Russian jet came within 10 feet of U.S. spy plane: U.S. officials

WASHINGTON The pilot of a U.S. spy plane flying a regular patrol over the Black Sea reported that a Russian fighter jet carried out an "unsafe and unprofessional" intercept, two U.S. defense officials told Reuters on Wednesday.


The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were multiple interactions between the two aircraft, one of which was determined to be unsafe.


"They're up there for 12 hours and there are lots of interactions. But only one of the incidents was what the pilot determined was unsafe," said one official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.


Officials were now talking with the pilot and reviewing the incident to determine whether it would be included in the annual meeting of U.S. and Russian officials about more serious intercepts, the official added.


The incident involved a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter and a U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance plane, the other official said.


(Reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington and Andrea Shalal; editing by Chizu Nomiyama, G Crosse)

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