A British surveillance plane was on the verge of being shot down by a Russian fighter jet last year, as per leaked Pentagon documents which propelled US officials to spy on its allies and adversaries in a bid to find where things went southwards.
According to The Washington Post, one of the leaked documents mention a “near shoot-down of UK RJ,” a United Kingdom reconnaissance aircraft. RJ signifies to RC-135 reconnaissance planes. They are also known by the name “Rivet Joints.”
As per reports, the nearly-missed incident took place on 29 September last year. The British plane was flying off the Crimean coast. The aircraft was a usual spy one which is used to gather electronic messages.
The information in the leaked document suggests that UK RJ was nearly taken down by a missile shot by a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet.
This is a significant leak. In case Russia had indeed taken out the British plane it would have dragged United States and its NATO partners into the Ukraine war.
It is important to note that UK is already aware of this as was disclosed by country’s defence minister last year but there is a difference in what he said and what the leaked documents indicate.
The incident was reported to the British Parliament by UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace in October. At the time he said, two Russian fighter planes had intercepted the RC-135 and were flying “recklessly.”
However, the point here is that Wallace did not mention that the conflict almost resulted in a shootdown. He only mentioned that a Russian fighter “launched a missile” at the moment. Wallace cited a “technical fault” as the cause of the missile launch.
