Russian Warplane Buzzes Within 50 Feet of American Jet

Russia continued ramp up its dangerous cat-and-mouse game with the United States as one of its MiG-31 warplanes flew within 50 feet of an American surveillance jet in Northeast Asia, The Washington Free Beacon reports.

The nerve-rattling incident occurred just one week after a Russian Su-27 flew within 50 feet of an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft in an "unsafe and unprofessional manner," the Pentagon said.

Russia’s latest act of aggression occurred on April 21 as a U.S. Navy P-8 Maritime Patrol reconnaissance aircraft flew on a routine mission in international airspace.

Pacific Command spokesperson Cmdr. Dave Benham told the Beacon that in the latest incident, the U.S. plane was "intercepted by a MiG-31 Russian jet in the vicinity of the Kamchatka Peninsula" an an intercept "characterized as safe and professional."

Beacon senior editor Bill Gertz reported that Defense Secretary Ash Carter told a Senate hearing Wednesday that such incidents reveal a "tension that has built up in Europe especially over the last couple of years since events in Crimea and Ukraine."

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