Russian Jet Fighter Nearly Collide With NATO F-16 In Skies Over Norway

   A Russian jet fighter came within a mere 60 feet of a NATO F-16 in an incident that could have ended Norway made the incredible video public on Sunday, to add visual proof of Russia’s increasing military brinksmanship.

MiG-31 FoxHound - (Archive image)

with a disastrous mid-air collision in the skies over Norway — and the Norwegian military caught the whole frightening encounter on video.

   According to the Norwegian military, the plane that appears directly in front of the Norwegian NATO F-16 is a Russian Mig-31, during an incident in which Norway scrambled two of its own jet fighters to intercept a Russian fighter jet flying in international airspace, but dangerously close to Norway.

   The Wall Street Journal reported the incident, and posted a video on Monday, saying that Norway’s military declined to say when the potentially deadly encounter — in which the Russian fighter jet cuts off the F-16 like a bad driver on the freeway — actually occurred, only that it illustrated the growing risk from Russian jets engaging in hazardous fly-bys near NATO territory.

   “We could have had a collision between the aircraft,” said Norwegian Armed Forces spokesperson Brynjar Stordal. “The pilot has a spontaneous reaction in the video, and both his comment and the evasive maneuver indicate that this is unwanted. We don’t know if this was a mistake by the Russian pilot, or a sign of a more aggressive behaviour by the Russians.”

   On the video, the pilot is heard to say, in Norwegian, “What the hell?” as the Russian jet suddenly appears in front of his F-16, forcing him to take sudden evasive action to avoid a mid-air catastrophe.