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A RUSSIAN fighter jet fired a missile near an RAF “nuke sniffer” spy plane over the Black Sea in a “dangerous” clash.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the unarmed RAF Rivet Joint was on routine patrol last month when it was shot at by two Russian Su-27 fighter jets.
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Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, Mr Wallace said the Russian jets were tailing the four-engine RAF plane for 90 minutes.
He described it as a “potentially dangerous engagement”.
“On September 29 an unarmed RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint, a civilian-style aircraft on routine patrol over the Black Sea was interacted with by two Russian armed SU-27 fighter aircraft,” he said.
“It is not unusual for aircraft to be shadowed and this day was no different.
“During that interaction however, it transpired that one of the SU-27 aircraft released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range.
“The total time of the interaction between the Russian aircraft and the Rivet Joint was approximately 90 minutes.
“The patrol completed and the aircraft returned to base.”
Mr Wallace said Russia blamed the missile release on a “technical malfunction” with the Su-27 fighter.
He said: “We don’t consider this a deliberate escalation by the Russians… our analysis concurs it was a malfunction.
“However, it is a reminder of quite how dangerous things can be when you choose to use your fighters in the manner that the Russians have done in this period of time.
“We are dealing with a president and indeed Russian forces who, as we’ve seen from the Rivet Joint incident, not beyond making the wrong calculation… that the rules don’t apply to them.”
The RC-135W “soaks up” enemy signals and is also known as a ‘nuke sniffer’ because of its capability to test the atmosphere for evidence of radioactivity.
The four-engine jets are used by Britain to conduct electronic surveillance on enemy targets by monitoring signals from radars and other systems.
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Imogen Braddick
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