'Close Encounters' Between U.S. And Russian Aircraft Are Not Going To End Soon

A US Air Force RC-135U in international airspace over the Baltic Sea is intercepted by a Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter, June 19, 2017. Master Sgt. Charles Larkin Sr./US Air Force

Business Insider/Military.com: US pilots' close encounters with Russian aircraft aren't likely to end any time soon, experts say

* US Navy aircraft had several close encounters with Russian fighters in April, part of a pattern of what US officials call unsafe behavior by Russian pilots.
* Experts say that despite the risks inherent in those encounters, they're likely to continue as long as Russia sees them as beneficial, experts say.

The US Navy last week watched a single-seat Russian Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E come within 25 feet of a P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft while at high speed and inverted, causing wake turbulence and putting the US "pilots and crew at risk" over the Mediterranean Sea.

Days later, another Flanker mimicked the move over the same waters, zooming in front of a P-8 and exposing the sub hunter aircraft to its jet exhaust.

Top US officials in Europe and the Defense Department said the incidents involved Russian pilots behaving in an unsafe, unprofessional manner. Experts argue that, while the intercepts expose a pattern of behavior from the Russian military, they also show that Russia is willing to capitalize on the publicity the aerial maneuvers bring, even during a global pandemic.

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WNU Editor: To be fair. These 'close encounters' happened waaayyyy more often during the Cold War. 

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