likely ordered US pilots to keep the planes away” from Crimea.
CNN also reported on the limitation of intelligence gathering after the incident with a drone over the Black Sea. According to one of the American officials, such actions are taken in order not to provoke Russia too much and to avoid a direct confrontation between the Russian and American military.
On March 14, the United States European Command reported that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet collided with an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea. The Pentagon claimed the plane crashed into a drone, after which the aircraft had to be flooded in international waters. The Russian Defense Ministry, in turn, said that on the morning of March 14 over the Black Sea in the Crimea region, airspace control devices recorded an American drone flying towards the Russian border. To identify the intruder, Su-27 fighters were lifted into the air, and the drone began to maneuver sharply and fell into the water. The military department claims that the Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons and did not come into contact with the aircraft.
