Russian Intercept Underscores Tensions in Black Sea

November 6, 2018

Breaking Defense:

WASHINGTON: If you listen to any senior official from the Pentagon talk for a few minutes, they’ll tell you that the age of great power competition with Russia and China is back, and it’s their focus. Moscow and Beijing have been listening.

For the second time in just over a month, the US military today found itself eye to eye with the competition — causing the Pentagon to again protest that the Russians and Chinese are putting lives at risk.

During today’s incident, a Russian SU-27 fighter pulled within meters of a Navy EP-3 Aries II plane operating in international airspace over the Black Sea before punching its afterburner while peeling off, giving the US crew a rough ride as the Russian pilot slid off into the horizon.

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