This is the moment a Russian Su-27 fighter jet flew into a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea.
Drone camera footage released today by the Pentagon captures the moment a Russian fighter plane cut its propeller and dumped fuel over it on March 14, 2023 in international airspace.
US forces had to bring the drone into international waters after the collision.
The 42-second clip shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the rear of the MQ-9 and beginning to release fuel as it flies overhead.
The new footage follows Russian claims its jet failed to make contact with the $32million drone, instead blaming “sharp maneuvering” for the crash.
This is the first direct confrontation between Russia and the US since the start of the war in Ukraine, taking place near Crimea.
The drone appears to move under the Russian fighter plane before damaging the camera
Released footage shows the moment a Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on an American drone
Moscow previously said it would work to recover the wreckage of the $32 million drone in a propaganda coup for Vladimir Putin, after earlier warning it would “consider any action involving US weapons as openly hostile.”
White House national security spokesman John Kirby previously confirmed that the US is reviewing “images” from the region.
He also said the UAV may never be recovered from the crash site and admitted the Reaper wreck is still in the Black Sea.
Kirby said US officials have urged Moscow to be more careful when flying in international airspace around American assets.
Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, accused the US of committing an “act of provocation” after the $32 million US surveillance drone was intercepted by two Su-27 fighter jets in international airspace.
Antonov warned Washington it must halt “enemy” flights near his country’s border — or face the consequences.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told reporters: “We know the interception was intentional. We know the aggressive behavior was intentional.”
It was unclear whether the collision itself was intentional.
Despite this, the incident over international waters has sparked fears that such a mistake or misunderstanding could trigger an escalation of hostilities.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he spoke to his Russian counterpart on Wednesday on their first call since October.
“I just got off the phone with my Russian counterpart, Minister Shoigu,” Austin said at a Pentagon news briefing.
“As I have said repeatedly, it is important that great powers are role models for transparency and communication, and the United States will continue to fly and operate wherever international law permits.”
Russia said it made clear in the call that it saw things differently and that US air operations in the region posed a threat.
“It was established that flights of American strategic lethal drones on the Crimean coast were provocative and created conditions for an escalation of the situation in the Black Sea zone,” the Defense Ministry statement said after Shoigu’s phone call with Austin.
Earlier, the Kremlin said it would try to recover the remains of the drone.
The drone’s camera stabilizes after the SU-27 flew overhead and clipped its propeller
According to US officials, the MQ-9 Reaper drone was intercepted by two Russian Su-27 jets, which dumped fuel on the drone before cutting off its propeller and forcing it to crash
“I don’t know if we can recover it or not, but it has to be done. And we will certainly work on it. I hope for success, of course,” Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Kremlin Security Council, told TV channel Rossiya-1, according to Portal.
However, Milley downplayed the prospect of losing sensitive technology. He said it sank in four or five thousand feet of water.
“We don’t have ships there. But we have many allies and friends in the area who will work on salvage operations,” he said.
“This is US property and we’ll leave it at that.
‘But it’s probably broken. There’s probably not much to recover, frankly,
“As for the loss of sensitive things…intelligence etc., we would take it as normal – and we’ve put mitigating measures in place – so we’re pretty confident that anything that was of value is no longer of value.”
The Sukhoi Su-27 is a Soviet twin-engine fighter aircraft that has been in service since 1977.
It is used by the Russian Air Force, the Air Force of the People’s Liberation Army of China, and others.