A close encounter

[Zapp]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P7DygPsJ_sA

The last part, after the encounter, is in Italian. They say:
"who's that passing?"
"did you see that"
"surething I saw it, it passed right in the middle"
"didn't you see it coming?"
"negative"
"I did, but I thought it was the usual fellow 1000 feet below, instead it was level with me it passed a couple miles."
"I saw that I'm breathing"
"Did you see it when I called it?"
"Affirmative"
"I could see that but I thought it was 1000 below like the other one ..."

then the controller says he lost radar contact and we find out that the fighters were supposed to be at FL320 intead of FL360 (or so we deduce from the fact that the controller gives them an immediate descent to FL320).

What is the opinion of the experts here? I found it pretty scary.

[Phil Bunch]

I wonder what the restrictions on them using their aircraft-tracking radar are?  If they have "look-down, shoot-down" radar, that would presumably keep them from accidentally running into an airliner.  My intuition is that they don't routinely leave such radar systems on and active all the time, but of course I don't know.

Also, I wonder if they routinely use commercial air routes when flying from Point A to Point B?  If they're in standard commercial air space, the air traffic control could of course help via flight following, etc.  I wondered about this when I watched the US Blue Angels air show and saw them take off and begin their journey to their next air show.  Were they using normal ATC or some special-purpose military system that may not be efficiently interfaced to normal ATC?  Yet another point of ignorance on my part.

These issues become more complex when a military pilot is flying a stealth aircraft since it is pretty much invisible on radar.  I assume they turn on their transponder so they can be seen by civilian radar and ATC unless they are in an active combat area.

I wonder if military aircraft have the military equivalent of a commercial dispatch center to track their long-distance flights?