ARE US AIRCRAFT CARRIERS EQUIPPED WITH AN ANTI-AIRCRAFT DEFENCE SYSTEM?DETAILS OF A UNIQUE OPERATION BY RUSSIAN PILOTS - 15 November, 2000

Yesterday, Pravda.ru already reported a sensational news of how Russian Air Force had twice dashed the anti-aircraft system of the US aircraft-carrier shock force headed by the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier. Today, the details of the incident became known. Reconnaissance aircrafts Sukhoi 24MR flew unnoticed at nearly zero altitude over the aircraft carrier and even managed to take photos of the ship. It is not until the 2nd run of the Russian aircrafts that the Americans activated their figthers. Those details were made known to journalists today by Russia’s Air Force Commander-in-Chief Anatoli Kornukov. In his words, “it was a scheduled reconnaissance, and routine tasks were being solved there while the American were taken by surprise.” Panic on the aircraft carrier’s deck can be seen very clearly on the photos, Interfax reports. “The quality of the pilots’ work has been highly assessed by the Chief-of-Staff, and they will be decorated,” the Commander-in-Chief added.