A Russian military plane collided with a U.S. drone in international airspace over the Black Sea on Tuesday, prompting U.S. forces to land the unmanned aircraft in international waters.
U.S. European Command confirmed that a Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the propeller of a U.S. MQ-9 drone, which was on a routine mission in international airspace when two Russian jets attempted to intercept it.
“Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner. This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional,” a spokesman for the U.S. European Command said in a statement.
The Russian jets’ recklessness almost caused one of the fighter jets to crash, the statement added.
Sounds like a pretty stupid thing for the Russians to do, as an Su-27 is obviously a lot more expensive to replace (including the pilot) than an MQ-9 Reaper drone. For one thing, the MQ-9 is over 15 years old and we have more than 300 of them, so losing one isn’t going to deter the American military in the slightest. But they’re not building any more Su-27s (a 1980s Soviet attempt to rip off the F-14 Tomcat), and Russia only had some 100 of them when the war started. (No documented losses on Oryx as of this writing, but Russia became ultra-conservative about committing manned airpower to the arena after the opening phases of the war.)
Russia continues to be annoyed at NATO in general, and America in specific, using technologically superior surveillance and communications assets to effectively provide the entire killchain for Ukrainian forces. Indeed, it appears that those assets are far more effectively integrated into Ukrainian forces than Russian assets are integrated into their own military and/or Wagner Group.
I can understand their frustration, but directly attacking American assets (over international water or otherwise) is only going to make things much, much, much worse for them…
Tags: Black Sea, drone, Foreign Policy, Military, MQ-9A Reaper drone, Russia, Russo-Ukrainian War, Soviet Union, Su-27
I have long thought that we ought to establish a policy of a.) respecting international boundaries, and b.) shooting down or sinking anyone who interferes with our aircraft and ships in legitimate international air and seaspaces. Likewise, you violate our airspace? You get shot down, no questions asked.
The only reason people play these games is that it’s allowed, and we allow it because we expect reciprocity when we deliberately violate their airspace. Which we really don’t need to do, these days.
The Chinese need to have their faces punched in over what they’re doing in the South China Sea. They’ve been steadily encroaching on Vietnamese and Philippine territory for decades, and been allowed to get away with it. They’re assholes, and they’re going to keep right on being assholes until someone sets a hard line on the ground and says “NO! Bad China!”
Can’t wait to observe the idiocy once they establish a base on the moon.
China is asshole.
We are in a proxy war with Russia whether we admit it or not, so why are we surprised by such an incident. The response from our Air Force was pathetic and woke at best. They may fear the weapons we’re gladly handling over hand and fist over to the Ukraine, but they’re not worried about our response
Oh! . . . “environmentally unsound . . .”
Putin has killed or maimed countless Russian soldiers, Ukranian soldiers and civilians, laid waste to as much Ukranian infrastructure as he can, destroyed military equipment and released I don’t know how many tons of toxic smoke into the atmosphere through all this destruction . . .
. . . and our military spokesman shines a light on the SU-27 dumping fuel, which is . . . “environmentally unsound.”
We are screwed beyond belief.
All I can think of is Fred Thompson’s line from the Hunt for Red October:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZuMe5RvxPQ
“effectively provide the entire killchain for Ukrainian forces.”
So we are a direct participant in the war but operating from ‘safe havens’ like the Soviet AF operations in Mig Alley in the Korean war. Escalation with our involvement 4,000 miles from our own borders won’t happen though, trust the strategists behind our Iraq and Afghanistan successes.
Transponder off? Approaching your airspace (within ADIZ?).
With conditions as exist I can see how Russia is justified in eliminating the drone.
Remember how this war started.
Also, how is Russia to know the drone is run by Americans or ‘Ukrainians’ (sure).
US need to GTFO of Ukraine, investigate the money coming back to US politicians.
The Su-27 was apparently undamaged and returned to base with their wingman. The way those drones are built, I suspect the risk was pretty low for them.
Given we are assisting in our proxy war with Ukraine, the Russians were fully justified in their actions. We are being led into WWIII by a passel of neo-con nincompoops for reasons that do not benefit most Americans.
As U.S. Grant said, “Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions.” It is high time we took inventory of our own transgressions in this conflict, and gracefully backed out.
The ‘Korean’ fighters United Nation fought in Korean war were all Soviet pilots. Since they’re mostly flying over Commie controlled territory, any of the down aircraft would be retrieved by friendly forces. Both side of the conflict implicitly agree to the fiction that they’re part of the North Korean Air Forces for the duration of the war.
The Gaffer says:
Remember how this war started.
It started with Russia attacking Ukraine, after previously violating the hell out of the 1994 Budapest Accords, that Russia signed and got full value for.
US need to GTFO of Ukraine, investigate the money coming back to US politicians.
No, the US needs to help completely crush Russia’s invasion, and firmly establish that Russia will get NOTHING to teh West with its military.
A fact obvious to anyone who does nto want Russia invading Poland, the Baltic States, Finland, etc.
ruralcounsel says:
Given we are assisting in our proxy war with Ukraine, the Russians were fully justified in their actions.
Given that Russia signed the Budapest Accords in 1994, agreeign to respect Ukraine’s borders as defined i that document, in exchange for ukraine giving up all the nuclear weapons they had, absolutely NOTHING the Russias ahve done in Ukraine, or about Ukraine, is justified in any way, shape, or form
Unless you’re a fan of nuclear proliferation, you want teh Russian invasion crushed.
For the idiots on the Right who are coming at this from “I oppose anythign Biden supports”: Biden supported Russia starting the war
He also supported a complete Ukrainian collapse. Which is why he offered Zelensky a trip out, not support against the Russians
We only have a war, and Russia not winning, because Zelensky didn’t want to sell out the people of Ukraine to Russian slavery
Stop babbling idiocy while siding with the 2022 Biden.
So long as Russia is under KGB Colonel Putin, it is America’s enemy. Stop defending our enemies. Or, at least if you won’t do that, stop claiming to be pro-America or America First
Because Putin is “America Last”, and always will be
My impression is that this is one of the few cases where America’s allies in NATO and the EU actually led on punishing Russia for crossing one red line too many, and the Biden Administration went along with a little prodding when they saw how unanimous opinion among allies was.
NATO countries that would have been next on the hit list (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc.) were were immediately and enthusiastically in favor of helping Ukraine resists and illegal Russian war of territorial aggression, as were France and the UK, and other NATO/EU members quickly fell in line. Even Germany talked the talk on opposing Russian agression, though internal divisions in the coalition government (plus history) made it much harder for them to walk the walk.
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Y’all want my take on this? I strongly suspect that the out-of-character support shown by Biden for Ukraine comes from one place, and one place only: Zelensky has the goods on him.
I think the US is being blackmailed into doing the right thing, because of our corrupt governance that is typified by the Biden Krime Krewe. I further suspect that Putin had a deal with Biden, and that’s why he invaded, expecting that Biden would offer Zelensky a “Golden Bridge”, and then Zelensky queered the whole deal by saying “No. I don’t need a ride, I need ammo…”
Based on what I’ve seen of Biden and his puppetmasters, I really doubt they meant to do “the right thing” (whatever the hell that might be…) in Ukraine. I think they meant to sell out to the Russians, and then glom onto all the benefits they’d get from being on board with all the looting Putin was planning.
Zelensky is likely a corrupt bastard, but I think he’s going to go down in history as a historically-significant figure.
I find Kirk’s take far more believable than the “Biden’s supporting Ukraine for payoffs” story.
Kirk’s story is at least in accord with all known facts
Kirk’s story is at least in accord with all known facts
Unlike Greg the Class Traitor’s feeble rationalizations and mistruths.
For example:
Gaffer was right that we started this war back in 2014, not when Russia finally acted.
Ukraine is as much an enemy of the American people as Russia is. The American Oligarchy, not so much.
The Ukraine also signed the Minsk I and II Agreements, which they violated.
There is little evidence that Russia wants to invade NATO countries “that would have been next on the hit list (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc.)” We’ve heard that bullshit about dominoes falling for almost 70 years, and all it was was a lie to get us deeper involved in places we shouldn’t have been.
Keep trying to wave that bullshit about patriotism and “friends of Putin” to hide your own stupidity and gullibility. You’re carrying water for a corrupt US government that is actively operating against the best interests of our country for their own benefit.
“Putting aside an abhorrence of war, as well as my personal dislike and distaste for Vladimir Putin, his invasion of Ukraine is none of our damned business. Never was and never will be. The phraseology might understate it but Ron DeSantis is absolutely correct when he states that this is a “border dispute” between Russia and Ukraine. The fact is it’s been going on for hundreds of years between two peoples, though closely linked nevertheless regard each other as distinct, and with suspicion as well as enmity. Fools like Lindsay Graham as well as the faculty lounge circle-jerkers of Foggy Bottom who view the world through the navel-gazing lens of self-loathing and hubris as to how the world ought to work are blind to it.” – Ace of Spades
I think Ron DeSantis sorta missed where we guaranteed Ukrainian territorial integrity back when we persuaded them to turn over their nukes to Russia back in the early 1990s.
I didn’t.
I happen to believe that when we sign a treaty like that, it shouldn’t just get thrown out when convenient. The US got itself involved back then, and that’s where the obligation stems from.
Not like it really matters, anyway… We’ve already blown up the whole non-proliferation system, already. Anyone else note the uranium missing from Libya, or was that just me?
Three administrations, three mutually interlocking incompetencies. Bush decided to establish the precedent that you could attack another nation, even a superpower, through third-party cutouts, and you’d get away with it. Clinton and Obama pissed away the whole nuclear non-proliferation schema by enabling Iran and then after Libya got scared and turned away from WMD, they promptly stabbed Khadafy in the back. Which sets a precedent and teaches a lesson.
The Ukrainian thing is not what I would prefer to be involved with, but we are the dumbfucks that assured the Ukrainian people that we’d be there to protect them in return for giving up their nukes some thirty-odd years ago. So… Ron DeSantis is utterly wrong in this regard.
I really don’t know where you go to get trained up on foreign policy issues as a member of our political farm teams for the Presidency, but someone better start paying attention to making sure that these idiots actually know the history of what’s been done, what we’re obligated to, and what all we need to work towards as a matter of consistency.
Joe Anon said:
“The Ukraine also signed the Minsk I and II Agreements, which they violated.”
Y’know… I’m curious to know this: What, precisely, do you think the Minsk Agreements were? And, how did Ukraine violate them?
As opposed to, say… The Russians violating them from the outset?
I kept track of that whole thing, back then, because I was curious to see if the Russian Federation would behave like the Soviet Union did, not negotiating in good faith and using the supposed “peace negotiations” as a screen for continued military action. Haven’t seen them doing anything any differently than they did with regards to anything they’ve ever “negotiated”. Violations galore, accusations of Ukrainian violations that didn’t happen, and the usual lot of things you can template from every single diplomatic effort the Russian states have done since the days of the original Crimean War.
I personally think that anyone making the statement that the Ukrainians were responsible for not living up to the Minsk Agreements to be in the same moral category as someone saying a rape victim has zero right to self-defense.
Frankly, the Minsk Agreements were the international diplomatic versions of “Leonine Contracts”, made under duress, and not lived up to by the Russians. Given the nature of the duress, the violations, and all the surrounding BS? I cannot hold the Ukrainians as liable for breaking them.
After all, who broke the Budapest Memorandum, again?
The Minsk agreements were designed to stop the Ukrainians from killing the Eastern Russian-oriented Ukrainians. The Russians basically agreed to not get involved if the Ukrainian government quit waging war on the Donbas. The Ukraine government utterly failed to keep those agreements.
joe anon says:
Me: Kirk’s story is at least in accord with all known facts
Unlike Greg the Class Traitor’s feeble rationalizations and mistruths.
For example:
Gaffer was right that we started this war back in 2014, not when Russia finally acted.
“We” started this war bank in 2014?
Would that be when the Ukrainian people protested against a corrupt Putin lackey who tried to force Ukraine into Russian slavery, and went so far as to have his security forces murder protesters?
Or would that be when Russia invaded the Donbas?
Ukraine is as much an enemy of the American people as Russia is
Really? What has Ukraine done that’s anti-American?
The Ukraine also signed the Minsk I and II Agreements, which they violated.
A claim made with no actual support given
Because the claim is utter BS
Here, let me show how it’s done:
In the Budapest Accords Russia agreed to respect the defined Ukrainian borders, and then violated them in 2014.
So long as Russia continues to violate those borders, there is no agreement that they can complain about Ukraine violating.
So long as any part of Ukraine, as defined by the 1994 Budapest Accords, is being controlled by someone other than the Ukrainian gov’t, that area is in rebellion, and the Ukrainian gov’t is completely entitled to you military force, which means killing people, to try to bring their rebellion to an end and bring them back under Ukrainian control, as agreed to in the 1994 Budapest Accords.
Either that or the US needs to give Ukraine working nuclear weapons to replace the ones they gave up under the accords.
There is little evidence that Russia wants to invade NATO countries
Putin has been whining about the end of the Cold War, the end of the USSR, and the end of the Warsaw Pact for decades.
He’s not whining about it because he doesn’t want it all back, moron
Yup – Obama, Brennan, Biden started the war in Ukraine.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/04/08/about-that-new-york-times-story-concerning-the-online-leak-of-u-s-military-and-geopolitical-intentions/#more-245306