Current Events > BREAKING: Russian jet collides with US drone over black sea

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64957792

A Russian fighter jet has collided with a US drone over the Black Sea, forcing the US to bring down its unmanned aircraft, the American military says.

It says the drone was on a routine mission in international airspace when two Russian jets tried to intercept it.

The US European command said the incident was the result of an "unprofessional act by the Russians".

US and allied forces will continue to operate in international airspace, the statement added.

"Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9," said US Air Force Gen James Hecker.

MQ-9 Reaper drones are large unmanned aircraft designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance.

So did they collide or did they only nearly collide? Make up your mind, BBC

Ah, I was going to say that sounds like a nasty incident but if neither actually crashed the fallout may be mild.

thronedfire2 posted...

So did they collide or did they only nearly collide? Make up your mind, BBC

Yea. I dont get why media is constantly like this with Russian War news.

thronedfire2 posted...

So did they collide or did they only nearly collide? Make up your mind, BBC

If I'm reading it right, they collided, forcing the drone to make a controlled crash or emergency landing. So they probably both took damage, but the jet was able to keep flying whereas the drone needed to be brought down.

So they did collide, and they nearly crashed.

EDIT: but honestly the bigger part of the story is Russian jets openly attacking a US drone over international waters. That's a pretty stark escalation on their part, even IF the drone was doing recon or something to give intel to Ukraine.

s0nicfan posted...

If I'm reading it right, they collided, forcing the drone to make a controlled crash or emergency landing. So they probably both took damage, but the jet was able to keep flying whereas the drone needed to be brought down.

So they did collide, and they nearly crashed.

EDIT: but honestly the bigger part of the story is Russian jets openly attacking a US drone over international waters. That's a pretty stark escalation on their part, even IF the drone was doing recon or something to give intel to Ukraine.

Yeah if that's what happened the Russian jet shouldn't have been flying and went back to assess damage. It has been established they aren't the best trained military though.

Updated the OP with more details from an article update

This will all soon turn in to World War III.

Will be interesting to see if this will remain a genuinely isolated incident or if this will be Russia's modus operandi when it comes to UAVs in international airspace.

Uh, the drone actually fell out of a 20th story window. Accidentally.

MQ-9s are pretty big. Wonder how the Russian aircraft looks.
Even just a bird strike can cause some significant damage.

Cocytus posted...

This will all soon turn in to World War III.

God I hope so.

An unfortunate accident. Still wonder how you manage to instead on intercepting to hit the drone though.

texanfan27 posted...

An unfortunate accident. Still wonder how you manage to instead on intercepting to hit the drone though.

Pilot could have been doing something dumb like trying to pull up parallel to it to take a selfie or something and the wingtips clipped each other.

CaptainStrong posted...

God I hope so.

No you don't

Pearl Harbor 2.0?

s0nicfan posted...

If I'm reading it right, they collided, forcing the drone to make a controlled crash or emergency landing. So they probably both took damage, but the jet was able to keep flying whereas the drone needed to be brought down.

So they did collide, and they nearly crashed.

EDIT: but honestly the bigger part of the story is Russian jets openly attacking a US drone over international waters. That's a pretty stark escalation on their part, even IF the drone was doing recon or something to give intel to Ukraine.

I didnt see anything in the article about the Russian jet attacking the drone. Did I miss it?

Patchwork posted...

I didnt see anything in the article about the Russian jet attacking the drone. Did I miss it?

Replace attack with "intercepted and hit" the drone, then.

s0nicfan posted...

Replace attack with "intercepted and hit by" then.

Are you saying the Russian jet intentionally collided with a drone?

That seems extremely far fetched.

Patchwork posted...

Are you saying the Russian jet intentionally collided with a drone?

That seems extremely far fetched.

Yeah that's a suicidal maneuver. Probably not what happened.

Patchwork posted...

Are you saying the Russian jet intentionally collided with a drone?

That seems extremely far fetched.

they intentionally got far closer than airspace regulations require in order to be within collision distance, so I don't know what exactly you're trying to say but the result is still Russia violating international airspace rules intentionally, causing the destruction of a US drone in international waters.

Vegy posted...

No you don't

Why not? This stupid species is doomed anyway. Might as well get it over with already and go out with a bang.

Honestly its about a 99% chance it was just a dumb pilot screwing up.

CaptainStrong posted...

God I hope so.

Wait... why?

It seems that the Russian jet hit the drones propeller, so it most likely flied into it from behind.

The wording in the article is pretty misleading.

Just my opinion but it seems highly unlikely a air to air collision strong enough to crash a drone wouldn't have taken the Russian jet down with it.

More updates. Turns out the Russian pilots were fucking around with it:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64957792

The engagement began with the Su-27s fighter jets dumping fuel on the drone in a "reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner".

MQ-9 Reaper drones are large unmanned aircraft with a 20m (66ft) wingspan designed for high-altitude surveillance.

Shashank Joshi, defence editor for the Economist magazine, said the Russians may have been trying to intimidate the drone as it was hoovering up their communications.

For it to be lost completely in an attempted intercept is highly unusual, he notes.

GeraldDarko posted...

Wait... why?

Because he's probably 15 and edgy because no one sane actually wants that to happen.

Full_Pokedex posted...

Because he's probably 15 and edgy because no one sane actually wants that to happen.

Probably still lives with his folks and doesn't work for a living.

s0nicfan posted...

More updates. Turns out the Russian pilots were fucking around with it:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64957792

Dumping fuel on it? Wtf is wrong with these idiots?

https://twitter.com/ukraine_map/status/1635702084694679552

Would a pilot really try to ram something? No concern with damaging their jet?

s0nicfan posted...

EDIT: but honestly the bigger part of the story is Russian jets openly attacking a US drone over international waters.

i like how every body of water is international waters for the US

Let's get USA boots on the ground in Ukraine immediately and clean out the Black Sea.

Cool so let's shoot one of theirs down in Ukraine

Almost seemed like Duncan bait, god the mods hate him.

Nukazie posted...

i like how every body of water is international waters for the US

do you really not understand the concept of international waters and how that is a thing...internationally?

Foppe posted...

It seems that the Russian jet hit the drones propeller, so it most likely flied into it from behind.

Good guess. The article just switched to the BBC's "live coverage" format, but these bits were added:

In the busy international airspace over the northern Black Sea, the Pentagon says a Russian air force Su-27 Flanker fighter jet struck the propeller of an uncrewed US military Reaper drone, forcing it to crash into the sea.

eggcorn posted...

Would a pilot really try to ram something? No concern with damaging their jet?

There's a long history of ramming planes with other planes.

Patchwork posted...

Are you saying the Russian jet intentionally collided with a drone?

That seems extremely far fetched.

A vatnik in a fighter jet sounds like a recipe for disaster tbh

Russia's official response is now that the drone violated their "special military airspace" and crashed on its own without the pilots doing anything at all:

We're now hearing for the first time from the Russian defence ministry on the incident.

Moscow is insisting its aircraft did not use on-board weapons or come into contact with the drone.

They say Russia airspace control systems detected a US MQ-9 unmanned drone flying over the Black Sea, near the Crimean Peninsula, in the direction of the border of the Russian Federation.
They accused the US of violating the boundaries of its temporary airspace "established for the special military operation".

Russia says it scrambled its aircraft to identify the intruder, but due to quick manoeuvring, the MQ-9 drone went into an "unguided flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface".

Nukazie posted...

i like how every body of water is international waters for the US

....what?

demigodanhero posted...

....what?

Dude hadn't gotten the party line yet, so that bullshit is what they had to work with.

The party line, unfortunately, is also fucking stupid.

This doesnt seem like a huge issue to me, in all honesty.

I wish Putin would just have a heart attack already-- if only he had a heart.

s0nicfan posted...

Russia's official response is now that the drone violated their "special military airspace" and crashed on its own without the pilots doing anything at all:

Ah, much more believable than "Our pilot was acting in a very inappropriate manner and will be reprimanded by jumping out of the ninth floor window."