Buzzed by Russian jets

[paul.mercer]

Gentlemen,
In one of the national papers yesterday was a story about HMS Queen Elizabeth being 'buzzed' by three Russian fighters in 2021 while being filmed for a documentary as she sailed towards the Suez Canal, the documentary apparently states that an officer says "I've got three Russian jets at six miles coming in"
Given the press's ways to exaggerate any story we do not know the actual facts, but if the story is true it would seem that the ship was unprepared for such a move by a potential hostile force.
Had that been a US battlefleet with numerous ships and air warning aircraft around I would have though that the Russian planes would have been picked up and warned off or even shot down long before they got anywhere near the carrier. It would seem from the reports that the QE only had a few ships around her and no aircraft up in the air, all they did was put out a warning to the incoming aircraft over the radio and prepare her own planes for take off .
Surely in today's uncertain times a multi billion asset like a carrier needs better protection, to only pick up incoming aircraft at six miles gives little or no time to act - what if those aircraft had actually fired, the RN down to one carrier?

[Steve Crandell]

I'm under the impression that US CVNs do get buzzed by foreign aircraft, and there isn't much you can do about it in peacetime. Obviously someone starting a war is going to get some "free" hits under those circumstances, and I think that is something we just live with. The "heads up" on the video was probably about aircraft they had been tracking for some time and they were just warning the video crew that they were about to make a nearby appearance.

Of course, it is good to escort the intruders just to let them know that in war time this wouldn't be a "freebee", but it's still quite a shaky situation during peacetime.