U.S. drone intercepted by Russian fighter jet, crashes into Black Sea

CTV News ^ | March 14th, 2023 | Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali

[shadowlands1960]

WASHINGTON -- A Russian Su-27 fighter jet intercepted and struck the propeller of a U.S. military MQ-9 "Reaper" surveillance drone on Tuesday, causing it to crash into the Black Sea, in the first such incident since Russia's invasion of Ukraine over a year ago.

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli, briefed NATO allies about the incident, which was roundly condemned by the White House and the Pentagon -- which warned of the risk of escalation. Two Russian Su-27 jets carried out what the U.S. military described as a reckless intercept of the American spy drone before one of them collided with it at 7:03 a.m. (0603 GMT).

Several times before the collision, the Russian fighter jets dumped fuel on the MQ-9 -- possibly trying to blind or damage it -- and flew in front of the unmanned drone in unsafe maneuvers, the U.S. military said.

"Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9," U.S. Air Force General James Hecker, who oversees the U.S. Air Force in the region, said in a statement.

[shadowlands1960]

Escalation

[mairdie]

Better a drone than anything with a human being aboard.

[woweeitsme]

Done on purpose?

[shadowlands1960]

One of the two jets apparently dumped fuel on the drone before the other tipped it’s wing and broke it’s propeller in it’s rear...

[SomeCallMeTim]

Will Joe offer to repair the paint job on the Russian plane ?

[Bayard]

Collision in airspace tells me both players were potentially flying recklessly. Was this Drone remote controlled?

[C210N]

Su-27 fighter jet intercepted and struck the propeller of a U.S. military MQ-9...

Struck it with what? A missile?

[immadashell]

The U.N. Should do something…won’t they?

[shadowlands1960]

tipped it’s wing...

[shadowlands1960]

Aren’t all drones ‘remote-controlled?’

[moovova]

"A Russian Su-27 fighter jet intercepted and struck the propeller of a U.S. military MQ-9 "Reaper" surveillance drone..."

"Tag...you're IT."

[BenLurkin]

Did this happen in a War Zone?

[Ultra Sonic 007]

NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli, briefed NATO allies about the incident, which was roundly condemned by the White House and the Pentagon -- which warned of the risk of escalation.

The utter hubris.

[shadowlands1960]

We are saying ‘international waters.’ Russia probably considers themselves at war with NATO so that probably doesn’t mean anything...

[hanamizu]

“tipped it’s wing...

---

Wasn’t that a tactic the Brits used on V-1s during WWII?

[bgill]

Joe will offer a whole new plane.

[PGR88]

Done on purpose?

Absolutely.

NATO/USA provides intelligence to Ukraine of all US assets. By now, Ukraine military leadership and NATO/US have been merged. Its the ONLY advantage Ukraine has left. With that, NATO/USA directs fire and coordinates attacks - and probably controls overall war strategy as well.

Does Russia want to push back against this? Yes. This is just one small measure, probably with more coming.

[BenLurkin]

International waters is kind of meaningless if it’s a War Zone. The Falklands War Zone included international waters, for instance.

[Eleutheria5]

The Battle of the Balloons was what? Trump was right. No sense starting a war over a piece of unmanned hardware.

[ConservativeInPA]

What do you think the Russians were going to do?