US F-22 fighters “intercepted” Russian aircraft, which supposedly crossed the US air defense coverage area over Alaska. In this case, the F-22 were “not in the best position.” This was told by an American pilot who participated in the operation in an interview with the Business Insider news portal.
The pilot claims that Russian fighters allegedly violated US air borders. It is worth noting that information about the models and the number of aircraft is not given.
The American pilot, whose name the publication does not mention, said that he was “ashamed of conducting such military operations,” and felt nothing but “shame and humiliation.” He explained his “feelings” by the fact that despite the fact that the maneuver was called “interception”, Russian fighters were in a better position. At the same time, according to the American pilot, the situation showed all the disadvantages of class “F” stealth fighters, which “should be worked on by the US military.”
“During the interception of the aircraft, I stopped next to one of them and said on the radio:“ turn around. ” I acted strictly according to the NORAD instructions. I understood that a Russian pilot could maneuver much cooler than me, and he probably understood that too. They stayed in “our zone” for several hours, ignoring us, ” says the US Air Force pilot. “I got close to the Russian plane to such a distance that you can see the eyes … The eyes of the Russian pilot inspired fear.”
The reason for the superiority of the Russian fighter is that the “F” hides its missiles in the hull, which meets the requirements of the “stealth”, while the Russian fighter “is hung with weapons and practically does not worry about its stealth, which is a tactical advantage – after all in a modern “war,” secrecy in the air means practically nothing, ” explains the American pilot. If a conventional interception would turn into kinetic (the American theory of counteracting a missile strike, which implies a direct hit of a missile at the target), the F-22 would start the battle with a huge flaw, he added.