Russian pilot tried to shoot down RAF surveillance aircraft over the Black Sea

A Russian pilot tried to shoot down an RAF surveillance plane over the Black Sea because he mistakenly thought he had permission, it has emerged.

The pilot of the SU-27 fighter jet fired two missiles at the British military plane on September 29 last year, with the first missing the target rather than malfunctioning as was claimed by Russia at the time.

At the time, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace acknowledged the incident, telling Parliament that two Russian jets ‘recklessly’ came within 15ft of the RAF plane and one ‘released a missile in the vicinity’.

Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu blamed a ‘technical malfunction’ and Wallace, having spoken with other Russian defence officials, accepted the explanation and drew a line under the incident.

But now, three senior Western defence sources with knowledge of the incident have told the BBC that Russian communications that were intercepted by the RAF surveillance plane show that one of the Russian pilots thought he had been given permission to target the British aircraft.

This was after he received an ambiguous command from a Russian ground station, the sources said.

The second Russian pilot thought the opposite and swore at his comrade when he fired his first missile that came perilously close to the RAF reconnaissance plane.

The pilot of the SU-27 fighter jet (file image) fired two missiles at the British military plane, with the first missing the target rather than malfunctioning as was claimed by Russia at the time.