Navy patrol plane has ‘safe’ close encounter with Russian fighter

A Russian fighter came within 20 feet of a United States Navy maritime patrol aircraft over the Black Sea. However, unlike past encounters, this close approach doesn't have the Navy angry.

According to a report by FoxNews.com, the Russian plane was armed with six air-to-air missiles.

Despite that, the plane's crew described the encounter as "safe and professional," a marked contrast to incidents such as the buzzing of USS Porter in the Black Sea earlier this year.

Last year, another P-8 had a Russian plane come within ten feet of it.

The incident comes about a month before planned Black Sea exercises that the United States will be involved in. Russia has expressed concern over the deployment of American ships to the Black Sea in the past, claiming they are a threat to Russia.

"After approaching a plane at a safe distance the Russian pilot visually identified the flying object as a U.S. surveillance plane P-8A Poseidon," the Russian military claimed in a statement.

American military officials noted that the Russian plane approached the P-8 "slowly" during the hour-long encounter.

"While this one was considered by the flight crew to be safe and professional, this sort of close encounter certainly has the possibility to become dangerous in a hurry," an anonymous American defense official said.

Yesterday saw a Russian Su-24 Fencer come within 70 miles of the Carl Vinson carrier strike group, prompting the South Koreans to scramble two F-16 Fighting Falcons to intercept the plane.

The Fencer has been used in many of the buzzing incidents the Navy has claimed were "unsafe and unprofessional" in recent months.

Russian aircraft have also approached Alaska a number of times in recent weeks, prompting the United States to scramble F-22 Raptor air dominance fighters on at least one occasion.