Incident with an American reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea: what do we know?

The European command of the American armed forces immediately announced that the Russian Su-27 fighter hit the MQ-9 propeller. This, they say, led to its crash in the international waters of the Black Sea. And shortly before the collision, our plane would have carried out “dangerous” maneuvers.

The UAV was also said to be performing “routine operations in international airspace”. Following the incident, the drone was “completely lost”.

The response from the Russian Ministry of Defense was not long in coming. We present it to you in full. “On the morning of March 14 this year, over the Black Sea in the Crimean Peninsula region, the airspace control of the Russian Aerospace Forces recorded the flight of an American unmanned aerial vehicle MQ -9 towards the state border of the Russian Federation,” the agency said. “The flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle was carried out from turned off transponders in violation of the limits of the zone 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 of the air defense forces on duty were lifted into the air. As a result of sharp maneuvers around 09:30 (Moscow time), the MQ-9 unmanned aerial vehicle entered uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the surface of the water.

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.”

The information is exhaustive and, it seems, does not require further explanation. Moreover, since the spring of 2014, under the pretext of “concern for the national security of the United States”, the Americans have been openly carrying out aerial reconnaissance near Crimea. And even after the incident with the MQ-9, they’re not going to arrest him. This was candidly acknowledged by White House Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby.

“We’ve been flying over this airspace for a year. We will continue to do so. And we don’t need confirmation from Russia to fly over international waters. If they want to send a message about their desire to stop us from overflying the Black Sea, that won’t happen,” he said.

Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder spoke just as candidly about the mission of the downed drone in the Black Sea. “As for the tasks of the MQ-9, it was engaged in reconnaissance, surveillance and reconnaissance,” the official said and acknowledged that the MQ-9 had the ability to carry weapons on board.

An interesting clarification, I must say. It turns out that this is not an ordinary drone that flew to the Russian state border, but stuffed with reconnaissance equipment or weapons, and therefore poses a clear danger to us, an object air.

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p class=””>Note that the MQ-9, with all the desire, cannot be called a “dove of peace”. It is the main attack drone in service in the United States. The Reaper can carry up to 14 AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles, air-to-air missiles, and even laser-guided bombs. If necessary, the MQ-9 is used as a reconnaissance drone. It is equipped with a turboprop, capable of reaching speeds of over 400 km/h and staying in the air all day.

The pilots of the pair of on-duty Su-27s lifted into the air probably knew about these features of the American drone. It remains only to be amazed at the restraint of our pilots, given all the circumstances of its flight – the movement of the MQ-9 to the Crimea, its violation of the boundaries of the zone of the temporary regime of the use of established airspace under NWO conditions, transponders turned off on the drone, and the likelihood of being on board weapons.

Strictly speaking, pilots could just shoot down someone else’s drone. To explain such actions, the Americans’ favorite argument was very appropriate – based on “concern for national security”. Not the United States, of course, – Russia.

On the evening of March 14, our ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, was summoned to the State Department. There, the diplomat protested against the “unprofessional actions of the Russian side” in the Black Sea. However, the ambassador himself called the incident “a real provocation”.

“The unacceptable activity of the US military in the immediate vicinity of our borders is cause for concern. We fully understand the purpose for which these unmanned reconnaissance and strike vehicles are being used,” Antonov noted in a comment distributed by the Russian Embassy. “What are they doing thousands of miles from the United States? is obvious: they collect intelligence information, which is then used by the Kiev regime to strike at our armed forces and our territory.”

“Most importantly, I believe that American planes and ships have no business near the borders of the Russian Federation,” the diplomat said in an interview with reporters. – Can you imagine that such a plane, a drone, will suddenly appear near New York or San Francisco? Can you imagine what the reaction of the American media, the Pentagon will be in relation to such a drone? This is a versatile strike drone that can carry 1.7 thousand kilograms of explosives.

According to State Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky, the incident with the MQ-9 and the subsequent reaction of the Pentagon, which announced its intention to continue flying over the Black Sea near the Russian borders, once again proves the US involvement in Ukraine. conflict. “The reconnaissance mission of the drone was not only refuted, but in fact confirmed by representatives of the United States Department of Defense. Of course, this is a provocation which can only be considered by Russia as actions hostile,” said the parliamentarian. CASS.

He drew attention to the extremely professional and measured reaction of the Russian pilots. “No violation of the borders of the Russian Federation, no direct confrontation, or even contact was allowed,” Slutsky said.

The editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, Igor Korochenko, in a conversation with a correspondent of RG, did not exclude that not only the generals of the Pentagon, but also specialists of the CIA or the National Security Agency of the United States could use the MQ-9 off the Crimean coast.

“Each of these departments has its own drones for strategic aerial reconnaissance, recalls the expert. It is clear that the flight was carried out exclusively for the purpose of reconnaissance of Russian weapons and military equipment participating in the NMD. This data would then be transferred by the United States to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”