Russian Anti-Carrier Plane Reportedly Buzzes USS Ronald Reagan_Farsnews

Farsnews

The USS Ronald Reagan reportedly scrambled fighter jets to escort Russian naval surveillance aircraft flying through the area east of the Korean Peninsula.

The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said on Thursday that the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier scrambled four fighter jets after two Russian Tu-142 anti-ship reconnaissance aircraft were spotted in the area, Stars and Stripes reported.

US Navy officials commented, alluding to the situation in the South China Sea, in which US ships passed through international waters, just as the Russian Tu-142 flew through international airspace at the time. US and Soviet surveillance aircraft often trailed each other’s aircraft carriers during the Cold War, in a bid to show the ineffectiveness of the other side’s ships.

A US Navy official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the Russian plane came within one nautical mile (1852 meters) of the US carrier.

US Navy officials also complained about the safety of the Russian aircraft’s flight, claiming that it descended to an altitude of 500 feet (152 meters) and did not make radio contact with the US carrier. The Tu-142 long distance naval surveillance aircraft is a derivative of the Tu-95 bomber, and entered service in 1972.

“This kind of interaction is not unprecedented,” Navy spokesman Cmdr. William Marks told Fox News.

The US Navy was conducting exercises with South Korea at the time of the fly-by, but did not comment on whether it was conducting flights from the carrier’s deck at the time.