Sneaky Russian pilots have been teasing our F-16 jockeys over the skies of Syria. They’ve been playing “chicken,” trying to taunt us into dogfights. As fun as the idea sounds to our maverick top guns, they kept it professional.
Syria air incidents
Reports are trickling out from US Central Command that “Russian pilots tried to ‘dogfight‘ U.S. jets over Syria.” It’s not the first time. The CENTCOM spokesman called it “part of a recent pattern of more aggressive behavior.”
They’ve tried to tease us into some unscheduled and unofficial training. The idea seems to be a real Snoopy against the Red Baron type dogfight but with the rockets and machine guns turned off. Just for kicks.
According to Colonel Joe Buccino, “the attempts have happened in several of the most recent instances of aggressive behavior from Russian pilots.”
It happens every time we bump into each other while patrolling around Syria. “Russian pilots do not appear to be trying to shoot down American jets,” another official explained to CNN.
The expert notes “they may be trying to ‘provoke’ the U.S. and “‘draw us into an international incident.‘” CNN viewers aren’t real bright so they made sure to point out that “in military aviation, dogfighting is engaging in aerial combat, often at relatively close ranges.”
Now that Snoopy’s been blacklisted, the woke generation doesn’t have a clue what the planes are doing over Syria.
Unsafe and unprofessional
CENTCOM even released a video from Syria dated April 2 which shows “a Russian SU-35 fighter jet conducting an ‘unsafe and unprofessional‘ intercept of a US F-16 fighter jet.” The Ruskies seem to be asking our guys to come out and play.
“A second video from April 18 shows a Russian fighter that violated coalition airspace and came within 2,000 feet of a US aircraft.” That might sound like half a mile but it’s nothing at 600 miles an hour.
The level of professionalism has been dropping for a long time now. For a few years, everyone’s been honoring a “deconfliction line” splitting Syria to “unintentional mistakes or encounters that can inadvertently lead to escalation.”
Russian pilots tried to 'dogfight' US jets over Syria, US Central Command says – CNN- Why? Because Russia loves conflicts 😡 https://t.co/9RdKoGqZ38
— ᗰS. ᑕᖇIᔕ (@CrisNapolitano) April 29, 2023
It doesn’t help when the encounters are intentional. U.S. “pilots have refused to engage in the dogfights and are adhering to the protocols of the deconfliction measures.”
Pentagon and State Department officials have reached out to their counterparts in Moscow to complain about the close calls. Russians didn’t blow them off and actually responded. They just didn’t say anything meaningful and “never in a way that acknowledges the incident.”
Or the other 84 just like it since March 1. At least 26 times, “armed Russian jets flew over U.S. and coalition positions in Syria.” They aren’t supposed to do that. “It looks to be consistent with a new way of operating.“