Russia fired a missile at manned British RAF jet over Black Sea and only a malfunction stopped it from being blown out of the sky, leaked documents reveal

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A Russian fighter jet tried to blow a manned RAF reconnaissance plane out of the sky over the Black Sea, but the missile malfunctioned in an incident US defence officials today revealed was far more serious than first thought.

The blundering Su-27 pilot mistakenly believed a radar operator on the ground had given him permission to fire on the British jet and take it down on September 29 last year.

The Russian jet locked on the RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft and let rip - but its deadly missile failed to launch properly and missed. Previously it was believed the missile was launched by accident - not a deliberate act of war.

The incident happened when the British plane was flying through international airspace close to the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula. It was buzzed by a squadron of Moscow's Su-27 fighters and chaos ensued.

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

But two US defence officials commenting on top secret intelligence documents leaked online told the New York Times today that the incident was far more serious than believed.

The Pentagon sources claimed the Russian pilot completely misinterpreted what a radar operator on the ground was telling him, believing he either had permission or was being ordered to fire on the RAF. 

A Russian Su-27 jet shadowing an RAF RC-135 spy plane over the Black Sea in September came close to shooting the British aircraft down but its missile malfunctioned

The Russian mistakenly believed a radar operator on the ground gave him permission to fire

An RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint spy plane had been flying over international waters near Crimea at the time of the incident in September

The role of the Rivet Joint aircraft is to hoover up electronic transmissions and communications - the plane is also known as a 'nuke-sniffer' for its ability to detect radioactivity. 

Earlier this week a UK defence source disputed the version of events, telling MailOnline: 'These reports contain inaccuracies and do not reflect what happened in International air space over the Black Sea,' referring back to Defence Secretary Wallace's comments to Parliament. 

Had a Russian missile blown Rivet Joint out of the sky over the Black Sea, the UK and its Nato allies may have been compelled to war.

READ MORE: Leaked Pentagon documents show spies are deeply ingrained in Russian intelligence services and Putin's army is ravaged after a year of fighting 

 

 

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According to Article 5 of the founding treaty of Nato, member nations agree that an armed attack against one or more of them 'shall be considered an attack against them all'.

If such an attack does occur, each NATO member will assist the country that has been attacked with any action 'it deems necessary'.

The RAF regularly flies sorties over the Black Sea's international waters, as well the Baltics and eastern Poland, to gather intelligence.  

The details emerged in a cache of leaked highly classified documents showing British and United States military activities since the invasion of Ukraine.

The source of the deeply embarrassing leak remained a mystery yesterday as US intelligence chiefs launched a criminal investigation to find who was responsible.

Though more limited in scale, the release of documentation of such a high classification is the most alarming incident of its kind since the WikiLeaks scandal of 2013 when 700,000 documents, videos and audio files were leaked.

Dozens of highly sensitive documents were crudely photographed and shared online. Yesterday, UK defence officials were in dialogue with their US counterparts as the leaks included incidents involving British forces.

The documents also cover the conflict in Ukraine, including discussions about death tolls on both sides and remaining ammunition stocks – a sensitive issue ahead of much anticipated spring offences by Russian and Ukrainian troops.

Though the papers have not been independently verified, most intelligence sources consider them to be genuine – although they are said to contain inaccuracies.

One of the leaked documents, which have been posted online - sparking a FBI hunt for the leaker and a Pentagon investigation

The documents - while up to several months old - offer detailed insights into which Russian intelligence agencies have been most compromised, and clues as to how the United States has gleaned so much secret Kremlin information

The intelligence breach could have a drastic impact upon the landscape of the conflict in Ukraine. Pictured: Biden meeting Ukrainian President Zelensky in February 2023

The documents include an account of an incident last year when a UK intelligence gathering aircraft was harassed by a pair of Russian fighter jets over the Black Sea.

Revealed: Top secret Pentagon documents claiming 50 British special forces are operating inside Ukraine were leaked on obscure online meme group run by 20-year-old university student who lives in UK 

YouTuber wow_mao, who was thrust onto the international stage after classified Pentagon papers were leaked on a Discord server he hosts, has said that the 'US government should fear these losers'

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At the time UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament a malfunction had caused a Russian jet to release a missile ‘in the vicinity’ of the British ‘Rivet Joint’ aircraft.

The documents paint a darker picture of the incident in September 2022, suggesting the Russian missile nearly hit the RAF plane. The intelligence paper describes a ‘near shoot-down of a UK RJ’.

Following the leak, UK defence sources insisted Mr Wallace’s account was accurate and the safety of the aircraft and crew was not jeopardised.

UK policy towards combating China is also discussed in the documents, which are remarkably wide-ranging in their scope of subjects.

The Kremlin has declined to admit responsibility for the leak. A spokesman for Vladimir Putin suggested there was a general tendency to blame Russia for everything in such circumstances.

UK intelligence expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon was also keeping an open mind. He said: ‘The loss of these documents is more deeply embarrassing for the Pentagon than anything and should not adversely affect any Ukrainian battle plans.

‘It may cause confusion among Russian military planners who will be wondering if they are real or another clever ruse of war. It may even be a plant by the Russian government to cause discord between the allies and Ukraine. One must keep an open mind. I would not take them at face value.’

Some of the documents have been online for months although only in recent days has their presence on obscure internet servers garnered attention.

The leak is so concerning that the US Defence Department has referred it to the Department of Justice which has opened a criminal investigation. An early assessment has indicated the papers would have been available to thousands of defence and intelligence officials – one or more of whom seemingly posted them online.

Since the leak first came to light in March, the investigators have been pursuing theories ranging from someone simply sharing the documents to show off the work they were doing, to a mole inside the US intelligence community or military.

Daniel Hoffman, a former senior CIA undercover officer, said that given past activities of Moscow’s intelligence agencies, it was ‘highly likely’ that Russian operatives posted documents related to Ukraine as part of a Russian disinformation operation.

He said such operations – meant to sow confusion and discord among Russia’s adversaries – were a ‘classic’ practice of Russian spy services to leak authentic documents in which they have inserted false information. The aim, he said, was to drive a wedge between Ukraine and the US, Kyiv’s largest provider of military support.

Some national security experts and US officials say they suspect the leaker could be a US citizen. The White House has declined to discuss publicly who might be responsible for the breach.