Narrative:

We were cruising at FL270 when I observed a TCAS target about 14 miles at 12 o'clock. It appeared to be descending slightly below FL260 and then climbing about 200 ft above FL260. I presumed that it had just slightly missed a level off and was correcting. Then we received a TCAS RA to climb at more than 2000 FPM. I observed the intruder target within -400 ft of our aircraft on the TCAS indicator. I had already begun an evasive climb maneuver in response to the TCAS RA when I saw a military fighter head on opposite direction on an absolute collision course with us. Houston ARTCC had not issued any traffic advisory. It is my belief that the TCAS equipment averted a catastrophe. During the ensuing communication with ATC; I believe I may have inadvertently used an expletive over the ATC frequency. This communication was intended for my first officer as we were using headsets and the ics (intercom) system. I believe that I keyed the VHF 1 transmit button on the yoke when I intended to squeeze the ics (intercom) button on the yoke.a traffic advisory would have had us being alerted sooner for the traffic. However; I don't believe it would have changed the outcome. I believe the fighter pilot should be interrogated seriously with regard to his (alleged) failure to maintain assigned altitude and his insistence that he was not off his altitude as reported to us by the center controller.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 flight crew experiences a TCAS RA at FL270 with an opposite direction F16 assigned FL260. ATC advises that the F16 is maintaining FL260 but the crew complies with the RA.

Narrative: We were cruising at FL270 when I observed a TCAS target about 14 miles at 12 o'clock. It appeared to be descending slightly below FL260 and then climbing about 200 FT above FL260. I presumed that it had just slightly missed a level off and was correcting. Then we received a TCAS RA to climb at more than 2000 FPM. I observed the intruder target within -400 FT of our aircraft on the TCAS indicator. I had already begun an evasive climb maneuver in response to the TCAS RA when I saw a military fighter head on opposite direction on an absolute collision course with us. Houston ARTCC had not issued any traffic advisory. It is my belief that the TCAS equipment averted a catastrophe. During the ensuing communication with ATC; I believe I may have inadvertently used an expletive over the ATC frequency. This communication was intended for my First Officer as we were using headsets and the ICS (intercom) system. I believe that I keyed the VHF 1 transmit button on the yoke when I intended to squeeze the ICS (intercom) button on the yoke.A traffic advisory would have had us being alerted sooner for the traffic. However; I don't believe it would have changed the outcome. I believe the fighter pilot should be interrogated seriously with regard to his (alleged) failure to maintain assigned altitude and his insistence that he was not off his altitude as reported to us by the Center Controller.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.