A Russian Su-27 fighter plane and an American MQ-9 Reaper drone collided over the Black Sea on Tuesday, according to the US military. The drone was shot down in international waters, according to a statement from the US military’s European Command. The intercept of the drone by the Russian plane was dubbed “reckless” by the White House.
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“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and damaged by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” said US Air Force General James Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Africa.
Interceptions by Russian aircraft are common in the area, but this one was “notable because of how unsafe and unprofessional it was, indeed reckless,” according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. According to European Command, two Russian fighter jets were involved in the incident. One of the Russian jets collided with the drone’s propeller during what the military called an “unsafe and unprofessional intercept” Tuesday morning, prompting US forces to shoot it down.
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The jets sprayed fuel on the drone and flew in front of it “in a reckless, environmentally unsound, and unprofessional manner,” according to European Command. President Biden had been briefed on the incident, according to Kirby, and the State Department would express Washington’s concerns to Moscow.
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The United States has used MQ-9 Reapers for both surveillance and strikes in a variety of locations, including the Middle East and Africa. Reapers are also used in other countries, including the United Kingdom and France. Several MQ-9s from the United States have been lost in recent years, including as a result of hostile action. According to US Central Command, one of the drones was shot down over Yemen in 2019 with a surface-to-air missile fired by Houthi rebels, who also fired unsuccessfully on another of the drones a few days later.
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