Air Force aircraft
A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 was intercepted by an armed Russian Su-27 on March 14 while flying in international airspace over the Black Sea. The US has made available a minute-long unclassified video of the incident.
The US European Command tweeted, “VIDEO: Two #Russian Su-27s conducted an unsafe & unprofessional intercept w/a @usairforce intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 operating w/i international airspace over the #BlackSea March 14. http://ow.ly/xCkQ50NjPAN @HQUSAFEAFAF@DeptofDefense@NATO”, through its official Twitter handle.
VIDEO: Two #Russian Su-27s conducted an unsafe & unprofessional intercept w/a @usairforce intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 operating w/i international airspace over the #BlackSea March 14. https://t.co/gMbKYNtIeQ @HQUSAFEAFAF @DeptofDefense @NATO pic.twitter.com/LB3BzqkBpY
— U.S. European Command (@US_EUCOM) March 16, 2023
The video shows the Russian plane getting closer to the US Air Force MQ-9 unmanned drone, which releases fuel as it passes over it. Just as the Russian plane is about to pass by, the video stream abruptly ends. The drone’s propeller is still clearly visible, and a few seconds later the Russian plane starts to make a second approach. Once more, as it passes by even closer, it releases fuel over it. After the second maneuver, damage to one of the propellers was visible.
The U.S. military described the maneuver as ‘reckless’ after the Russian fighter jet spilled gasoline on the American drone on Tuesday before colliding with it and bringing it down.
According to the U.S. military, “many times before the crash, the Su-27s spilled gasoline on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, unprofessional, and environmentally unsound way”.
The drone, which the Military claimed was on a routine ISR (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) mission, crashed, although Russia denied being to blame.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, “the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle initiated an uncontrolled flight with the loss of altitude and collided with the surface of the ocean due to a sharp maneuver”.
“The two Russian jets did not make contact with the U.S. aircraft and did not fire any weapons”, it was said.
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