An American aircraft was forced to take evasive action.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

An American aircraft was forced to take evasive action when a Russian fighter jet swooped dangerously close by, footage released by the US military reveals....

The US Air Force had been tracking a Russian nuclear-capable TU-95 bomber flying through Alaska’s air defence identification zone (Adiz) at the time of the aerial altercation.

The video shows the American monitoring the Russian bomber from a distance as it was flying in international airspace off the Alaskan coast last week.

Suddenly, a Russian Su-35 Flanker fighter jet flies between the two aircraft on its side.

The F-16 fighter jet from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) was forced to dodge the manoeuvre by diving out of the way of the Russian aircraft.

Well it looks to me like Russia whats to play silly games with the American Airforce over Alaska.
I'm suprised the Russia Flanker didn't have warning shots fired at it for pulling a manoeuvre like that, this after Japan fired flares to deter a Russian incursion into it's airspace a few days ago.
I don't think Russia has anywhere left to go other than more saber rattling, so I think it's getting desperate in it's attempt at trying to get a reaction from the west it can then use as propaganda.

a reply to: Kurokage

Looks to me he only reacted just after the Russian went past his nose?

Silly game, tho.

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: Kurokage

Looks to me he only reacted just after the Russian went past his nose?

Silly game, tho.

That was way to close thou' and a silly attempt at intimidation.

a reply to: Kurokage

Indeed.

Wonder if he was ordered to do it?

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: Kurokage

Looks to me he only reacted just after the Russian went past his nose?

Silly game, tho.

Yep, that was definitely a after the fact move, kind of strange I thought, instead of maintaining course. 🤷‍♂️

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

a reply to: KrustyKrab

Could be a combination of wake and reaction? The pilot might have also thought he was going to slow down or turn away, and not about to fly so close?

a reply to: Kurokage

Jetwash? Like in Top Gun?

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: Kurokage

Jetwash? Like in Top Gun?

Yeah.

Here's another video from a different situation but you still get an idea of the wake caused.

Is the Russian SU 35 stealth? How did an American F16 within American radar ground systems miss that?

Kind of embarrassing footage on our part with an “oh f___” and shagging ass. Sounded like a female pilot.

It may have been a little closer than usual this time, but that kind of stuff happens on a regular basis on both sides.

I would not put much into this other than the Russian jet came a little too close to our jet sent to intercept the aircraft if needed. A game of chicken I suppose....the Russian jet was doing what it was supposed to do but just got too close for some reason. We do not know the whole story, and I am sure that if the US pilot was acting a little too aggressive for the situation, our news and government would not say it.

Face it, you cannot believe either side's propaganda....but at least this did not cause any real problems. Maybe the American plane was veering closer to the bomber...we will never be allowed to know.

a reply to: rickymouse

It may have been a little closer than usual this time, but that kind of stuff happens on a regular basis on both sides.

Yeah, I know both sides like to play silly buggers at times in this kind of a situation, but I thought that was unusually close.

..this reminds me i've not had a go of DCS for ages...

The real question is how it surprised the F16 pilot.
I would have thought the SU-35 would have been picked up on radar in the same airspace long before any fly by.

The scary thing is if the two countries were at war, that F16 pilot was toast.

originally posted by: UKTruth
The real question is how it surprised the F16 pilot.
I would have thought the SU-35 would have been picked up on radar in the same airspace long before any fly by.

The scary thing is if the two countries were at war, that F16 pilot was toast.

I think the suprise was more about how close the Russia flew than the aircraft was circling to intercept.

The F16 was escorting the Bear.

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: Kurokage

Looks to me he only reacted just after the Russian went past his nose?

Silly game, tho.

The article says the F-16 was forced to take evasive action, but it doesn't look to me like that's what happened. The F-16 was pacing the TU-95 bomber at a respectful distance off to the right (starboard) side of the bomber. Generally, the interceptors make sure that the bomber pilot can see the interceptor and also see that it is armed with missiles. This is the standard internationally accepted pattern for intercepts.

The SU-35 overtook the F-16 on the left (port) side of the F-16. The trailing vortex off the starboard wing of the SU-35 rolls up counterclockwise, as seen from behind. When that vortex encounters the port wing of the F-16, it momentarily increases the angle of attack on the port wing, causing it to suddenly generate excess lift. Since that excess lift is not balanced out by additional lift on the starboard wing, the F-16 rolls to the right. It's the same effect as if the pilot had suddenly pushed the joystick to the right.

The F-16 pilot clearly did not evade the maneuver of the SU-35; he/she basically just rode it out. It doesn't look to me like the F-16 took much immediate action at all in response to the low pass, and probably not much was needed. The SU-35 is the one who banked sharply to the left immediately after passing the F-16. That was actually an evasive maneuver to avoid the possibility of aircraft-to-aircraft contact.

By the way, standard practice is to send a minimum of two interceptors to escort bombers like this. The second F-16 would typically be trailing behind the TU-15 by a few hundred yards on the opposite side of the bomber. That pilot would have seen the whole episode playing out and would no doubt have told the pilot of the first F-16 what was happening.

The Alaskan Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) comes within 20 miles of the East coast of Russia, by the looks of it

What do you think America would do if a nuclear capable Russian bomber was flying anywhere close to that distance off the USA coast, when it has no good reason to be there?

Or if any of the Russian or Chinese military were in the waters off Miami, or somewhere equally close to the USA coastline where they have no need to be, with no good reason to be there?

It is the equivalent of someone standing out the front of your house with an assault rifle and an RPG, peeking over your fence, as close as they can legally get without technically "trespassing"

... And when you go out to confront them, carrying your own assault rifle and RPG, to ask them why they are there, or tell them to go away, they cry foul and pretend you are the one being aggressive

I think the more important part many of you are ignoring is this Russian fighter got within spitting distance of our F-16 without them taking notice.

This is a warning if I've ever seen one. A warning we are outclassed and outgunned and the F-16's we send to Ukraine will be converted to scrap metal shortly upon arrival.

a reply to: JAY1980

I think the more important part many of you are ignoring is this Russian fighter got within spitting distance of our F-16 without them taking notice.

As others have said in the thread, they would've known they were there as 2 aircraft would've been escorting the Russian Bomber. The F16 chose to 'stand it's ground' and it was the wake of the Russian fighter that threw off the F16.

a reply to: JAY1980

Why do you assume the pilots didn't notice?

Outclassed and outgunned?

Nonsense.

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: JAY1980

Why do you assume the pilots didn't notice?

Outclassed and outgunned?

Nonsense.

F16s are pretty old now and I don't think they compare favourably to an SU-35.

The 'oh #' from the pilot in the F16 suggests he was taken by surprise, which I have to say is quite strange.