Last Update: March 15, 2023, 08:14 AM IST
File photo of Sukhoi-27 and MQ-9 Reaper drones.
The Pentagon and the US European Command said two Russian Su-27 jets refueled the MQ-9, which was carrying out a routine surveillance mission over the Black Sea.
A Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on an American drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday and then collided with it, causing it to crash, the US military said on Tuesday, describing the maneuvers as “reckless”.
The US European Command said two Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepted the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper over international waters and one chopped off its propeller.
Here are the top ten points of the story:
- US and Russian officials had conflicting accounts of the collision between an MQ-9 Reaper drone and a Russian Su-27 fighter jet – each blaming the other. But a Pentagon spokesman raised the possibility that the Defense Department might eventually go public and release video of the confrontation.
- The Pentagon and the US European Command said two Russian Su-27 jets refueled the MQ-9, which was conducting a routine surveillance mission over the Black Sea in international airspace.
- He said the Russian jets flew in front of and around the drone several times for 30 to 40 minutes, and then one of the Russian planes “struck the propeller of the MQ-9, prompting the US military to bring down the MQ-9″. Lies in international waters.”
- The US State Department said it had summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest.
- White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the US would “express its concern over this unsafe and unprofessional interception.”
- Russia denied the cause of the crash, saying “the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle entered an uncontrolled flight with loss of altitude and collided with the water surface.”
- The Russian Defense Ministry said the two Russian jets had no contact with the US aircraft and did not use their weapons.
- Russian negotiations on the Black Sea are commonplace, Kirby told reporters in Washington, but it was “remarkable for how unprofessional and unprofessional it was, really reckless that it was”.
- The United States uses MQ-9 Reapers for both surveillance and attack and has long operated over the Black Sea, tracking Russian naval forces.
- According to the US Air Force, the MQ-9 Reaper drones can be armed with Hellfire missiles as well as laser-guided bombs and can fly more than 1,100 miles (1,770 km) at an altitude of 15,000 meters (50,000 ft).
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