Russian Jets Close on U.S. Drones in Syria

Russian Jets close on U.S. Drones in Syria

As Russia continues it operations in the area, U.S. officials have reported instances of Russian Jets tracking U.S. drones. From Fox News: Exclusive: Russian fighter jets shadowed U.S. predator drones on at least three separate occasions high above Syria since the start of Russia’s air campaign last week, according to two U.S. officials briefed on this latest intelligence from the region.“The first time it happened, we thought the Russians got lucky. Then it happened two more times,” said one official.Both officials said that the incidents took place over ISIS-controlled Syria, including its de facto headquarters in Raqqa, as well as along the Turkish-Syrian border near Korbani. Another occurred in the northwest, near the highly contested city of Aleppo.The U.S. military's MQ-1 Predator drone is not a stealth aircraft."It is easy to see a predator on radar," said one official.The Russians have not attempted to shoot down any of the U.S. drones, but instead have flown "intercept tracks," a doctrinal term meaning the Russians flew close enough to make their presence felt, according to one official.One other official said, “the Russians flew very close, but did not impede the drone flight.”

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook, traveling with the defense secretary in Europe leading up to a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels Thursday, said the Pentagon is open to more military-to-military talks with the Russians. No immediate date has been established to conduct the next round of talks, according to one defense official.This development comes as Russia has moved some of its Mi-24 gunships and transport helicopters from an air base along the Mediterranean to another air base outside Homs, roughly 100 miles away. Russian ground forces, hundreds of Russian marines -- as well as four BM-30 Smerch rocket launchers capable of firing cluster munitions, mines as well as high explosive warheads -- are now in position to strike, but there is no evidence they have done so according to multiple defense officials. Infantry fighting vehicles and more a conventional artillery battery has also been seen by the intelligence community.All these movements demonstrate the Russians are forming a "protective belt" around Latakia, the stronghold of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and are carrying out airstrikes against anti-Assad rebel forces, some backed by the CIA, to protect both regime and Russian interests, including a Russian naval base in Tartus established in the 70s.See the full article from Fox News.[mwi-cat-listing cat="94" ppp="4" cols="4" desc="false" type="view" btn_color="black" ]