U.S. Pilots See Russian Jets, “Head Butts” Them Mid-Air

Two U.S. Air Force stealth fighter jets reportedly intercepted a pair of Russian attack jets Wednesday in an off-limits area of Syria, using a tactic known as “head-butting” to warn them of the impending consequences that lay ahead unless they changed their trajectory.

“During the incident, both American F-22 jets fired flares after cutting across the front of the Russian jets, a tactic known as ‘head-butting,’ meant to send a strong warning to an opposing warplane,” Fox News reported.

The incident reportedly lasted 40 minutes and left U.S. military officials confused over what to think about Russia’s increasingly volatile behavior.

During this most recent incident, one of the Russian jets flew so close to a U.S. F-22 that the stealth fighter “had to aggressively maneuver to avoid a midair collision,” according to Fox.

A Pentagon spokesman told Fox that it remains “increasingly tough” to ascertain whether the Russians are simply being clumsy in air or are purposefully provoking their U.S. counterparts.

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During a similar altercation in November, a Russian fighter jet made an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. aircraft as it was flying over the Black Sea, as reported by CNN.

“The Russian jet’s actions were deemed unsafe because the aircraft crossed in front of the US plane from right to left while engaging its afterburners, forcing the P-8 to enter its jet wash, an action that caused the US plane to experience ‘a 15-degree roll and violent turbulence,'” CNN reported, quoting a Pentagon spokesman.

During yet another similar interception over the Baltic Sea in June, a Russia fighter jet came within just five feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane.

Once it achieved a position alongside the U.S. craft, the jet’s maneuvers became even more “provocative” as it began flying “erratically,” according to U.S. officials who spoke with Fox News at the time.

U.S. European Command later released dramatic photos Friday of the encounter that were stunning for the simple fact that the pilot in the Russian Su-27 could be seen from the cockpit of the U.S. RC-135U.

Look:

Though some worried that Russian President Vladimir Putin might have been pushing for a conflict with the U.S., Robert Laurie of Canada Free Press cautioned that he was likely engaging in “standard saber-rattling.”

“We downed a Syrian aircraft, Assad is an ally of Putin’s, and Putin has to respond,” he wrote, referencing a decision by the U.S. military at the time to down a Syrian fighter jet after it bombed American-backed rebel forces on the ground.

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Regardless, these antics make it clear that Putin views the United States as neither an enemy nor an ally, but rather as a pesky thorn in its side.

Of course, this is a truth bomb you’ll never hear from the mainstream media, which continues to relentlessly push a patently false narrative about friendship and collusion between President Trump and Putin.

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