Press. voanews.com
Two U.S.
warplanes intercepted two Russian jets over a part of Syria they were not
supposed to be operating in, the Pentagon said Thursday. At one point during
Wednesday's incident, the American F-22 Raptor stealth fighters deployed radar
and infrared countermeasures to try to persuade the Russian Su-25s to leave the
area, and one U.S. pilot had to "aggressively maneuver" to avoid a
midair collision, Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said.
The Russian
fighters had flown into airspace controlled by the U.S.-led coalition that is
fighting the Islamic State group in Syria, crossing onto the east side of the
Euphrates River near Albu Kamal.
They "were
promptly intercepted by two F-22A Raptors providing air cover for partner
ground forces conducting operations to defeat ISIS," Pahon said.
"The F-22s
conducted multiple maneuvers to persuade the Su-25s to depart our deconflicted
airspace, including the release of chaff and flares in close proximity to the
Russian aircraft and placing multiple calls on the emergency channel to convey
to the Russian pilots that they needed to depart the area," he added.
The incident
lasted approximately 40 minutes before the Russian aircraft flew to the west
side of the river. During and following the encounter, coalition leaders
contacted Russian officers on a special hotline to try to calm the situation
and avert a "strategic miscalculation," Pahon said.
The Pentagon
said that in early November the U.S. verbally agreed with Moscow that the
Russians would keep west of the Euphrates and the coalition would stay east.
"Since
agreeing to this deconfliction arrangement, the Russians have flown into our
airspace on the east side of the river six to eight times per day, or
approximately 10 percent of the Russian and Syrian flights," Pahon said.
"It's
become increasingly tough for our pilots to discern whether Russian pilots'
actions are deliberate or if these are just honest mistakes," Pahon said. Albu
Kamal was IS's last urban stronghold in Syria. The army retook it last month.
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