A Russian jet collided in the skies over the Black Sea with a US reconnaissance drone, which crashed in international waters just after 7 a.m. Tuesday. The Russian Su-27 involved in the crash struck the propeller of the MQ-9 Reaper, the Pentagon said, forcing the pilots operating it from the ground to dump it into the Black Sea.
According to a US official quoted by CNN, the Reaper and the two Su-27 flanker jets were operating in international airspace over the Black Sea when one of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of the UAV and dumped fuel. A jet then damaged the propeller on the Reaper’s stern, forcing the United States to shoot down the drone, which was not recovered. According to the Pentagon, the Russian Su-27 was also “probably damaged” in the collision.
In the evening came the Russian reconstruction. The U.S. drone was “near the Crimean Peninsula, towards the border with the Russian Federation,” on Tuesday morning, Moscow’s Defense Ministry said. «The plane flew over the Black Sea towards the border with the transponders switched off. At this point, the Russian Air Force fighters tried to identify the intruder, but did not use weapons and did not come into contact with the American drone, which lost control and altitude and ended up in the water at the end of a sharp maneuver.
After the incident, NATO military commander General Christopher Cavoli immediately informed the thirty states that are part of the Atlantic Alliance. “Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and struck by a Russian aircraft, an accident resulting in the loss of the aircraft,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. James Hecker, chief of the U.S. Air Force in Europe and Africa.
The Russian fighter jets flew “close to the US drone over the Black Sea for approximately 30 to 40 minutes before colliding,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said. “This incident follows a pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots interacting with US and allied aircraft in international airspace, including over the Black Sea,” EUCOM, the US European Command, wrote in a statement. “These aggressive actions by the Russian occupation are dangerous and could lead to miscalculations and unintended escalations.”
Similar incidents have been common for at least a decade, noted Rand Corporation researcher Dara Massicot, who has analyzed dozens of cases and believes the collision between the Russian jet and the American drone is part of the “duress signals” Moscow is sending to her sends allies, particularly in the Black Sea and in the Baltic Sea, and which replicates the modalities. Today, however, marks the first direct confrontation between the United States and Russia since the conflict began, even as Allied planes — which are closely monitoring the conflict — and Russian ones are constantly interacting in the Black Sea skies.
There have been other wiretaps, said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, but this one is notable because it was “dangerous and unprofessional.” In that sense it was unique. We don’t know what the Russians’ intention was,” he added, “but if the embassy was intended to deter our overflights in international airspace over the Black Sea or our navigation in international waters over the Black Sea, it is intended to fail.”
US President Joe Biden was briefed on the incident in the morning, Kirby said, adding that the State Department will speak to the other side and raise “strong objections” to Russian ambassador Anatoly Antonov, who was summoned Tuesday afternoon in what was clearly an unsafe and unprofessional interception At the same time, State Department spokesman Ned Price said US Ambassador to Moscow Lynne Tracy had filed a formal complaint with the Russian State Department.
“I would like to emphasize that the Russian pilots acted very professionally, there was no contact and no use of weapons,” Ambassador Antonov retorted during the half-hour meeting in Foggy Bottom with Karen Donfried, Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “The Russian Federation considers the incident with the American drone in the sky over the Black Sea as a provocation. Russia is not looking for a confrontation with the United States,” the diplomat added, stressing that Washington and Moscow must act “very carefully” after the recent events.
Long before the invasion, Western countries were stepping up patrols with radar and electronic warfare aircraft, aircraft capable of tracking movement, intercepting communications, and monitoring Russian activity from long range. The flights remained outside the borders of Ukraine and in the international “space”, many also took off from the Sigonella base in Sicily. Numerous drones are used: they ensure long-lasting missions and the fact that they don’t have a pilot on board reduces their effectiveness in the event of an “accident” or risky situations, such as those that occurred in the Black Sea these hours.
Along with the aeronautical component, there are – equally important – spy satellites. NATO intelligence support has proved crucial in repelling strikes and facilitating the Kiev Army’s operations by showing vulnerabilities, deployments and the presence of specific units. For this reason, a mechanism was created to make the flow of information from the Alliance to the Resistance smooth and fast through secure channels. At the same time, there are numerous close encounters on other chessboards as well. Russian planes were often intercepted by the Americans off the coast of Alaska, as well as by the Allies in the regions of northern Europe.