A USAF KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling plane crew pulled off a ballsy maneuver near Moscow’s base in Syria in the night of Nov. 1, 2022 in a move that was hard for the Russians to ignore.
A US Air Force (USAF) KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling plane crew pulled off a ballsy maneuver near Moscow’s base in Syria in the night of Nov. 1, 2022 in a move that was hard for the Russians to ignore.
As the Flightradar24 screenshot in this post shows, the tanker drew a “sky penis” in the vicinity of Syria’s Tartus — the Kremlin’s naval facility in the Mediterranean. The news was first reported by Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
According to POLITICO, it is not known whether the plane took off from Crete to refuel fighter planes, or if the pilots simply had one job: taking the piss out of the Russian ground crew.
It was reported on Twitter that the KC-135 stayed in position for almost two hours, just east of Cyprus.
One pundit claimed: “They were on a refuelling mission that usually is just a long oval, repeated over and over…. so they added the ‘balls.’ No extra taxpayer money spent.”
The KC-135 Stratotanker provides the core aerial refueling capability for the USAF and has excelled in this role for more than 60 years. This unique asset enhances the Air Force’s capability to accomplish its primary mission of global reach. It also provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied nation aircraft. The KC-135 is also capable of transporting litter and ambulatory patients using patient support pallets during aeromedical evacuations.
Russia has close relations with Syria and under a bilateral agreement in 2017, Damascus agreed to lease the port of Tartus to the Kremlin.
Tartus is Russia’s only base in the Mediterranean, and is mainly used to deliver supplies to aid with its mission in Syria with the regime and to repair its warships.
As reported by Mirror, a Russian official also suggested in December that the port could be used to station Russia’s new Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles.
The Mediterranean was the subject of a close encounter between three US Navy planes and Russian aircraft back in February, in the days before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The unintentional approach occurred as tension was rising between Russia and Ukraine a week before the war broke out on Feb. 24.
Although the interactions are common, At the time the Pentagon was concerned about the potential outcomes during the uncertain time.
‘While no one was hurt, interactions such as these could result in miscalculations and mistakes that lead to more dangerous outcomes,’ a Pentagon spokesperson said.
The war between Russia and Ukraine persists as nearly 1,000 Russian soldiers were killed on Oct. 30. The event went down as the deadliest day for Putin since his troops invaded eight months ago.
According to Daily Mail, the Russian death toll in Kyiv is now up to at least 71,200.
It comes as Russia tries to round up as many men as possible and quickly push them to the front lines, regardless of skill, training and equipment.
The UK’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) said in its latest intelligence briefing that Russia has deployed several thousand newly mobilized reservists to the front line in Ukraine – but in many cases they are ‘poorly equipped’.
‘In September, Russian officers were concerned that some recently mobilised reservists were arriving in Ukraine without weapons,’ the MoD said.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s power plants and other key infrastructure as the war enters its ninth month. Large parts of Ukraine are already experiencing rolling power cuts as a result.
Photo credit: Flightradar24, U.S. Air Force and Tim Felce (Airwolfhound) via Wikipedia
