A Russian fighter jet struck the propeller of a US surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday. However, Russia has insisted its warplanes didn’t hit the MQ-9 Reaper drone. Instead, it mentioned the drone maneuvered sharply and crashed into the water following an encounter with Russian fighter jets that had been scrambled to intercept it close to Crimea.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Mar 15, 2023 08:00 IST
A file picture of Russian Su-27 fighter jet (Credits: AP)
By India Today World Desk: In a primary direct encounter between the United States and Russia because the latter invaded Ukraine, the US navy mentioned a Russian fighter aircraft clipped the propeller of 1 its spy drones and made it crash into the Black Sea on Tuesday.
While the Russian defence ministry provided a unique account, Moscow’s ambassador to Washington mentioned his nation “views this incident as a provocation” involving a US MQ-9 drone and Russian Su-27 fighter jet.
RUSSIAN JETS CAUSE SPY DRONE CRASH – WHAT HAPPENED
Two Russian Su-27 jets carried out what the US navy described as a ‘reckless intercept of the American spy drone’ whereas flying in worldwide air house. It mentioned the Russian fighter jets dumped gasoline on the MQ-9, probably making an attempt to blind or injury it and flew in entrance of it in unsafe manoeuvres. After round 30 to 40 minutes, at 7.03 am (0603 GMT), one of many jets collided with the drone, inflicting it to crash, the US navy mentioned.
In an announcement, US Air Force General James Hecker, who oversees the nation’s Air Force within the area, mentioned, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians practically brought about each plane to crash.
The Pentagon mentioned Russia has not recovered the drone and the jet was possible broken.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry denied that its plane had come into contact with the unmanned aerial automobile (UAV), which it mentioned had crashed after “sharp manoeuvring”. It mentioned the drone had been detected close to the Crimea peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Following the incident, the US State Department summoned Russia’s Ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, to debate what occurred over the Black Sea. Antonov, after attending the assembly, mentioned the talks had been ‘constructive’ and the difficulty of potential penalties for Moscow was not raised.
Published On:
Mar 15, 2023
