Foreign Policy

U.S. Officials: Russian and U.S. military aircraft have near weekly close calls

A U.S. military aircraft had a close call with a Russian military fighter jet earlier this month over Syria as tensions between America and Moscow continue to escalate.

According to the general in charge of the air war over Iraq and Syria, Russian military aircraft intercept U.S. military planes nearly every week.

Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigian, the commander of U.S. Air Force Central Command, described the October 17 incident as “middle of the night, probably somewhere around midnight.”

You've reached your daily free article limit.

Subscribe and support our veteran writing staff to continue reading.

Get Full Ad-Free Access For Just $0.50/Week

Enjoy unlimited digital access to our Military Culture, Defense, and Foreign Policy coverage content and support a veteran owned business. Already a subscriber?

A U.S. military aircraft had a close call with a Russian military fighter jet earlier this month over Syria as tensions between America and Moscow continue to escalate.

According to the general in charge of the air war over Iraq and Syria, Russian military aircraft intercept U.S. military planes nearly every week.

Lieutenant General Jeff Harrigian, the commander of U.S. Air Force Central Command, described the October 17 incident as “middle of the night, probably somewhere around midnight.”

He said that Russian fighter jets will often escort larger surveillance planes by orbiting around them.

In this case, the U.S. had an aircraft “that was generally in that same area,” as the Russian fighter and they had “a near miss,” Harrigian said, attributing the incident to the Russian pilot simply not seeing the U.S. aircraft in the dark.

Read more- NBC News

Image courtesy of The U.S. Navy/Reuters

About SOFREP News Team View All Posts

The SOFREP News Team is a collective of professional military journalists. Brandon Tyler Webb is the SOFREP News Team's Editor-in-Chief. Guy D. McCardle is the SOFREP News Team's Managing Editor. Brandon and Guy both manage the SOFREP News Team.

COMMENTS

You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article.

More from SOFREP

REAL EXPERTS.
REAL NEWS.

Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis.

TRY 14 DAYS FREE

Already a subscriber? Log In