Close aboard: Bracketing NATO/Russia brushes at sea

摘要

Resurgent interactions between Russian Federation ships and aircraft and NATO's air and maritime forces have sparked rising concern over the past few years about tensions at sea and their wider security implications. In many ways, the increasing number of close passes made by Russian assets today is reminiscent of the robust posture assumed by Soviet aircraft, ships, and submarines in the early phases of the Cold War. Such postures saw a number of incidents, such as the 1968 crash of a Tu-16 'Badger' strategic bomber, which was making a low pass near the aircraft carrier USS Essex in the Norwegian Sea.