UK: defence secretary Ben Wallace accused of concealing Russian ‘act of war’ against Royal Air Force plane

The chair of the defence select committee questioned an account given by Wallace to parliament of a dangerous incident which occurred last September and was revealed in a leak of top secret Pentagon documents. According to the papers, a Russian pilot had locked on to the British aircraft in international airspace and, believing they had permission to fire, shot a missile. However, the missile malfunctioned. The specialised British aircraft can carry up to 30 crew members.