Declassified Footage of a Russian Jet Crashing into an American Drone

The U.S. navy has declassified footage exhibiting the second a Russian fighter jet collides mid-air into one in every of its drones.

The incident occurred over the Black Sea on Tuesday and led to the $32 million U.S. Reaper drone being introduced down in worldwide waters.

Within the 42-second clip, the Su-27 Flanker jet will be seen dumping gas because it passes near the drone, a kind of harrying that U.S. specialists say they haven’t seen earlier than.

The jet then makes a second cost towards the drone however this time truly collides with the plane inflicting the feed to go static. As soon as the feed comes again, the drone’s propellor seems to have been bent

The broken propeller causes the U.S. Air Drive to down the drone into the Black Sea, senior Russian officers have stated they hope to salvage it.

Russia has denied the collision passed off and stated the drone crashed after making “sharp maneuvers,” after it “proactively” flew near Russian air area close to Crimea, stories Reuters.

U.S. officers have stated it’s clear the Russian jet was harassing the drone purposefully, however Basic Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Employees, stated he’s uncertain if the Russian pilot meant to hit the drone — a transfer that put the Russian jet in danger.

The Pentagon stated that the footage has been edited by the U.S. navy for size however the occasions proven are in sequential order and got here after a “sustained interval” of harassment by two Russian fighter jets with officers stating that the pair of Su-27s had spent half an hour and 19 makes an attempt attempting to dump gas on the drone.

The video was launched with the next caption: “Two Russian Su-27 plane carried out an unsafe and unprofessional intercept with a US Air Drive intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 plane working inside worldwide airspace over the Black Sea on 14 March 2023. Russian Su-27s dumped gas upon and struck the propeller of the MQ-9, inflicting US forces to must deliver the MQ-9 down in worldwide waters.”

The incident dangers an escalation of tensions between Russia and the U.S. amid the continued conflict in close by Ukraine.