Two Russian Su-27 Flanker jets intercepted and purposefully collided with a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone in international airspace over the Black Sea.
At approximately 7:03 AM (CET), one of the Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the propeller of the MQ-9, located on the rear of the aircraft
The collision caused U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters.
Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9.
Russian and U.S. aircraft have operated over the Black Sea during the course of the war, but this is the first known such interaction, and represents a dangerous escalation in tactics by Russia.
It is unknown if the U.S. will try to recover the drone, given that the Bosphorus Strait has been closed due to the Russo-Ukrainian War.
floatingsaltmine on March 14th, 2023 at 18:17 UTC »
F-16 for Ukraine it is.
mschweini on March 14th, 2023 at 17:46 UTC »
This sounds funny, but is a bit worrying. How is the west supposed to react to this? If we do nothing, Russia will continue to do this. If we do something, this is quite a path to escalation.
This slippery slope is actually an argument against unmanned drones - purposely downing a manned aircraft is so much more serious that it doesn't lend itself to escalation. But an unmanned one is a dangerous pathway.
nucturnal on March 14th, 2023 at 17:34 UTC »
What kind of clown show is this? Like, how far up the chain of command did the order to slam into a drone come from?