The Scary Process of Intercepting Aircraft Violating US and Allied Airspace

hello everyone and welcome back to the fluctus channel on the ground it's rather simple to determine which nation owns what in the air these lines of ownership are not so clear this has led to the creation of two concepts International airspace and National airspace International airspace is the portion of the atmosphere that is not under the sovereignty of any particular country it typically extends from the ground up to an altitude of more than sixty thousand feet on the other hand National airspace extends up to an altitude of sixty thousand feet above the country's land as well as the waters within 12 nautical miles of the country's territorial sea foreign aircraft from one country May violate another's airspace for several reasons these include navigation errors poor weather Pilot mistakes and Technical malfunctions however in some cases this can be considered a military Act of aggression and require immediate interception such interceptions can prove extremely tense for everyone involved including the pilots and the commanders on the ground not only do the intercepting Pilots have no idea what sort of situation they're entering but one wrong move could trigger a major international incident one such event occurred in late 2022 when a Chinese Navy j-11 fighter pilot performed an unsafe maneuver while intercepting a U.S Air Force rc-135 aircraft too I'll just give you Corrections the U.S pilot conducted routine operations in international airspace over the South China Sea during The Intercept the j-11 pilot flew in front of the American plain forcing the pilot to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision given the long Brewing tensions between the two Nations such a maneuver could have ended very poorly unfortunately a similar situation played out two years earlier when two Russian su-27 flanker Pilots intercepted a U.S Air Force B-52 bomber again flying an international airspace over the Black Sea thank you the pilots repeatedly buzzed the aircraft passing within 100 feet of the B-52's nose this not only created turbulence but restricted the B-52's ability to maneuver foreign of course the exact procedure for intercepting a potential enemy plane will vary depending on the country and the circumstances [Music] however there are a few general principles most Nations follow in the case of NATO countries every interception has five stages [Laughter] in stage one radar picks up a potential unidentified aircraft this is then reported to the nearest coordination Center in stage 2 that coordination Center will use the radar information it's been given combined with the latest intelligence to determine whether or not the aircraft needs to be investigated further if an investigation is warranted the center will reach out to one of the 30 aircraft NATO constantly keeps in a state of Readiness for just such an occasion that aircraft will then be scrambled in stage four typically within 10 minutes these planes will then intercept the unidentified plane investigate and if needed escort it back to its own airspace in stage five all this information is reported back to central control and The Scrambled aircraft will return to base situations like this play out hundreds of times a year across the world as airspace is constantly being monitored by radar in the United States every aircraft on the radar screen has a designation identified through an aircraft transponder be it commercial or military however if a radar operator comes across an unidentified aircraft that information will immediately be sent to a command center for further evaluation like NATO and Europe the United States military has fighter jets on standby all across the country in the event of a potential airspace incursion these aircraft are fueled loaded and prepped so that Pilots can get them Airborne as quickly as possible these Pilots are kept at the ready 24 hours a day working in shifts to ensure there is always someone to answer the call in the event of a scramble call as these events happen so quickly it's not uncommon for a pilot to not know the situation or their destination until they are already taxiing to the runway thank you the escort part of an interception is where something will most likely go wrong though it's possible in aircraft's instruments malfunctioned or the pilot made an error to ensure escorts are correctly done countries sometimes practice with one another this is a joint escort drill between Romania the UK and Italy with six typhoons and two f-16s performing a mock interception of a Romanian c27 Spartan Transport Aircraft the goal here would be to prevent the aircraft from performing evasive maneuvers while keeping close contact with the pilot throughout the escort process those scrambling fighter jets is often a rapid process some particularly vulnerable countries have taken to enforcing their borders via air policing generally carried out by NATO this is where aircraft are deployed to Monitor and protect the country's airspace to prevent unauthorized or hostile aircraft from entering this is typically carried out on a rotational basis with various NATO countries taking turns deploying fighter jets to patrol the Skies over the nation in question [Music] [Applause] [Music] though this often takes place during times of heightened tension or conflict some countries will request routine monitoring simply to ensure their own air sovereignty [Music] foreign also makes use of Patrol aircrafts called a wax for Airborne early warning and control the process utilizes a specific type of surveillance aircraft that is designed to detect and track other aircraft at long ranges thus providing reliable warnings of any potential threats the most common aircraft used for this process is the Boeing e3a which features an easily identifiable rotating radar array thank you these Advanced sensors combined with the fact that the plane is Airborne give it Superior Effectiveness over many ground-based radar systems the average e3a will have a crew of more than 20 Airmen with 13 to 19 specifically tasked with monitoring the planes various scanning equipment [Music] Nations that have extensive sea borders have even more threats to consider not only can Bad actors enter their airspace but also their territorial Waters using ships and even submarines for this reason countries like Japan have developed extensive Maritime Patrol operations this process typically involves equipping an aircraft with specialized sensors and equipment like radar sonar cameras and communication systems these systems allow the aircraft to detect and track vessels in the maritime environment and gather other relevant data such as weather conditions and sea state the heart of Japan's Naval Patrol operations is the Kawasaki P1 though it looks like a standard commercial plane the P1 is actually one of the most advanced Patrol planes in the world the P1 is a large aircraft nearly 125 feet long and with a 116 foot wingspan it was first introduced in 2013 and featured a state-of-the-art avionics Suite Advanced sensors and a range of more than 5 000 miles aside for robust sensors the aircraft also carries a variety of bombs mines depth charges and Torpedoes as well as missiles for air-to-ground combat [Music] among its most useful devices are the Sono buoys these can be pre-loaded and dropped from slots in the fuselage or manually deployed from the inside Once In The Water they immediately begin searching for potential underwater anomalies sending all of the information back to the p1's sensor Suite if the plane were to encounter a Potential Threat it could engage it immediately of course being on the water during an aircraft flyover can be particularly dangerous whether the plane in question is a P1 or not in many cases boats may be ill-equipped to communicate with the patrolling aircraft maybe lots of room for potentially dangerous misunderstandings oh though the pilot will generally try to get close to the boat to determine whether or not it is a threat this can sometimes result in hostile action [Music] this process is even more critical when a military ship encounters an unidentified boat these boats can contain explosives and other threats that could endanger The Vessel and her crew as with fighter jets boats will scramble their cruise to Readiness positions the moment a suspicious vessel is cited they will then use loudspeaker warnings and other means necessary to warn of the incoming boat [Music] I'm not a small craft this is not the worship everyone's so far I have to talk about your intentions remain unclear crew of the Spanish warship Mendez Nunez is practicing such a drill with one of their fast votes playing the part of an unidentified craft these sorts of exercises are imperative so Crews know what to do in the event of a real suspicious craft scenario [Music] that's the end of this video I hope you enjoyed it make sure to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss any of our new content see you next time

Channel: Fluctus

Views: 414,533

Keywords: Scary process of intercepting aircraft, aircraft interception, fighter jet interception process, airspace defense, airspace definition, scrambling process, escort practice, F-3A AWACS, Kawasaki P-1 patrol craft, P-1 maritime patrol, boat flyover, military vessel unidentified craft defense

Id: Ii07fKLBm7Q

Length: 15min 6sec (906 seconds)

Published: Mon May 08 2023