A recurring problem in recent weeks, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported once again on Monday that a Su-27 fighter jet has intercepted a pair of US surveillance planes over the Black Sea, when the planes were caught approaching the Russian border.
Russia has been reporting at least one interception weekly, and often more than one, in this same area. Why so many US planes are active in the Black Sea, where the US has no ports, is not entirely certain, though they are generally Navy-run surveillance planes.
The US has not commented on the interceptions either, though they have occasionally intercepted a Russian plane in the Arctic and never fail to bring those incidents up, with Russian planes approaching US airspace.
Its not unusual for both the US and Russia to test one another’s air defenses with such flights, though it is highly unusual that the US keeps flying in the exact same area, and getting interceptions in the exact same manner.
US spy plane approaching the Russian border in the black sea, has taken place several times in a week for the last 3 weeks.
Some weeks ago a US B-52 bomber and a group of Norwegian F-35 and F-16 flew close to the Russian border in the Barents sea ( Arctic ).
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/security/2020/06/b-52-arctic-mission-norwegian-fighter-jets
“On 11 August Russian air control systems over the neutral waters of the Sea of Chukotsk ( Arctic ) detected an RQ-4B Global Hawk approaching the Russian border. In order to intercept the target, three MiG-31 fighters from the air defence forces of the Eastern Military District were scrambled”, the official statement says.
The US clearly wants to escalate and create a conflict, accuse Russia of evil behavior and justify an expansion in the black sea and the Arctic ( Northern sea route ) against Russian aggression.
This flying along the border is pretty standard military protocol. You fly your planes (the bigger and badder looking the better) along the potential adversary’s border (air defense zone) and goad him into turning on his air defense assets (i.e. radars, surface-to-air-missile systems, etc.). This both allows you to analyze what he’s using and revealing its locations. This cat-and-mouse game goes on constantly. That the US is the instigator is indicative of the aggressive nature of our military posture vis-a-vis Russia and China. The US has morphed from protector of freedom and liberty into imperialist opportunist in one generation. Too bad really, but predictable. We are running out of strategic materials and must make plans to take that of others.