The BBC is reporting that a reckless Russian fighter pilot did his best to shoot down a British Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft in 2022, but bad luck and bad equipment prevented a major international incident. The Rivet Joint, which gathers and analyzes electromagnetic signals intelligence, was patrolling the Black Sea last October when two Su-27s intercepted it. BBC says its sources said one of the Russian pilots thought he'd been given the order to destroy the high-value reconnaissance aircraft and its 30-member crew, so he gave it his best shot. The first air-to-air missile he fired missed and the second malfunctioned and fell harmlessly off his aircraft's wing.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/288488