RAF RC-135 spy plane
Patrick Wintour – The Guardian.co.uk Oct 20, 2022
A Russian fighter jet “released a missile” in the vicinity of a British aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea because of a technical malfunction, the UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has revealed.
“We are incredibly lucky that the episode did not become worse,” said Wallace. He also accused Russia of sometimes acting recklessly by flying as close as 15ft to Nato aircraft.
The episode on 29 September has prompted Wallace to ensure that routine UK civilian-style flights over the Black Sea, in place since 2019, are now escorted by armed aircraft.
He told the Commons the incident occurred in “international airspace”, adding that an “unarmed RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint” plane was “interacted with” by two Russian SU-27s, one of which “released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range”.
He said: “It is not unusual for aircraft to be shadowed and this day was no different.
“During that interaction however, it transpired that one of the SU-27 aircraft released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range.
A Russian Su-27 flies close to a US Air Force reconnaissance flight during a close encounter over the Baltic in 2016. Click to enlarge
“The total time of the interaction between the Russian aircraft and the Rivet Joint was approximately 90 minutes. The patrol completed and the aircraft returned to base.”
Wallace told the Commons that Russia had blamed the missile release on a “technical malfunction”.
“In light of this potentially dangerous engagement, I have communicated my concerns directly to my Russian counterpart, defence minister [Sergei] Shoigu, and the chief of defence staff in Moscow.”
He added: “In my letter I made clear the aircraft was unarmed, in international airspace, and following a pre-notified flight path. I felt it was prudent to suspend these patrols until a response was received by the Russian state.
“The reply by the Russian minister of defence on 10 October stated they have conducted an investigation into the circumstances of the incident and stated it was a technical malfunction of the SU-27 fighter.
He said he had also been in touch with his Turkish counterparts over the episode, saying Turkey had offered all the assistance the UK required.
Wallace said: “We do not consider this as a deliberate escalation by Russia. Our analysis is this was a malfunction, but it a reminder of quite how dangerous things can be when you choose to use your fighters in the manner the Russians have done over many periods of time.”
He added: “While this was obviously the release of a weapon, we have seen very very close flying next to US, Nato and UK assets over the last few years.”.
In one event, he said, a Russian fighter went within 15ft of a Nato aircraft. “That is reckless, unnecessary and put at risk many people’s lives; we are incredibly lucky it did not become worse.”
Wallace said that despite the conflict, “it is possible to communicate with the Russian military defence when we need to”. He said there was a constant line of communication available, but that the episode showed the UK was walking a tightrope in which the right calibration was critical.
He said the west was dealing with a Russian leadership “not beyond making the wrong calculation or believing the rules do not apply to them”.
Wallace also said he had travelled to Washington for urgent consultations this week to make sure “we all understand our planning processes”, a phrase that, without directly mentioning the possible Russian use of nuclear weapons, underscored British concern that Vladimir Putin may act rashly as his forces are pushed back.
Wallace said the visit had become necessary after the appointment of the new general Sergei Surovikin; Putin’s recent speech on the annexation of eastern Ukraine; and “the success of Ukraine on the battlefield and what it might mean for President Putin and his actions and what he might do next”.
He said he had wanted to make sure “we all understand our planning processes in the event of a whole range of things”, adding that he had noticed the EU was making more hawkish noises on the possibility of Russia breaking the nuclear taboo.
He urged people to be reassured by the visit to the Pentagon and the national security council. He said: “I don’t think people should be alarmed by it … I would hope they would take comfort that my priority is, if necessary, getting on a plane to go and do that.”
Luke Pollard, the shadow defence minister, welcomed the Russian admission that the British aircraft had been in international airspace, and insisted the UK had to remain unwavering in its support for the Ukrainian struggle.
Notice on one of the photos above of the Russian jet the Communist Red Star is on the empennage of the plane. Of course this doesn’t mean anything to TTS, since this is a pro-Commie site. Thus proving my thesis that Jutin’s Antifa Russia is a Communist State masquerading as a ‘democracy’, for the morons of the world..
The sooner we get our arses kicked the sooner this nonsense will stop.
RAF better stay on your island . you have nothing lost anywhere !
Wow, after all the political shenanigens over the last 24hrs I am surprised that a tactical njke hasnt hit Conservative party HQ!
Ideal opportunity to make a point or two.
The subterfuge at play here in this ‘fraudian’ Mi6 created waffle is great chuckle material…. such as..
“prompted Wallace to ensure that routine UK civilian-style flights over the Black Sea, in place since 2019, are now escorted by armed aircraft.”
Ha Ha..civilian-”’style”’ flights ..presumably these are spy planes on recon…
No doubt being lit by Russkie hostiles is an unfortunate side effect of waging proxy ‘war’ and flooding the place with weaponry and SAS ‘mercenaries’..
Still..it amps up the tension whilst they yet again reshuffle the Monkeys at the tea party in Westminster…
and flush what remains of bongo bongo land on the Thames down the khazi…
Perfidious Albion implying Russia perhaps believes “the rules do not apply to them” is the epitome of hubristic inanity.
Nico X: I am amazed that you trust what you think you see. If the Russian pilot made a mistake, then I am gutted.
With the UK. Deep state claiming Russia will detonate a low yield nuke over the Baltic Sea, and a claimed UK spy plane is found on location.
Be they international air space or not, Russia should’ve shot the focker out of the sky.
better luck next time Vlad
If it was intentional, then the Royal Navy (not-civilian) flight would have ended in a blaze over the Black Sea.
An accident? I could buy that, it is possible, technical glitches happen, just look a the flying junk F-35.
I think maybe it could be a warning shot because it was getting close to something or a trigger happy pilot.
No way was it intentional, the aircraft would have detected it being target locked to be shot out of the sky and they weren’t, so yeh a malfunction seems more likely.
It was not an accident, it was a warning shot across the bow. No pilot lifts the red cover over the toggle switch accidentally. LOL
The Russian pilot “locked on” meaning his radar was locked onto the intruder, and the radar operator in the RAF plane was probably screaming over the microphone “pilot, radar locked .. pilot,. missile away or inbound”.
The missile was probably not armed, but shot, as a warning to back the fuck off.
The RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint is a dedicated electronic surveillance aircraft and supports theater with near real time on-scene intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities. Certainly its range of detection reaches way out to Ukraine to the west and Russia to the east. Technically, that aircraft can be assumed to be a direct participant to the ongoing war in Ukraine and part of Russia. Potentially, it can be argued that it is a valid military target.
Wartime deception thinking might even argue that something else happened and both Russia and UK are not telling the truth or masking the truth with red herring…
IIf it was intended to hit, it would have hit. So it was a warning shot, quite possibly with no live warhead, just in case there was a real accident.