An armed Russian fighter jet buzzed a U.S. Air Force Navy reconnaissance aircraft conducting surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea.
The Russian Su-27 jet loaded with air-to-air missiles under its wings came within 5 feet of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 recon jet "rapidly on Monday," Fox news reported.
A reconnaissance aircraft is a manned or unmanned military aircraft designed to carry out aerial reconnaissance. RC-135 is a surveillance plane to collect imagery intelligence, signals intelligence, and measurement and signature intelligence.
Boeing RC-135 is a four engine, medium weight reconnaissance aircraft designed and manufactured by Boeing Defence and Integrated Systems for the US Air Force (USAF).
Once alongside, the Russian jet was "provocative" in its flight maneuvers and flying "erratically," Fox news quoted another official.
The incident comes one day after the Russian Defense Ministry said it would treat any U.S. jet flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as a potential target, following a U.S. Navy jet's shoot-down of a Syrian jet that was targeting U.S.-aligned fighters.
Since June 2nd there have been over 35 interactions in the Baltic Sea region between U.S. and Russian jets and warships, but the Monday incident is notable because the U.S. military considered it "unsafe," according to one official.