WASHINGTON: A Russian fighter jet on Tuesday dumped fuel on an American drone over the Black Sea and then collided with it, causing the drone to crash, the US military said.
US European Command said two Russian Su-27 fighters intercepted the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper over international waters, and one clipped its propeller.
“Several times ahead of the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in an unprofessional, reckless, environmentally unsound manner,” it said.
The statement confirmed an earlier report by AFP of an incident involving a US-made drone.
NATO diplomats in Brussels confirmed the incident but said they did not expect it to immediately escalate into a further confrontation.
Speaking to AFP anonymously, a Western military source said diplomatic channels between Russia and the United States would be activated.
“To my mind, diplomatic channels will mitigate this,” the source said.
US uses MQ-9 for surveillance and strikes
The United States uses MQ-9 Reapers for both surveillance and strikes and has long operated over the Black Sea, keeping an eye on Russian naval forces.
The region’s situation has become more tense in the past 12 months since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Western-backed Ukraine.
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was on routine operations in international airspace when a Russian aircraft intercepted and hit it, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9 aircraft,” said US Air Force General James Hecker, commander of US Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa.
“In fact, this unprofessional and unsafe act by the Russians almost caused both aircraft to crash.”
“US and allied aircraft will continue operations in international airspace, and we ask the Russians to conduct themselves professionally and safely,” he added.
Several US Reapers have been lost in recent years, including to hostile fire.
One was shot down in 2019 over Yemen with a surface-to-air missile fired by Huthi rebels, the US Central Command said at the time.
According to media reports, a US MQ-9 crashed in Libya in 2022, while another went down during a training exercise in Romania earlier in the same year.
Reapers can be armed with Hellfire missiles and laser-guided bombs and can fly for more than 1,100 miles at altitudes of up to 15,000 meters (50,000 feet), according to the US Air Force. – AFP
