Russian fighter jets flew so close to a British spy plane that they disabled its autopilot, UK says

May 21, 2026 3oliver

Russian fighter jets flew so close to a British spy plane that they disabled its autopilot, UK says

Jake Epstein

Wed, May 20, 2026 at 4:02 PM UTC

3 min read

Two Russian fighter jets intercepted a Royal Air Force spy plane over the Black Sea last month.
Britain said Wednesday that the Russian jets flew within meters of the RAF aircraft’s nose.
Russian aircraft have a history of dangerous maneuvers around NATO planes.

Russian fighter jets intercepted a Royal Air Force spy aircraft over the Black Sea last month, coming within mere meters of the plane. The close encounter affected the aircraft’s internal systems, Britain’s defense ministry revealed Wednesday.

The intercept marked the most dangerous Russian aircraft maneuver near an RAF Rivet Joint in years.

The unarmed Rivet Joint, a signals intelligence and surveillance aircraft, was flying in international airspace during a routine mission when a Russian Sukhoi Su-35 flew close enough to the spy plane to trigger its emergency systems and disable the autopilot.

Video footage from the Rivet Joint’s flight deck appears to show the plane passing through the wake of the Russian aircraft, which could have disrupted its internal systems.

Separately, Britain’s defense ministry revealed that a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 made six passes in front of the Rivet Joint and got within six meters of its nose at one point. Both Russian jets appear to be armed with missile loadouts in the video.

UK Defense Secretary John Healey described the Black Sea interception as “another example of dangerous and unacceptable” behavior by Russian pilots.

“These actions create a serious risk of accidents and potential escalation,” Healey said in a statement. “I would like to pay tribute to the outstanding professionalism and bravery of the RAF crew who continued with their mission despite these dangerous actions.”

A Russian fighter jet above the Black Sea in April. — Britain said one of the Russian jets triggered the Rivet Joint’s emergency systems.RAF/UK MOD Crown copyright

The airliner-sized RC-135V/W Rivet Joint is a surveillance aircraft built by the American aerospace giant Boeing. The aircraft, introduced in the early 1960s and operated only by the US and UK, specializes in signals, communications, and electronic intelligence collection.

Britain’s defense ministry said that the incident “was the most dangerous Russian action against a UK Rivet Joint since 2022, when a Russian plane fired a missile over the Black Sea.”

Britain initially assessed that the 2022 incident was a malfunction on the Russian side, though later reports indicated it was deliberately launched.

Russian jets have been involved in numerous close-range intercepts and harassment incidents with NATO aircraft in recent years, in some cases causing damage and losses, triggering frustration among US officials.

In March 2023, for instance, a Russian jet clipped the propeller of a US military MQ-9 Reaper drone above the Black Sea, forcing its American operators to bring the aircraft down.

Then, in July 2023, Russian jets harassed several US Reaper drones above Syria, making maneuvers such as flying close passes, dropping parachute flares, and engaging afterburners near the drones. One aircraft sustained propeller damage during one of the incidents.

That month, a Russian fighter jet also forced French warplanes to maneuver to avoid what was described at the time as a “non-professional interaction.”

The latest Black Sea incident involving the RAF Rivet Joint comes amid an uptick in Russian military activity around Eastern Europe, Britain’s defense ministry said.

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