The US military has claimed a Venezuelan fighter jet made an “unsafe” approach towards one of its aircraft in international airspace last week.
Footage showing the Russian-made fighter jet aggressively approaching the American aircraft was published on Sunday by U.S Southern Command.
It shows the SU-30 Flanker “aggressively shadow” a U.S. EP-3 Aries II at an unsafe distance over the Caribbean Sea on 19th July.
According to the US Military, the $36 million aircraft was flying a mission in approved international airspace when it was approached by the Venezuelan aircraft in an “unprofessional manner".
The SU-30 took off from an airfield 200 miles east of Caracas before flying within range of the US aircraft.
U.S. Southern Command issued a statement saying: “The U.S routinely conducts multi-nationally recognised and approved detection and monitoring missions in the region to ensure the safety and security of our citizens and those of our partners.”
The EP-3 is manufactured by the Lockheed corporation and is currently operated by the United States Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
It has a capacity of 22 crew members and a maximum speed of 485 miles per hour. It is primarily used for intelligence-gathering.
The SU-30 was developed by Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi and is used by the Russian, Algerian, Venezuelan and Vietnamese Air Forces.
The multirole combat aircraft has been in production since 1992. It has a maximum speed of 1,320 miles per hour and has a crew capacity of 2.
