Russian Jet Dumps Gas On US Drone, Then Collides With It Over Black Sea
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"Unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians almost prompted each plane to crash," US stated.
A Russian fighter jet on Tuesday dumped gas on an American drone over the Black Sea then collided with it, inflicting the drone to crash, the US navy stated.
US European Command stated two Russian Su-27 fighters intercepted the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper over worldwide waters and one clipped its propeller.
"A number of occasions earlier than the collision, the Su-27s dumped gas on and flew in entrance of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional method," it stated.
The assertion confirmed an earlier report by AFP of an incident involving a US-made drone.
NATO diplomats in Brussels confirmed the incident, however stated they didn't count on it to right away escalate into an extra confrontation.
A Western navy supply, chatting with AFP on situation of anonymity, stated that diplomatic channels between Russia and america could be activated.
"To my thoughts, diplomatic channels will mitigate this," the supply stated.
America makes use of MQ-9 Reapers for each surveillance and strikes, and has lengthy operated over the Black Sea keeping track of Russian naval forces.
The state of affairs within the area has turn out to be solely turn out to be extra tense prior to now 12 months since Russia's full-scale invasion of Western-backed Ukraine.
"Our MQ-9 plane was conducting routine operations in worldwide airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian plane, leading to a crash and full lack of the MQ-9," stated US Air Power Normal James Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa.
"In reality, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians almost prompted each plane to crash."
"US and allied plane will proceed to function in worldwide airspace and we name on the Russians to conduct themselves professionally and safely," he added.
A number of US Reapers have been misplaced in recent times, together with to hostile hearth.
One was shot down in 2019 over Yemen with a surface-to-air missile fired by Huthi rebels, the US Central Command stated on the time.
Based on media studies, a US MQ-9 crashed in Libya in 2022, whereas one other went down throughout a coaching train in Romania earlier in the identical 12 months.
Reapers might be armed with Hellfire missiles in addition to laser-guided bombs and may fly for greater than 1,100 miles at altitudes of as much as 15,000 metres (50,000 toes), in line with the US Air Power.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
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