U.S., Russian jets had another close pass in Syria, Pentagon says
American and Russian jets came within "visual range" of one another in the skies over the Syrian conflict yet again, a Pentagon spokesperson said Tuesday, according to Reuters.
U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led military campaign, told a Pentagon briefing the jets came within miles of each other on Saturday, Reuters reports.
Visual range means that the pilot can see the Russian plane on his targeting camera, which magnifies the image so that what might be a speck or entirely invisible to the naked eye can be identified as a specific type of Russian aircraft, reports CBS News correspondent David Martin. In other words, visual identification range is not as close as it sounds - it could be more like the 20 miles.
Regardless, the incident, the latest of several, underscores the apparent importance of talks the two sides have engaged in talks to draft of safety guidelines for military aircraft flying missions in the increasingly crowded skies over Syria.
Russia's defense ministry said on Tuesday it will hold a video conference with U.S. military officials on Oct. 14 to discuss flights over Syria, Interfax news agency reported, according to Reuters.