The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation commented on the incident with the US drone
CrimeaPRESS reports:
About with an American drone that crashed over the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said. It turned out that the reconnaissance drone was escorting our fighters, but it fell … as a result of its own “sharp maneuvering”. Here is the official The Ministry of Defense of Russia in full:
On the morning of March 14, over the Black Sea, in the area of the Crimean Peninsula, the airspace control of the Russian Aerospace Forces recorded the flight of an American MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle in the direction of the state border of the Russian Federation.
The flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle was carried out with transponders turned off, violating the boundaries of the area of the temporary regime for the use of airspace, established for the purpose of conducting a special military operation, communicated to all users of international airspace and published in accordance with international standards.
In order to identify the intruder, fighters from the air defense forces on duty were raised into the air. As a result of sharp maneuvering around 9.30 (Moscow time), the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle went into uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface.
The Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their base airfield.
Draw your own conclusions… But it seems that the times of impudent and demonstrative aerial reconnaissance near the Crimean peninsula are a thing of the past.
At the Pentagon that the MQ-9 was on a reconnaissance flight. At the same time, the US military called the actions of the Russian pilot “reckless” and promised to continue flying reconnaissance drones in neutral airspace. According to the commander of the US Air Force in Europe, General James Hecker, the dangerous maneuvers of Russian fighters could lead to unpredictable consequences and escalation.
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