Don G. Dinsdale Loc: El Cajon, CA (San Diego County)

Russian Warplanes Buzz USS Ronald Reagan

Fox News - Oct 29, 2015


Two Russian warplanes flew within one mile of the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, forcing the U.S. Navy to launch four fighter jets in response Tuesday, a Navy spokesman told Fox News.


The USS Reagan was sailing in international waters east of the Korean peninsula, *Stars and Stripes Reports. It adds that the U.S. is currently engaged in joint military exercises with South Korea.


The Russian "Bear Bombers" approached the aircraft carrier at an elevation of 500 feet Tuesday morning, according to Navy spokesman Commander William Marks. He said U.S. F/A-18 Super Hornets escorted the Russian planes as they t***sited out of the area.


"We would characterize this as still at a safe distance. This kind of interaction is not unprecedented," Cmdr. Marks told Fox News.


The U.S. had tried to contact the Russian planes but received no radio response, Stars and Stripes adds.


U.S. officials have told Fox News Russian jets approached U.S. aircraft and predator drones several times over Syria during the past month.


Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and Lucas Tomlinson Contributed to this Report.


"I Am Not Now Nor Have I Ever Been a "Chickens**t"... But If We Are Not Careful We Are Going to Stumble Into a War With Russia, Just Because of Our Close Proximity to Her Forces... We And They Were Doing Fly Bys When I Was In The Navy ('60 -'64), So This Isn't New, What Is New Is The Ukraine & Syria... Obama Has So Destroyed Our Military I Think We Would Be Hard Pressed To Mount Much of a Campaign Against ---- Even Mexico!!! (Just Kidding) So We Need To Be Very Careful Till We Can Regroup And Rebuild, If We Have To Give Up Some Sand, So What???"... Don D.


Russian Aircraft Approach USS Ronald Reagan, Prompting US fighter Jet Scramble


A Russian Tupolev Tu-142 Bear aircraft, like the one picture here, flew as low as 500 feet Tuesday morning, Oct. 27, 2015, near the USS Ronald Reagan, ...


The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group and South Korean navy ships steam in formation during an exercise Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in international waters to the east of the Korean Peninsula. Two Russian aircraft flew within one nautical mile at a height of 500 feet, prompting the carrier to launch four fighter jets in response. The Russian aircraft left without further incident. Nathan Burke/U.S. Navy


The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group and South Korean navy ships steam in formation during an exercise Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in international waters to the east of the Korean Peninsula. Two Russian aircraft flew within one nautical mile at a height of 500 feet, prompting the carrier to launch four fighter jets in response. The Russian aircraft left without further incident.

NATHAN BURKE/U.S. NAVY
By Erik Slavin
Stars and Stripes
Published: October 29, 2015

[Picture of Russian Tupolev Tu-142 Bear aircraft, like the one picture here, flew as low as 500 feet Tuesday morning, Oct. 27, 2015, near the USS Ronald Reagan, which has been conducting scheduled maneuvers with South Korean navy ships in international waters east of the Korean Peninsula. COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE]

In a 2010 file photo, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen departs Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. U.S. Navy


Report: USS Lassen sails near disputed reef claimed by China
The USS Lassen sailed within waters surrounding a reef claimed by China in a demonstration of rights claimed by the United States to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, according to reports Tuesday.


The move risks provoking a confrontation with China’s military and could raise diplomatic tensions with Beijing weeks before President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to attend major summit meetings in Asia.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The USS Ronald Reagan scrambled its fighter jets earlier this week after two Russian naval reconnaissance aircraft flew within one nautical mile of the U.S. aircraft carrier as it sailed in international waters east of the Korean Peninsula, according to 7th Fleet officials.


In the latest in a series of incidents involving Russian aircraft, two Tupolev Tu-142 Bear aircraft flew as low as 500 feet Tuesday morning near the Reagan, which has been conducting scheduled maneuvers with South Korean navy ships. Four F/A-18 Super Hornets took off from the Reagan’s flight deck in response to the Russian advance, 7th Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Lauren Cole said Thursday.


U.S. officials attempted to contact the Russian aircraft but received no radio response. A U.S. ship escorting the Ronald Reagan followed the Russian aircraft as they withdrew, Navy officials said.


Press officials at the Russian Embassy in Seoul were not immediately available for comment Thursday.


On multiple occasions in the past year, Russian aircraft have tested international boundaries by either violating other countries’ airspace or engaging in what Pentagon officials have called “provocative” actions toward U.S. and NATO ships.


In April, a Russian SU-24 fighter jet made 12 “close-range, low-altitude” passes near the USS Donald Cook while the ship was in international waters in the western Black Sea near Romania, the Pentagon has said. Last month, NATO officials said Russian fighters violated Turkish airspace several times.


In September, Japan alleged that Russia violated airspace over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.


The incidents continue to raise questions about Russian navy aircraft safety practices.


U.S. Navy officials say they have no objection to Russia, or any other nation, flying or sailing wherever international law allows.


“We are advocates of any country being able to operate within international norms,” Cole said. “We do caveat that with the fact that all of these operations need to be conducted in accordance with the rights and regulations of other countries, and within a safe manner.”


The Reagan is essentially a floating airport, complete with an air traffic control center that tracks and communicates with nearby aircraft. When the carrier engages in flight operations, it institutes a carrier control zone, which extends up to 2,500 feet and within a five-mile radius, according to the Navy’s flight training instruction carrier procedures.


Navy officials did not discuss Thursday whether the carrier was engaged in flight operations when the Russian aircraft approached.


“Even if we don’t have flight operations ongoing, we are still very cognizant of what is going on in the airspace, within a good distance,” Cole said.


The lack of communication by the Russian aircraft also conflicted with general aviation practice. Even commercial airports of any significant size generally expect two-way radio contact when aircraft fly as close as the Russians did, according to international aviation guidelines.


This week’s incident added to a busy day for the Navy in the Asia-Pacific region. It happened at roughly the same time that the destroyer USS Lassen sailed within a 12-nautical-mile territorial zone claimed by China around Subi Reef in the South China Sea.


The U.S. undertook the “freedom of navigation” operation because it considers those waters international, though China condemned the move as a violation of its “indisputable sovereignty.”


Though artificially topped with landfill, Subi Reef is thought to be entirely submerged in its natural state, and therefore does not generate territorial waters under international law.