More details have emerged about the incident last September in which the pilot of a Russian Su-27 Flanker fired a missile in the vicinity of a U.K. Royal Air Force RC-135W Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft over the Black Sea. The missile launch, which we reported on at the time, had been explained by Russia as a “technical malfunction,” a theory that the U.K. Ministry of Defense had also publicly backed. Subsequently, leaked classified materials from the U.S. Department of Defense suggested that the missile was actually fired deliberately after the Flanker pilot misunderstood an order. The U.K.’s public service broadcaster now reports that two missiles were fired, with the first missing its target, rather than malfunctioning.

The latest revelations, if true, suggest that the entire episode could have been much closer to being a major diplomatic crisis and tragedy, had the missile not simply missed its target.

The BBC says that it received more details about the close call from “three senior Western defense sources with knowledge of the incident.”