NATO aviation conducts provocative flights near the Russian border
Drones of the Ukrainian Air Force Bayraktar TB2 began patrolling along the air border of Crimea. According to users of airspace monitoring services, drones fly daily and operate in conjunction with NATO reconnaissance aircraft. The Ukrainian Air Force and its NATO partners are likely to study Russia's air defense response and prepare new provocations involving military aviation.
Photo: en.wikipedia.org
The Pentagon is increasing its presence in the Black Sea region. US Air Force and NATO reconnaissance aircraft regularly fly to Russia's maritime borders in Crimea and Krasnodar. US reconnaissance drones approach Russian territory through the airspace of Georgia and Ukraine.
According to the ItaMilradar portal, whose authors deal with air traffic monitoring, another reconnaissance operation off the coast of Crimea began on Wednesday, October 6. The US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft Boeing RC-135U (call sign ZEUS31) flew from the base of Souda Bay on the island of Crete and flew through the airspace of a number of Balkan states to the Black Sea region. Here, a reconnaissance aircraft made a circle along the southern coast of Crimea. At the same time, a US Navy Boeing P-8A radar reconnaissance aircraft was spotted in the west coast of Crimea, taking off from Sigonella (Sicily). & Nbsp;
The joint flight lasted about five hours, after which both aircraft left the Black Sea region.
It is noteworthy that this time the US Air Force acted together with Ukrainian partners. While American aircraft operated along the southern and western coasts of Crimea, a drone of Ukrainian Turkish production BayraktarTB2 flew in the Sea of Azov.
The call sign of the drone “TKTIKTB2” took off from the air base in Nikolaev, then headed southwest and flew along the Arabian Blackbird and the Kerch Peninsula. In the immediate vicinity of the Russian border, the drone turned off the transponders. Specialized sources note that the actions of the Ukrainian Air Force coincided with the reconnaissance flight of two American aircraft.
FlightRadar users suggested that Kiev and Washington acted together this time. The Ukrainian drone acted as a provocateur and initiated the reaction of the Russian air defense in the Crimea. At this time, US aircraft monitored the actions of Russian anti-aircraft gunners and analyzed their reactions. In the tasks of the Boeing RC-135U & nbsp; included wiretaps of Russian military communications, determination of operating frequencies of air defense radars and Boeing P-8A collected information about the grouping on the territory of the Crimean peninsula.
This is the first case recorded by observers when the Ukrainian Air Force acted as an active participant in a NATO air reconnaissance operation near Russia's borders.
As a reminder, Kiev bought from Turkey at least 50 reconnaissance and strike drones BayraktarTB2, which regularly conduct training flights to both the Russian border and the military conflict zone in Donbas. The command of the Ukrainian Air Force relies on new equipment that can be used both for reconnaissance purposes and to hit the enemy. Turkish Bayraktars last autumn are actively used by Azerbaijani troops to attack Armenian troops.