Russian fighter flew within a half-mile of a U.S. warplane over Syria

The U.S. has said that one of its military aircraft was less than half-mile away from a Russian fighter aircraft over Syria on Oct. 17.

Mil.ru [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The encounter was close enough that the “larger-framed [coalition] aircraft” felt the jetwash coming from the Russian fighter.

Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, said the Russian pilot might have not been aware of the presence of the American aircraft as both did not have their navigational lights activated.