Tuesday, October 6, 2015
U.S. - Russian Fighter Jets Are Now Making Close Contact With Each Other Over Syria
CBS: Russians make closest contact to date with U.S. war planes over Syria
QATAR -- Russian aircraft had their closest run-in yet with American war planes over Syria. The yellow aircraft are Russian, the green are American.
U.S. pilots flying F-16s out of Turkey first picked up the Russian planes on radar. The Russians closed to within 20 miles, at which point the American pilots could visually identify them on their targeting cameras.
Lt. Gen. Charles Brown, commander of the American air campaign, said the Russians have come even closer than that to his unmanned drones.
"The closest has been within a handful of miles of our remotely piloted aircraft," said Brown. "But to our manned aircraft they've not been closer than about 20 miles."
Update: U.S. F-16s came within 20 miles from Russian Su-34s in Syria -- The Aviationist
WNU Editor: The skies over Syria are getting crowded now .... Syria's skies crowded with multiple air forces (AP). It is only going to be a question of time before an incident does occur over Syria.
Update #2: It looks like everyone is now realizing that they better coordinate their military operations .... Russia, U.S. move to resume talks on air-to-air conduct over Syria (Reuters).
Update #3: This is dangerous .... Turkish F-16s harassed by Russian MiG jet and surface-to-air missiles based out of Syria (AP).
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2 comments:
“It’s unacceptable to violate the airspace of another country,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
Oh really Mr. NATO? Do tell.
What happens when American warplanes start getting shot down?
"Oh really Mr. NATO do tell." NATO generally acts in concert with other members and for the defense of other NATO countries. In actions such as Libya, Afghanistan, and elsewhere NATO members faced grave threats. With that said perhaps the approach could have been different and in the case of Libya this one is questionable at best as it seems to me the US got pulled in by its European "allies" on this one.
Also, the US and NATO face intense and often hostile scrutiny from the media. This will generally work to prevent egregious actions. Russia does not face this kind of scrutiny. As such, there really is no comparison.
With all of this said I would suggest Turkey, the US, and NATO coordinate with Russia on this with Russia taking the lead. I think this gives us the best chance to defeat a common enemy. The US for its part should make clear to Turkey that failure to adhere to this will mean a US withdrawl from NATO leaving Turkey on its own.
If there is no way to coordinate with Russia on this then US planes need to GET OUT OF THE SKY over areas where Russian planes are operating. Remaining in the sky places the lives of our pilots in danger from a superior force and well there's no good outcome from such a thing.
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