A U.S. Air Force MQ-9 unmanned aircraft was shot down in mid-air as a result of the recently declassified video, which U.S. European Command released early on Thursday.
The footage was captured by a camera mounted on the MQ-9 Reaper drone and is directed backward toward the drone's tail and propeller, which is shown rotating at the start of the clip. When it passed the unmanned drone, a Russian Su-27 drew nearer and started to release fuel. The drone continued to dump fuel as the Russian fighter jet passed over it, briefly interrupting the transmission. The propeller was visible and seemed unharmed when it returned a few seconds later.
Once more discharging fuel as it approached the drone, a Russian fighter made a second pass. But, this time as the Russian jet approached, the video stream abruptly stopped for 60 seconds, according to EUCOM, which happened after impact. The propeller seems damaged after the camera began its video stream.
The military was eventually forced to "crash land" the drone into the Black Sea, but not before they were able to wipe it clean of any important information in case it ended up in the wrong hands (though they are still attempting to recover it themselves).
"It definitely broke apart, probably not a lot to recover, really," Gen. Mark Milley, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Wednesday briefing. "As far as the loss of any sensitive information, etc., we would normally take mitigation measures, and we did so. We therefore have every confidence that whatever once had value is now worthless.
The debris "probably sank to some big depths," he added, adding that it will take days for them to determine whether the military can collect it. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said Moscow will attempt to recover the drone's wreckage on its own.
Although Russian pilots are increasingly behaving in this way, this is the first time a Russian pilot has collided with a U.S. drone. Milley noted this and stated that while it is obvious the Russian pilot purposefully intercepted the US drone, it is still unknown if the pilot intended to strike it.
Russian pilots have a history of engaging in aggressive, risky, risky, and unsafe behavior in international airspace, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who made the statement during a press conference on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Austin and Milley spoke with their Russian colleagues, though neither office disclosed specifics about their exchanges. Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador, was also called by the United States, though he refuted the accusation, and Lynne Tracy, the American ambassador to Russia, sent a similar message to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
