Russia downed a $32 million U.S. drone over the Black Sea!

SeniorBen

SeniorBen

Senior Member
A Russian fighter has collided with a US Reaper drone, forcing it down into the Black Sea, in what US forces called an “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept.

A US European Command statement said the collision happened just after 7am on Tuesday morning, when two Russian Su-27 fighter jets flew up to the MQ-9 Reaper drone over international waters west of Crimea. The statement said the Russian pilots sought to disrupt the US aircraft before the collision.

“Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” the US statement said. “This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional.”

One of the Russian fighters then struck the drone’s propeller, “causing US forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...fighter-jet-collides-us-drone-black-sea-crash
 

Ah well, the US has conveyed our strong objections.

Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh at the weakness of our government or cry.
 
As noted by NosyBee-54 ..... It is very hard to believe that it was physical contact that brought it down. IMO, that is taking a huge chance by the Russian pilot. But saying it was an accident would make their pilot sound inept or just dumb. And ruin that Russian superiority myth.
 

Kremlin: no high-level contact with US over drone incident; US-Russia relations in 'lamentable state'​

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that relations with the US were in a “lamentable state” and at their lowest level, after Washington accused Russia of downing one of its reconnaissance drones over the Black Sea.

Reuters reports that the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said there had been no high-level contact with Washington over the incident and that Russia would never refuse to engage in constructive dialogue.

The US state department summoned the Russian ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, to express concerns over the incident, the first since the war in Ukraine began.

US officials told Antonov that Moscow has to be more careful when flying in international airspace, Kirby said.

The message that we delivered to the Russian ambassador is that they need to be more careful in flying in international airspace near US assets that are, again, flying in completely legal ways, conducting missions in support of our national security interests.


:oops::oops::oops::oops:... ^^^^^^^ tsk, tsk, Naughty Russia... be a little more careful where you're playing..you might have someone's eye out
 
rgp said:
As noted by NosyBee-54 ..... It is very hard to believe that it was physical contact that brought it down. IMO, that is taking a huge chance by the Russian pilot. But saying it was an accident would make their pilot sound inept or just dumb. And ruin that Russian superiority myth.
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I thought I heard on the radio that the Russians were saying the drone was taken down by inexperienced pilots. I may have not have heard it correctly. I keep an eye on Russia and China.
 
During WW2 didn't the RAF use their wings to tip V-1s ? Would a modern Russian aircraft be too fragile to do that?
 
The US doesn't have a real good history about exactly where its planes and drones are. "International waters" turned out to be 6 miles south of Moscow, remember Francis Gary Powers. I doubt the Chinese are the only ones with spies in the skies. Of course, I don't know, but the US drone may, or may not have been over International Waters when it was disabled, it's a good guess it was over Russian territory at some point. And taking it down was the Russian way of getting rid of a pesky drone?? Whatever, this is a minor event, that should not be exaggerated. The Russian planes could have shot it down-a provocative incident, but they merely disabled it.
 
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Born_To_Lose said:
I thought I heard on the radio that the Russians were saying the drone was taken down by inexperienced pilots. I may have not have heard it correctly. I keep an eye on Russia and China.
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That's my point about not trusting what the media is pushing. For example, I have read on different new sites that thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed. Yet, no mention of Ukrainian soldier casualties. So I would have to guess that Ukrainian soldiers are bullet/shrapnel proofed.
 
Wigglestein said:
And why did Russia do it? Because they can. They know there will be no repercussions. They have oil and food. There's nothing Biden can do to punish them short of war.
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Economic sanctions and embargoes are decimating Russia's economy, but Putin doesn't seem to care. It's up to the Russian people to overthrow him. Some are protesting but that's extremely dangerous in a country with a brutal dictator where you can be arrested and never heard from again.
 

UK, German jets scrambled to intercept Russian plane near Estonia​

British and German fighter jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian aircraft flying near Estonian airspace on Tuesday — just hours after the US military had to ditch a surveillance drone in the Black Sea following an encounter with two more of Moscow’s warplanes.

The Typhoon jets from the two NATO allies were dispatched to escort an IL78 Midas air-to-air refueling plane after it failed to communicate with air traffic controllers in Estonia, London’s defense ministry announced Wednesday.

After making a visual identification and escorting the refueling plane, the two jets were sent to intercept an AN 148-passenger airliner that was also passing near Estonian airspace.

The UK and Germany are conducting joint air policing missions in the Baltic state through the end of April as part of the alliance’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The intercept of the Il78 Midas flying between St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad was routine, the UK stressed.

“NATO continues to form the bedrock of our collective security,” said Armed Forces Minister James Heappey.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/15/uk-german-jets-scrambled-to-intercept-russian-plane/
 
$32M USD for a drone? I was under the impression one of the advantages to UAV is that they are combat expendable. $32M seems pricey for a throw-away.

Soviet Union used similar tactics in WWII. 'Rammacommando" as I recall was the name of the technique. It involved using a soviet fighter plane's propellor in a fly-by to chew through flight surfaces on enemy bombers. It was a bit of a dicey maneuver.
 
SeniorBen said:
Economic sanctions and embargoes are decimating Russia's economy, but Putin doesn't seem to care. It's up to the Russian people to overthrow him. Some are protesting but that's extremely dangerous in a country with a brutal dictator where you can be arrested and never heard from again.
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It's just like NK, little Un isn't a plebe, he's a God and God's don't starve.
 

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