DoD details Russian buzzing of U.S. frigate

The first incident took place Sept. 10, when a Tupolev Tu-95 Bear maritime patrol plane overflew the Taylor as it was sailing away from Murmansk in international waters in the Barents Sea. The Bear made two passes, the first at about 10,000 feet and the second much closer — about 50 yards away from the ship and only about 100 feet above it, said Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan. The plane apparently had its bomb bay doors open.

In the second incident on Sept. 11, the Taylor sighted a Russian warship that dispatched two Ka-29 Helix helicopters, which buzzed the frigate several times, coming as close as about 30 yards and about 100 feet above it, Lapan said. He did not have information about the Russian ship the helicopters had come from, but he did say the Taylor made some kind of contact with it, although “the nature of the communications was unclear.

The closeness of the contacts made them “a rare occurrence,” Lapan acknowledged, which is what prompted Roughead and Vysotskiy to discuss whether the encounters violated “agreed-upon protocols,” he said.

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reply to post by guppy


This is no big news. US and Russian units have always played "chicken" with each other since the Cold War Days and before. Its all about teasing the opposing side. Part of military life.

What sucks is when both players lose the chicken fight.

There are a number of unreported incidents where US and Russian submarines would play chicken and mistakenly hit one another. Not a good thing since you're hundreds of feet below the water's surface. Equally as bad when an F-15 Eagle clips a Soviet Bear aircraft. Technical term: "Bad".

But I thought this would be an interesting read. Enjoy!

It sounds like the Russians were gathering intel on the American vessel. Who knows what the US vessel was doing in the area but rest assured, the Russians know (or at least suspect) much more than we do. I'm sure the "buzzing" was due to surveillance through technology on the aircraft, whether it be phot/video, radio or some other form of technology that is beyond my feeble mind.


--airspoon