Russian SU-35 fighter jets endangered U.S. Navy submarine-hunting aircraft over the Mediterranean Sea twice last week. The military’s European Command needs to get a grip and start flying escort fighters to protect its aircrews.

As predicted, the Russians are testing the U.S. military’s ability to operate effectively amid the coronavirus pandemic. In this particular case, the Russians want to see whether they can disrupt U.S. tracking of Russian submarines in the Mediterranean, deployments of which having surged in the past couple of years. But unlike the recent Russian game playing near Alaska, these Mediterranean incidents are putting American lives at risk.