A russian fighter plane collided with a american drone and made him fall on him Black Seareported this Tuesday USA in what is the first direct contact between both military forces since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine over a year ago.
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was doing routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and beaten by a Russian plane, resulting in a accident and the total loss of the MQ-9,” said General James Heckercommander of the us air force in Europe.
According to the statement, the drone was intercepted by two Russian Su-27 fighters and one of those aircraft caused the incident, the AFP news agency reported. On several occasions, one of the Russian planes “dumped fuel” and flew in front of the drone “in an irresponsible, environmentally questionable and unprofessional manner”.
In the statement, General Hecker assured that the aircraft of USA and its allies “will continue to operate in international airspace, and we call on the Russians to behave responsibly safe and professional“.
“It is not strange... for Russian planes to intercept US planes over the Black Sea“, the spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, referring to the usual procedure of one aircraft making visual or electronic contact with another. However, he stressed that this time “is noteworthy for what insecure and unprofessional what was In fact, it was reckless.”
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Russia Beyond
Kirby said that the president of USA, Joe Bidenhad been informed about the incident and that the Department of State He was going to express his concerns to Moscow. “We don’t need to have any kind of record with the russians before flying in international airspace. There is no requirement to do that, nor do we,” the official added.
USA uses MQ-9 Reapers both for surveillance and attacks and operated the drones in a variety of places, including in Middle East and Africa. Other countries, including the United Kingdom and FranceThey also use them.
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us air force
Several American MQ-9 they were lost in recent years, some due to hostile action. One was shot down in 2019 about Yemen with a surface-to-air missile shot by Houthi rebelswho also fired unsuccessfully against another of the drones a few days later, according to the US Central Command.
According to media reports, a American MQ-9 crashed into Libya in 2022while another collapsed during a training exercise in Romania at the beginning of the year and another was lost in Libya in 2019.
Source: Ambito
