In the last couple of days more detail has started to leak out about a hairraising incident over the Black Sea last year. If you missed the story, on the 29th of September last year an RAF RC135 Rivet Joint was intercepted by two SU27 Flankers.

One of the Flankers apparently deliberately fired two missiles at the unarmed RAF aircraft.Fortunately both failed to hit the Rivet Joint. If either had done then it's hard to imagine how NATO would have avoided a shooting war with Russia.

Because it involves three of my favourite topics, Cold War aircraft, interception and airtoair missiles, I had a few thoughts about what happened. This video looks into the FlankerB, the AA10 Alamo and the statistics of beyond visual range engagement with radar homing airtoair missiles. I hope you find it an interesting deviation from my usual material. Normal service resumes soon!

Sources:

BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk66798508

Excellent War Zone article: https://www.thedrive.com/thewarzone...

Allied Force F15C statistics: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/f15...