Russian fighter jet CRASHES into US Reaper drone over Black Sea
- The US military said a Russian fighter jet severed the drone’s propeller.
- Crash forced the Americans to shoot it down over the Black Sea
A Russian fighter jet collided with an American Reaper drone over the Black Sea, shooting down the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the US military confirmed today.
The US military said one of two Russian warplanes severed the drone’s propeller, forcing the US to shoot it down in the area of intense NATO military activity near the Ukrainian war front. , amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and struck by a Russian aircraft, leading to a crash and the total loss of the MQ-9,” US Air Force Gen. US Force in the region, he said in a statement.
“In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians almost caused both planes to crash,” he added, saying the incident “follows a pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots… over international airspace.”
A Western source said earlier that an investigation was underway to verify whether the drone had been shot down.
It quickly became clear that a collision had occurred between a US-made MQ-9 Reaper and a Russian Su-27 fighter jet at 7:03am CET (6:03am GMT).
It was not immediately clear why the drone was operating in the region.
More to follow…
A Russian fighter jet collided with an American Reaper drone over the Black Sea, the US military confirmed today.
