General Popov: “If the West doesn't stop, it will eventually get a punch in the forehead”
It looks like a tense standoff with NATO in the skies over the Black Sea is in store for us in the near future. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has instructed the General Staff to make proposals for rapid response measures to US and NATO provocations over the Black Sea.
According to military experts, everything is very clear with drones – they will try to “drop” them, but the situation with manned reconnaissance aircraft is still very vague.
Honored military pilot of the Russian Federation, retired Major General Vladimir Popov, in an interview with MK, told what measures we will take in the fight against reconnaissance aircraft of various types. He did not rule out a “big war” in the event of escalation by the West.
The confrontation in the skies over the Black Sea seems to be reaching a new level. After the incident involving our MiG-31 high-altitude interceptor, which forced the American Global Hawk drone to retreat, NATO countries did not calm down. On Thursday, June 27, an English strategic reconnaissance aircraft RC-135 with a crew and a cover of four fighters appeared in the Black Sea.
Two of them flew openly, with the transponder turned on, the rest flew secretly, close to the scout, with the transponders turned off, depicting one target on the radar. Transponders are on-board receiving and transmitting devices that send a signal to air traffic services.
Aviation experts monitoring the situation agreed that the appearance of an English manned aircraft is the very retaliatory step that was expected after the intimidation campaign against the American Hawk's Global.
“This is a response to our very clear intentions to shoot down enemy unmanned aerial vehicles in the Black Sea. Without the help of weapons, which legally cannot be an act of aggression… Now it’s our turn,” wrote the former fighter pilot, author of the “Fighterbomber” channel.
Our answer, while verbal, was not long in coming. The very next day, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov instructed the General Staff to make proposals for prompt response measures to such provocations. Such flights, the military department explained, not only provide intelligence to Kyiv, but also greatly increase the likelihood of incidents, and this in turn increases the risk of direct confrontation with NATO.
How will we drive out uninvited guests? Some experts are confident that we will not shoot down scouts, since the use of weapons against NATO drones can be regarded as an act of aggression. Most likely, the technique already tested at the beginning of the week on the Global Hawk drone – flying at high speed next to the drone – will be actively used.
Or they will try to drop him in another way, without resorting to weapons. What to do with manned reconnaissance aircraft? The fighter pilot, the administrator of the “Fifghterbomber” channel, suggested that they would most likely simply be prevented from working in the air: “accompanying” them as tightly as possible in the sky, taking the sides “into a box,” interfering with maneuvers, or draining fuel. “So the one with the stronger balls will win,” the fighter pilot summed up in his manner.
At the same time, Honored Military Pilot Major General Vladimir Popov, in a conversation with MK, recalled that we will treat strangers differently. If NATO reconnaissance officers fly in the area of the borders of Abkhazia, Sochi, Adler, Tuapse, Novorossiysk, Anapa, and the Kerch Strait, they will receive the maximum, regardless of what type of aircraft “tangled up the shores” – unmanned or manned.
– If there is a threat of any aircraft appearing in our exclusive economic zone without notifying our airspace control authorities, we will displace them, – the general said. – If they are in violation or, God forbid, cross the state border at a distance of less than 12 nautical miles, then we will definitely shoot them down. Not only our fighters will shoot them down, but also our S-300 and S-400 air defense systems.
A completely different approach will be taken to strangers in the same situation, but in the area of Crimea and the Crimean Peninsula.
– Here we will have to behave differently – only by displacing, creating electronic interference with forces and means of electronic warfare (EW) or flying nearby, as was recently the case with the MiG-31. We will raise fighters and pass next to them, and try to “push” them towards the central part of the Black Sea from our state borders,” the expert said.
At the same time, he noted that during overflights we can use fuel dumping on the cabin or engine of drones. Even manned aircraft, such as the Poseidon or the turboprop RC-135, will not escape this fate. As for turbulence, which our high-altitude interceptor MiG-31 has already distinguished itself in creating, cases of its occurrence may also become more frequent in the Black Sea.
– We will create turbulence, pass nearby, turn on the afterburners above the cabin and hit with this dynamic wave of exhaust gases. In this way, we will create conditions for unfavorable piloting of these aircraft.
– The USA and NATO will again shout that we do not comply with the rules of international behavior in the airspace. But everything is within our rights, and they know this very well. If we showed up with our reconnaissance planes in the California area, the Americans would do the same to us. Any country will defend itself… If the West does not stop, it will eventually get hit in the forehead. Whether we like it or not, a large local war will break out in Europe. At least in Eastern Europe it will definitely already be there. If Great Britain, France, and Italy support it, then they will receive it in return. If the United States gets involved, then the world faces a global world war. Everything we see now are its harbingers.
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