Last week a Russian military surveillance plane flew over four North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) warship vessels in the Baltic Sea.
The incident, which took place on Thursday, involved four NATO warships among which was the Jason Dunham destroyer. One French, one British and one German ship were also present at the scene.
Photo: Wikipedia
The Russian military aircraft flew above the deck of one of the four NATO ships at an altitude of merely 500 feet as stated by various reports.
“By no means are we labeling this as being safe and professional. We are accepting it as routine, however, we are on the brink of being quite uncomfortable,” an U.S. Defense Department official commented, preferring not to disclose his name.
Although this case differs from the previous one involving a Russian fighter aircraft flying just 10 feet away from a United States plane, this was still a strikingly close distance to not label it as being dangerous.
The incident has not been publicly acknowledged as of the moment. According to CNN’s report some members of the USS Jason Dunham’s crew were able to capture the whole incident on video.
The Pentagon currently has possession over the said video, and it has not been released to the public. On Saturday, the incident was confirmed by a U.S. Defense Department official.