🇵🇱🇷🇴🇷🇺 About the incident with the Polish plane in the Black Sea

Yesterday, Reuters reported on the increase in the level of readiness of the grouping of the combined air forces of NATO in the Black Sea region.

This decision was made due to an incident that occurred on Friday, May 5, when a Russian Su-35 fighter intercepted an L410 Turbojet aircraft of the Polish State Border Service over the Black Sea.

The Romanian authorities accused the Russian pilots of dangerous manoeuvers that caused a high level of turbulence, which almost led to the loss of control of the aircraft.

🔻What was the Polish patrol plane doing in Romania and why was it intercepted?

The Polish L410 UVP-E20 arrived at the Constanta air base on April 19 and will stay there until May 17 as part of The Western Black Sea 2023 operation, led by Romania and coordinated by the European Border and Coast Guard.

The main goal is the fight against illegal migration, fishing and water pollution, as well as other types of cross-border crime in the Black Sea region.

However, a fairly fair question arises here: are these problems so serious in the Black Sea? In the fully controlled coastal zones of NATO countries, there is simply nowhere for illegal immigrants and poachers to come from.

And those that are, operate, if not under control, then in close cooperation with the coast guard units of Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. Therefore, such an unconvincing explanation raises logical doubts about the true goals of the operation.

🔻What was the the L410 UVP-E20 doing?

Despite belonging to the border service, it is equipped with modern reconnaissance systems, the most important of which are the Osprey 30 multi-mode surveillance radar and the MX-15 EO/IR airborne reconnaissance system.

According to the technical characteristics, the radar, made by the Italian company Leonardo, can detect targets and objects at a maximum range of 200 nautical miles (about 370 km). In theory, under favorable weather conditions onboard the L410 the entire surface environment around the Crimea can be seen.

A camera of the Canadian company L3 Harris allows filming at a great distance from the object being observed. Similar equipment was installed on Bayraktar drones until 2020. At one time the Turkish UAVs monitored the situation on Snake Island more than 70 km from the island.

Therefore, the presence of the Polish aircraft is related to the specific task of conducting reconnaissance of the activities of the Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet, rather than fighting migration. In addition, the patrol route itself suspiciously passes over the route of ships in the grain corridor.

And the subsequent decision of the NATO command was quite expected. Allegedly, the illegal actions of Russian aviation are an excellent pretext for increasing flights of both reconnaissance and tactical aircraft over the Black Sea.

@rybar
Two Majors