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The U.S. military has released declassified video of a Russian jet hitting an American drone in a confrontation over theBlack Sea.
U.S. European Command shared anedited video of the March 14 incidentThursday and said Russia’s aircraft conducted an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” intercept.
The footage shows a Russian Su-27 fighter jet approaching an unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drone from the rear while operating over international waters. The jet then dumps fuel on the surveillance drone as it buzzes past, which disrupts the video transmission.
In a second approach, an Su-27 flies even closer as it dumps fuel and this time clips the rear propeller of the Reaper.
A statement from U.S. European Command said the MQ-9’scamera feed was lost for about 60 secondsafter the impact. When the camera turned back on there was visible damage to one of the props on the propeller which caused U.S. forces to have to bring it down into the Black Sea.
In a statement directly after the incident, the U.S. military said two Russian Su-27 jets had been used in a “reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner”, adding it “demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional.”
Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, called the Reaperdrone’s flight path provocativeand denied it came into contact with the fighter aircraft. Speaking to the media on March 14, he said “the Russian fighters scrambled to identify the intruder did not use on-board weapons and did not come into contact with the UAV.”
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“The unacceptable actions of the United States military in the close proximity to our borders are cause for concern,” Antonov added. “We are well aware of the missions such reconnaissance and strike drones are used for.”
Russia said it intends to try and recover the wreckage of the drone. However, U.S. Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said there wasnothing of value left.
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“We will work through recovery operations. That’s U.S. property. But it probably broke up. There’s probably not a lot to recover, frankly,” he said in a press conference. “As far as the loss of any sensitive intelligence … we did take mitigating measures. So we are quite confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value.”
The militaries of the U.S. and Russia frequently patrol areas over the Black Sea, which shares a lengthy coastline with war-torn Ukraine.Russian forces invaded Ukraineon Feb. 24, 2022.
source: people.com
