Miscommunication almost led Russian plane to shoot down British spy plane, US officials say

Newly leaked intelligence documents called last year's incident a near gunshot. Officials said it was more serious than initially announced.

LONDON - A Russian fighter jet fired a missile at a manned British surveillance plane flying over the Black Sea in September, but the munition malfunctioned, according to US defense officials and a recently leaked classified US intelligence report. The incident was far more serious than originally described and could have amounted to an act of war.

According to two US defense officials, the Russian pilot had misinterpreted what a radar operator on the ground was telling him and thought he had permission to fire. The pilot, who had locked onto the British aircraft, fired, but the missile failed to launch properly.

In October, the British Secretary to Defense Ben Wallace described the close call in a briefing to Members of Parliament as 'potentially dangerous' after the Russian fighter jet 'dropped a missile in the vicinity' of the British plane. But one of the leaked documents said the September 29 event was an "almost cull".

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

The dance between surveillance planes from the United States and other NATO countries and Russian combat planes over the Black Sea unfolds for years, particularly after Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. Tensions have only risen as Ukraine increasingly relies on intelligence gathered by the West to fend off the Russian invasion that began last year.

Last month, a Russian warplane rammed a US surveillance drone over the Black Sea, hitting the drone's propeller and causing it to crash in international waters. The collision was the first known physical contact between the Russian and US military since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The two US defense officials with direct knowledge of The near-shooting in September confirmed the seriousness of the encounter between the British aircraft - a four-engined aircraft known as the RC-135 Rivet Joint - and two Russian Su-27 fighter jets. The British aircraft is often flown by a crew of around 30 and is capable of intercepting radio traffic.

Defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said the British Rivet Joint was listening to intercepted communications between a Russian radar controller on the ground and one of the Russian Su-27 pilots dispatched to monitor the plane.

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The British Rivet Joint was in international airspace at off the Russian-occupied Crimea coast. The pilots of the Russian plane were not within visual range of the British patrol but were equipped with missiles capable of reaching it, officials said.

L One official who was briefed on the encounter called it "really, really scary." , "A significant proportion of the content of these reports is false, manipulated or both. We strongly caution anyone taking the veracity of these claims at face value and would also like to...