“The Russians are furious”: the journalist visited a NATO reconnaissance aircraft operating in the Black Sea
NATO aircraft carry out regular aerial reconnaissance in the Black Sea.
This, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent , is stated in a report by the Associated Press, whose journalist gained access to a French Air Force reconnaissance aircraft.
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It is noted that thanks to “a large number of surveillance equipment, the aircraft can detect missile launches, aerial bombings and other military activities during a conflict.”
“We can detect aircraft, we can detect UAVs, we can detect missiles and we can detect ships. This, of course, is necessary for Ukraine, especially when we are on the border,” said the ship’s commander, a lieutenant colonel introduced as Richard.
During the flight, hundreds of kilometers away, a Russian aerial reconnaissance aircraft was discovered, which also recorded the work of the French, as shown by Russian radar signals captured by sensors.
“We know they see us, they know we see them. Let’s just say it’s a kind of dialogue between them and us,” says co-pilot Major Romain.
The publication recalls that in 2022, a Russian fighter jet fired a missile next to a British Air Force RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Black Sea, and in March 2023, a Russian aircraft dropped fuel on an American drone, which eventually sank.
Rivet Joints are particularly effective surveillance aircraft, and Russian authorities “really hate” their ability to spy on the war in Ukraine, says Justin Bronk, a researcher at the defense think tank Royal United Services Institute in London.
According to him, “the Russians are furious.”
At the same time, Major Romain said that Russian aircraft had not intercepted a French AWACS aircraft “for a long time,” but if they had done so, “the French pilots would have tried to defuse any tension.”
English version :: Read in English "Russians are furious": A journalist visited a NATO reconnaissance aircraft operating in the Black Sea.