Russian fighter jets did not fly over Florida

Footage of a flight of fighter jets, lacking a source or evidence, is falsely described as a Russian penetration of US airspace. If that were true, which is not, would present an unimaginable incident that would be all over the front pages of the media and would cause a diplomatic war in the UN, if not a Third World War. Although in Cuba – which is close to Florida – Russian battleships arrived, they did so without an aircraft carrier making such a flight impossible. The flight would have been “intercepted” by the radars and satellites of the US Air Defence Command NORAD, as is the case with the Russian aircraft close to Alaska. The aircraft in the video are most probably American, from the Blue Angels squadron based in Florida, whose flights make for an exciting viewing experience  

 

 

A post on the social network Facebook is presenting a video accompanied by the following words: 

Russian fighter jets flew over Florida 

If that were true, which is not, that would present an unimaginable incident with historic significance that would be all over the front pages of global media. It would cause a diplomatic war with protests notes and quarrels in the UN, if not a Third World War, but that is not what we are seeing. 

This footage is mainly circulated on TikTok, but the video is not present in Russian media such as TASS and RIA Novosti, which means that even for them the footage was not good enough. 

The post fact-checked is not substantiated with a source or evidence. The footage shows a group of people on a terrace looking at the sea while fighter jets are flying over. The text of the footage is trying to convince us that they are “Russian”, but such scenes are usual for Pensacola, Florida, the base of the squadron of US Navy Aviation Blue Angels, whose flights make for an exciting viewing experience and appear on YouTube is quite frequently. This has no relevance to Russia. 

Towards the end of the video, someone can be heard asking in English if the aircraft is Russian. This person’s uncertainty does not prove anything, and since he is not visible in the frame, the voice could have been added after the fact. The video also contains a fragment of the song “Walking on a Dream” from the Australian duet Empire of the Sun, which is utter nonsense, but that at least proves that the footage was part of an audio-editing process. Such an important event would surely deserve more serious footage than this one which lasts only 14 seconds. 

For the sake of clarity, such a flyover is impossible, not only due to the risk of the Third World War but also due to technical reasons. Such aircraft cannot fly to Florida from Russia. Russia truly did send battleships to Cuba, which is close to Florida, but without an aircraft carrier. The four vessels were: frigate Admiral Gorshkov, submarine Kazan, remorker Nikolai Chiker, and tanker Academic Pashin. Russia has only one aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, that did not take part in this mission. 

The USA and their NATO allies monitored the activities of the Russians in Cuba carefully by sending: the destroyers Thruxton, Donald Cook, and Delbert D. Black; the cutter–ship Stone of US Coast Guard; reconnaissance aircraft Boeing P-8 Poseidon; Canadian frigate Ville de Quebec, as well as the La Fayette – class frigate. On top of that, the USA has a base on Cuba, on Guantanamo Bay. Under such circumstances, it is unrealistic to expect the Russians to fly over Florida for the sake of flying. 

They would be “intercepted” by American radars and satellites as those of the US Air Defence Command NORAD or the naval radar system Aegis, way before reaching US land, thereby warned to retrieve or they would be intercepted and escorted back, or the worst scenario – they would be struck down. 

The USA do notice Russian aircraft close to Alaska, and sometimes even send interceptors to escort them back. A recent example of this occurred on the 2nd of May 2024. 

However, that sometimes ends badly – on the 24th of November 2015 a Russian aircraft from Syria was downed in NATO’s air space in Turkey and was struck down causing a diplomatic war between Moscow and Ankara, but they, eventually, closed the case. Be that as it may, it’s impossible for such a disruption to go unnoticed by any relevant source without eliciting a response. 

Indeed, even the biggest world powers make mistakes in that respect. For example, in 2023, a Chinese spy balloon flew but it was not such a big threat and was struck down. The biggest mistakes made were those of Russia in that respect. 

On the 28th of May 1987, 19-year-old pilot-amateur from West Germany, Mathias Rust, with his aircraft Cessna entered the Soviet air space and eventually landed impertinently on the Red Square in Moscow. Russian Air Defence is no better even now. The Ukrainians are striking Russian cities daily, especially Belgorod, including even Moscow, and they have shot targets of 1200 km depth in Russia. 

The post fact-checked is exactly from the Facebook page where news is shared with Kremlin narratives. 

Bearing in mind all of the above-noted, this post is assessed as untrue. 

 

 

 

 

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