A video purportedly shows a Russian military aircraft buzzing a United States aircraft carrier at low altitude as it was escorted by American fighter jets over the Western Pacific Ocean.
Newsweek has emailed both the U.S. Pacific Fleet and the Russian military for comment.
Why It Matters
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier that appears in the unverified footage is the USS Carl Vinson, a nuclear-powered warship embarked nine naval aviation squadrons, operating a number of aircraft, including the U.S. Navy’s most capable fighter jet, the F-35C Lightning II.
The unconfirmed encounter between the U.S. and Russian militaries comes after the Carl Vinson was redeployed by the Pentagon last week to begin transiting to the Middle East from the Western Pacific Ocean amid escalating strikes on the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
What To Know
The footage, believed to be taken by someone aboard the Carl Vinson, was uploaded to an Instagram account, ryans_warbirds, on Monday. It shows a Russian Il-38N maritime patrol aircraft executing a low pass flyby very close to the U.S. aircraft carrier in the daylight.
The Russian aircraft was seen being escorted by two American fighter jets, an F-35C and an F/A-18F, which are assigned to the Carrier Air Wing 2. The unit is responsible for “the interception and destruction of enemy aircraft” to establish and maintain air superiority.
In the video’s comment section, ryans_warbirds claimed that the incident occurred “a few miles off the coast of Russia” and the Russian aircraft “were buzzing us all week.” Photos released by the U.S. Navy show the Carl Vinson was in the Sea of Japan as of March 15.
The Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea in South Korea, is located to the east of the Korean Peninsula, to the south of the Russian Far East mainland, and to the west of Japan.
Another Instagram user, yab0iprince_, replied: “I was on the bow when the first one buzzed us.” It was not clear whether both Instagram users were the Carl Vinson‘s sailors and whether the aircraft carrier had encountered the Russian aircraft on multiple occasions.
Meanwhile, a Russian-language Telegram channel claimed in a post on March 18 that the Russian Pacific Fleet’s Il-38 aircraft continued to carry out what it called “combat training missions” over the waters in the Sea of Japan.
The channel posted two photos purportedly showing an F-35C fighter jet assigned to the Carl Vinson and a South Korean fighter aircraft conducting “aerial tracking” of the Russian Il-38 aircraft. Newsweek could not independently verify the photos’ authenticity.
The Carl Vinson arrived in Guam on Monday for a port visit following the redeployment order, the U.S. Navy announced. It was previously underway in the East China Sea for a trilateral naval war game with the Japanese and South Korean navies from March 17 to 20.
The East China Sea connects with the Sea of Japan in the northeast via the Korea Strait.
What People Are Saying
The U.S. Navy said in a press release on Monday: “[Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group] is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet and routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
The U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing 2, attached to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, wrote on its website: “[The carrier air wing’s mission is] to conduct carrier air warfare operations and assist in the planning, control, coordination and integration of air wing squadrons in support of carrier air warfare.”
Specialist outlet The Aviationist wrote in an article on September 30, 2024: “The Il-38N is a modernized version of the older Il-38, primarily designed for [anti-submarine warfare] and equipped with advanced detection systems…The Il-38 and its variants are integral to Russia’s naval operations, capable of providing reconnaissance as well as deploying air-dropped mines.”
What Happens Next
The U.S. has dispatched another aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, for a Western Pacific Ocean mission. It remains to be seen whether Russia will send its military aircraft for surveillance when the Nimitz operates near the country’s coast in the Sea of Japan.
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