“Unsafe and unprofessional actions by the Russians almost caused both aircraft to crash,” the US said.
Brussels:
The US military said a Russian fighter jet refueled an American drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday and then collided with it, causing the drone to crash.
The US European Command said two Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepted the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper over international waters and one chopped off its propeller.
“Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” it said.
The statement confirmed an earlier AFP report of an incident involving a US-made drone in the area.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington that Russian intercepts over the Black Sea were commonplace, but it was “noticable because of how unsafe and unprofessional it was, really reckless.”
NATO diplomats in Brussels confirmed the incident, but said they did not expect it to escalate into another confrontation immediately.
A Western military source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said diplomatic channels between Russia and the United States could help limit any fallout.
“In my view, diplomatic channels will bring it down,” the source said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year has raised fears of a direct confrontation between Moscow and the western NATO military alliance, which is preparing Kiev to help defend itself.
News of a missile attack in eastern Poland in November last year briefly caused alarm, before Western military sources concluded it was a Ukrainian air defense missile that had malfunctioned, not a Russian one.
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow.
– ‘Unsafe and unprofessional’ –
The United States uses the MQ-9 Reaper for both surveillance and attack, and has long conducted operations on the Black Sea, tracking Russian naval forces.
US Air Force General James Hecker, commander of the US Air Force, said, “Our MQ-9 aircraft was performing routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in the crash and the MQ-9 a complete loss.” Army Europe and Air Force Africa.
“In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians caused both aircraft to crash.
“US and allied aircraft will continue to operate in international airspace, and we call on the Russians to conduct themselves professionally and safely,” he added.
The US statement said the pilots had brought the Reaper down in international waters, while the US Naval Institute said it had crashed off the coast of Odessa in southeast Ukraine.
Several American Reapers have been lost in recent years, including to hostile fire.
US Central Command said at the time that one was shot down in 2019 over Yemen by a surface-to-air missile fired by Houthi rebels.
According to media reports, an American MQ-9 crashed in Libya in 2022, while another crashed during a training exercise in Romania earlier this year.
The Reapers can be armed with Hellfire missiles as well as laser-guided bombs and can fly up to 15,000 m (50,000 ft) at an altitude of more than 1,100 mi (1,770 km), according to the US Air Force.
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