Russian bombers ‘startle’ US carrier into launching armed fighters

AN AMERICAN aircraft carrier has been startled into scrambling armed fighters after Russian bombers came too close to it at high speed.

Russian bombers ‘startle’ American carrier

A US Navy aircraft carrier has been startled into scrambling armed fighters after Russian bombers raced to within 2km of the floating leviathan off the coast of Korea.

The USS Ronald Reagan was taking part in dawn military exercises with South Korean vessels in international waters off the Korean Peninsula Wednesday Australian time when two Russian aircraft began their approach.

Manoeuvres ... The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) steams alongside the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy destroyer Sejong the Great (DDG 991) during exercises. Source: US Department of Defence

NEAR-MISS

The Tu-142 aircraft were flying as low as 150m above the waves as they rapidly closed with the fleet.

US officers attempted to contact the Russian aircraft, but no response was given.

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The USS Ronald Reagan then urgently launched four F/A-18 Super Hornets to intercept, a 7th Fleet spokeswoman said in a statement.

Aggressive act ... A Tu-142 bomber similar to the two which charged towards a US aircraft carrier earlier this week. Source: Supplied

“The interaction was characterised as ‘safe’,” Lt. Cmdr. Tim Hawkins told the US Naval Institute. “This type of interaction is not unprecedented.”

The Tu-142 is a long range patrol aircraft which is usually used for reconnaissance, but can carry cruise missiles and anti-submarine torpedoes.

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The incident took place the same day the USS Lassen sailed within a claimed 22km territorial zone around one of China’s controversial artificial islands in Subi Reef, South China Sea.

DEADLY DANCE

It’s only the latest incident where Russian aircraft have tested the resolve of Western militaries through ‘provocative’ actions.

Two Russian Su-24 strike fighters made a similar close pass of the destroyer USS Donald Cook in the Black Sea in April 2014. The incident was declared ‘unsafe’ by the US Pentagon.

A similar fly-pass was conducted against the USS Ross in June.

There have been several violations of Turkish and Japanese airspace this year, while NATO countries in Europe and the Mediterranean have also been subject to sudden, apparently aggressive, ‘feints’ by Russian aircraft.

In 2008, a Tu-95 Bear bomber approached the USS Nimitz immediately after Russian President Vladimir Putin reinstated Cold War style long-range bomber patrols.