Russian Jet and US Drone collision draw bluster and condemnation, as US-Russia relations remain a point of contention.
General James B Hecker, commander of the US air forces in Europe and air forces in Africa, reports that an MQ-5 drone ran a routine surveillance flight in international airspace between Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia. During the flight, two Russian fighter jets encountered and harassed the aircraft over the Black Sea.
A statement from US European command said the fighter jets “dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner…”. Ultimately, the aforementioned behavior led to one of the jets crashing into the propeller of the drone, causing it to crash land. Officials said the fighter jet landed in Crimea; and that they believe the Russian aircraft was also damaged in the collision.
US military personnel are currently making plans to retrieve the drone before Russian armed forces can access it. Since the collision, the defense department has disabled and wiped the software of the drone.
Extricating the MQ-5 could prove difficult, as it would require either a naval mission up the mediterranean sea into the black sea, risking Russian interception, or a route up a strait that the Turkish government has refused US access to for months.
US lawmakers believe President Putin could use the drone as a vital chess piece in attempting to stymie further military support by the US to Ukraine.
Speaking of this recent escalation, Senator Roger F. Wicker, a Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, had this to say:
“This brazen act by Russian pilots against an American aircraft flying in international airspace makes clear that Vladimir Putin is an adversary…This incident should serve as a wake-up call to isolationists in the United States that it is in our national interest to treat Putin as the threat he truly is.”
The Russian Defense Ministry released a counter statement, denying all of the accounts of the US defense department, even denying all contact with the MQ-5. Speaking to the legality of the drone mission, the ministry claimed the drone was flying without its transponders, “violating the boundaries of the temporary airspace regime established for the special military operation, communicated to all users of international airspace, and published in accordance with international standards.”
