Washington publishes images of the interception of its drone by the Russians

The American army broadcast, Thursday, March 16, images of the interception above the Black Sea of ​​its drone by the Russian army. Declassified and published on the site (link in English) from the command of the American armed forces in Europe, the sequence lasts about forty seconds and shows a Russian Sukhoi 27 fighter passing twice just above the drone, after having approached it from behind.

On the first pass, no shock is visible between the two devices, nor anything that seems to justify the fall of the drone. The process “disturbs video transmission”comments on the site of the American army in Europe, which notes that the propeller of the drone “can be seen and remains intact”. During a second pass, without it being established whether it is the same fighter or a second one, the maneuver is similar, but the aircraft passes even closer to the drone. The transmission of the images is then interrupted. When she resumes, “the propeller can be seen again and it can be seen that one of the blades is damaged”comments the US Air Force.

On Tuesday, General James Hecker, commander of American air forces in Europe, indicated that an MQ-9 Reaper carrying out “routine operations in international airspace” had been intercepted by Su-27 fighters and then “hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in the crash and loss” of the drone. While acknowledging that two fighters had come to intercept the drone, Russia claimed not to be responsible for its fall.