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| US drone crashes after collision with Russian fighter jet: 'We're getting closer to direct confrontation between US and Russia' |
The US military says that a Russian fighter jet collided with an American drone, causing an American unmanned aircraft to crash into the Black Sea.
The U.S. military says the drone was on a routine flight in international airspace when two Russian warplanes attempted to intercept it.
The US European Command said Tuesday's accident was the result of "unprofessional actions by the Russians".
Russia says the US drone crashed after a "sharp maneuver" mid-flight and Russia has denied any contact by Russian aircraft with the US drone.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said the US drone was flying with its transponders turned off. Transponders are communication devices that allow aircraft to be tracked.
According to the US military, the incident occurred at around 7:03 a.m. CET.
"Our MQ-9 drone was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and targeted by a Russian aircraft, resulting in the MQ-9 being completely destroyed," the US military said in a statement. but destroyed.'
The statement also said that several times before the collision, Russian Su-27 fighter jets had shown "recklessness" and had dumped fuel on the drone in an "environmentally inappropriate and unprofessional manner".
The MQ9 Reaper is a surveillance drone aircraft with a wingspan of 66 feet.
White House spokesman John Kirby said it was not unusual for Russian planes to encounter American planes over the Black Sea, but it was the first time it had resulted in an accident.
Tensions have risen in the region since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Since Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States and Britain have increased drone flights for spying and surveillance, although these drones always fly in international airspace.
'We move closer to a direct confrontation between the US and Russia', Frank Gardner's analysis
It is the first time since the war in Ukraine that Russia's military has definitely come into close direct conflict with the West.
The Pentagon says a Russian Air Force Su-27 fighter jet collided with an unmanned U.S. military Reaper drone in busy international airspace over the northern Black Sea, causing the U.S. drone to crash into the sea.
White House spokesman John Kirby described the incident as "careless and unprofessional."
A pair of Soviet-era fighter jets intercepted a surveillance drone in international airspace and dumped fuel on it, damaging it enough for its American controllers to crash it into the sea, the US military's European Command said. There was no other choice.
Russia and Western forces have previously struggled to avoid such incidents in Syria, for example, but this incident points to increasingly strained relations between Moscow and the West.