Russian fighter jet collides with US military drone over Black Sea

A Russian fighter jet shot down a US military drone over international waters, causing the drone to crash. An MQ-9 Reaper drone and two Su-27 aircraft were flying over the Black Sea, and according to the US European Command, the Russian planes leaked fuel onto the drone and flew dangerously in front of it, and ended up hitting the drone’s propeller, forcing USA to shoot down a drone.

“This unsafe and unprofessional action by the Russians nearly resulted in the crash of both planes,” US Air Force Commander James B. Hecker said in a press release. He also stated that the drone was “performing normal operations” and that the incident would not prevent US aircraft from operating in international airspace. Such drones were operating over the Black Sea long before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war to monitor the situation in Ukraine.

It’s not uncommon for Russian jets to intercept US aircraft in the area, and there have been other intercepts in the past few weeks, but this one was particularly unsafe, according to John Kirby of the US National Security Council.

“This incident follows a pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots when interacting with US and allied aircraft in international airspace, including over the Black Sea,” the US European Command said in a press release. “These aggressive actions by the Russian crew are dangerous and could lead to miscalculation and unintentional escalation.”