By Daniel DePetris
The U.S. has been especially busy in Syria's skies recently, trying to avert collisions with a Russian air force that is increasingly willing to challenge, if not totally disregard, the deconfliction protocols Moscow signed with Washington years earlier. Those agreements, designed to ensure U.S. and Russian pilots reduce the chances of a disaster, are still technically in force. But U.S. defense officials are having a difficult time explaining why their Russian counterparts are refusing to abide by them. Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich, the commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, has all but alleged that Russian airmen are hoping to pick a fight. "They're maneuvering aggressively against us when our protocols would say we're supposed to stay ... several miles apart and just monitor each other," Grynkewich told Defense One in April. "The guidance that I've given our folks is we're not going to act like they are."
This piece was originally published in Newsweek on July 20, 2023. Read more HERE.