In September 2022, a Russian fighter jet reportedly almost shot down a British plane. A leaked document provides evidence of this.
It could have turned out differently: According to a previously classified document from the US Department of Defense, a Russian fighter jet almost shot down a British reconnaissance plane in September 2022. This is reported by the “Washington Post”, which has the document. According to the article, the incident took place in the airspace off the coast of the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia.
The document is part of a larger leak of documents from the Pentagon. According to the “Washington Post”, the incident over the Black Sea is said to be listed there as a “near-kill”. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace informed the House of Commons of the British Parliament a few days after the incident, which is said to have taken place on September 29, 2022.
Russian jet comes dangerously close
Wallace detailed the incident to the House of Commons. As a result, two Russian Su-27 fighter jets are said to have intercepted a British RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea. The Russian jets are said to have behaved aggressively and dangerously towards the British aircraft in the air – one of the fighter jets is said to have flown to within four and a half meters of the RC-135.
According to Wallace, one of the fighter jets then fired a missile at the British plane “from a greater distance”. High-ranking Russian military officials later assured him that the rocket launch was due to a technical malfunction in one of the fighter planes and not to a targeted attack.
If the missile had hit the British plane, the incident might have prompted the activation of Articles Four or Five of NATO. The former comes into effect when a NATO member state considers its territorial integrity or general security to be at risk. Article five is activated as soon as there is an armed attack against one of the member states. The attack is then counted as an attack against the entire military alliance.
At the request of the Washington Post, both the Pentagon and the embassies of Great Britain and Russia refused to comment on the “near-shot” over the Black Sea.