Althouse: "A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone..."

March 14, 2023

"A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone..."

"... according to the US Air Force. The Reaper drone and two SU-27 Flanker jets were operating over international waters over the Black Sea when one of the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel in front of the unmanned drone.... The incident marks the first time Russian and US military aircraft have come into direct contact since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine just over a year ago...."

CNN reports.

61 comments:

tim maguire said...: Effective in a one-off case, but this doesn't seem like much a of threat in terms of drone defense.

The fact that the Russians did it in international air space...what are we going to do about it? I'm not confident we'll even see a strongly worded letter.; 3/14/23, 1:16 PM
Rabel said...: I see no reason to believe a word that comes out of this administration, military or otherwise.; 3/14/23, 1:18 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: It would appear that the deconfliction hotline isn't being used enough...or too much. It's hard to say which.

That my favorite thing about military science. The certainty. I guess we'll know for sure if it's working or not the next time when they actually shoot one of our drones down.

You know, like with a missile or something, in this war we're not fighting...; 3/14/23, 1:21 PM
n.n said...: Over eight years since the Slavic Spring was birthed in the Maidan Fire and the veil of empathetic collusion has been lifted. Progress.; 3/14/23, 1:25 PM
FullMoon said...: r/that happened; 3/14/23, 1:26 PM
n.n said...: You know, like with a missile or something, in this war we're not fighting...

We've left Afghanistan. We're still in Somalia. Are we in Kosovo?

From a political Spring to a seasonal Spring. Climate change.; 3/14/23, 1:28 PM
Michael said...: .
Rereading The Guns Of August. Never underestimate the ability of the best and the brightest to stumble us into a world war.; 3/14/23, 1:34 PM
iowan2 said...: Winken, Blinken and Nod, are crafting a sternly written diplomatic cable as we speak.; 3/14/23, 1:35 PM
Readering said...: Drones easier to bring down than balloons?; 3/14/23, 1:37 PM
Joe Smith said...: So we loan/give/place our advanced weapons in reach of the Russian military and now they have them to reverse engineer.

Brilliant.; 3/14/23, 1:42 PM
Dave Begley said...: "Weakness is provocative." Donald Rumsfeld

Next up, China takes over Tawain.; 3/14/23, 2:10 PM
Jupiter said...: Was it the same Russian plane that bombed Nordstream? Wouldn't that be a concidence!; 3/14/23, 2:11 PM
Jim at said...: Great. Just great.; 3/14/23, 2:15 PM
exhelodrvr1 said...: OK, Biden, show some leadership.; 3/14/23, 2:20 PM
JaimeRoberto said...: Remember the Reaper!; 3/14/23, 2:21 PM
takirks said...: They're testing. Will the morons running the Biden Krime Krewe pass?

Who knows? At this point, who cares?; 3/14/23, 2:24 PM
Michael K said...: Biden seems more interested in war with Russia than in inflation or its consequences. Bailing out big Democrat donors is more important, I guess.; 3/14/23, 2:39 PM
robother said...: "I don’t feel safe in this world no more,
I don’t wanna die in a nuclear war,
I wanna sail away to a distant shore…
and make like an ape man!”; 3/14/23, 2:47 PM
FullMoon said...: Well, at least we have God on our side.

"....The Second World War came to an end
We forgave the Germans, and then we were friends
Though they murdered six million, in the ovens they fried
The Germans now too have God on their side

I learned to hate the Russians all through my whole life
If another war comes, it's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them, to run and to hide
And accept it all bravely with God on my side
But now we've got weapons of chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to, then fire them we must
One push of the button and they shot the world wide
And you never ask questions when God's on your side; 3/14/23, 2:59 PM
Tofu King said...: Tom Cruise. Please check in at the flight line.; 3/14/23, 3:03 PM
BIII Zhang said...: Does the United States have the right to defend itself against Russian spy plans operating just 12 miles off our coast (international air space?) Suppose there were thousands of Russian drones circling the country, providing real-time information to al Queda? Still OK?

Does Russia have that same right?

How is it that if al Queda attacks an electrical substation in New York and plunges the city into darkness that would be terrorism, but it's somehow not state-sponsored terrorism when Joe Biden destroys the energy infrastructure of Germany, in the middle of winter to tactically weaken Russia?

Do we really want to allow a doddering idiot start World War III and see our country nuked because this guy needs a distraction from bank failures on his watch?; 3/14/23, 3:03 PM
Humperdink said...: At some point the word "proxy" will be removed from the phrase proxy war.; 3/14/23, 3:06 PM
Achilles said...: This story makes absolutely no sense. Nothing about it is believable.

Nothing this regime puts out is believable.; 3/14/23, 3:15 PM
SoLastMillennium said...: Russia has a main naval base at Sevastopol in Crimea. A drone over the Black Sea in a combat zone should expect some attention. A Russian commander who didn't react should be removed as failing Russia. There have been attacks by drones and spying by drone to set up attacks. Some possibly even as covert US operations.

Short take is don't put anything into a combat zone you are not willing to lose. Probably why drones were sent. Please don't try to make this into a "Bay of Pigs" moment.; 3/14/23, 3:15 PM
Temujin said...: The Pentagon's reaction: "This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional."

I'm surprised the Pentagon did not also call it an affront to the LGBTQIA Community.

This will not be the last such interaction coming at us in the next year or two from Russia, China, and/or Iran. Before 2024.; 3/14/23, 3:22 PM
Leland said...: Time to dust off the Fred Thompson meme from "Hunt for Red October".; 3/14/23, 3:43 PM
narciso said...: a reaper is typically an attack drone, not recon, sevastopol is in relatively short distance, although the other track is considerably farther south, which doesn't make any sense,; 3/14/23, 3:43 PM
Joe Smith said...: 'Remember the Reaper!'

Situation sounds grim...; 3/14/23, 3:50 PM
Owen said...: Nothing to see here, move along.; 3/14/23, 3:55 PM
n.n said...: A handmade tale, probably. A prelude to affirmative action.; 3/14/23, 3:55 PM
Narayanan said...: why is claim of /international airspace/ supposed to be 'sticking' 'winning' point argument?

don't many missiles fly through? just because no one has yet disrupted one?

is that why 'chinese balloon' drifted all across till just before ESCAPE AND FREEDOM it was shot down! over territorial littoral??!!!; 3/14/23, 3:59 PM
Gilbert Pinfold said...: In re: "The Guns of August", I highly recommend "The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914" by Christopher Clark. Superior to Tuchman in every way--so much more has been uncovered since she wrote in the 1960s.; 3/14/23, 4:00 PM
Gilbert Pinfold said...: In re: "The Guns of August", I highly recommend "The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914" by Christopher Clark. Superior to Tuchman in every way--so much more has been uncovered since she wrote in the 1960s.; 3/14/23, 4:02 PM
Wince said...: More cowbell!; 3/14/23, 4:10 PM
David53 said...: We’ve been flying recon drones in the Black Sea almost daily since the start of the invasion, also manned missions like RC135s. You can follow their tracks on apps like Flightradar24 if you’re interested. Sometimes they purposely leave their transponders on, other times they turn them off and you can’t follow them. A Global Hawk (different type drone) callsign FORTE11 was up earlier in the day.

Could be in response to a B52 that recently flew up the Gulf of Finland towards St Petersburg before it turned right over the Baltic States, it almost overflew Kaliningrad on its way back to Spain before it turned off its transponder.; 3/14/23, 4:17 PM
Known Unknown said...: "This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional."

I agree. We shouldn't have reaper drones over the Black Sea.; 3/14/23, 4:44 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Why exactly is the US flying a fucking Reaper drone over the Black Sea that near the Russian border in the first place? These fucking idiots are going to blunder us into WWIII.; 3/14/23, 4:55 PM
n.n said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/14/23, 4:55 PM
Sheridan said...: If Biden looked closely within his OODA Loop he would see both Xi and Putin looking back at him. And laughing!; 3/14/23, 5:23 PM
n.n said...: Flown by USA, plausibly true. Made in USA, shipped by USA, trained by USA, probably false. 3-3/5 fetuses.

This war could have been over more than eight years ago on that fateful Slavic Spring day. Today, the precedent is the American invasion of Serbia, and carving the nation to establish Kosovo.; 3/14/23, 5:33 PM
Mary Beth said...: Yancey Ward said...

Why exactly is the US flying a fucking Reaper drone over the Black Sea that near the Russian border in the first place? These fucking idiots are going to blunder us into WWIII.

3/14/23, 4:55 PM

I thought maybe I'd jumped into a new timeline where we are at war with Russia.; 3/14/23, 5:47 PM
Gusty Winds said...: the Russian jets intentionally flew in front of and dumped fuel in front of the unmanned drone....

Sounds like the Russian fighter jet urinated on our drone.

We sent fighter jets to shoot down balloons.; 3/14/23, 5:54 PM
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...: Was Senile Crook Biden driving the drone prior to 9 AM? He needs his diaper changed. careful.; 3/14/23, 6:08 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Vladdy don't fear the reaper.; 3/14/23, 6:18 PM
gilbar said...: OH NO!!! the russians are damaging US equipment!!!
And ALL We are doing, is engaging in, and Paying FOR, a proxy war; that has killed THOUSANDS of russians.
Those ANIMALS!!! they are trying to escalate!! Don't they realize? That's OUR job?
WE are the ones responsible for escalations!!; 3/14/23, 6:24 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Nice to know...

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2023/03/14/canadian-hockey-fans-sing-us-national-anthem-after-mic-cuts-out/; 3/14/23, 6:29 PM
chickelit said...: Biden's War; 3/14/23, 6:32 PM
Tomcc said...: We won't be blundering into WWIII, it will be carefully planned and executed. Just like our withdrawal from Afghanistan. You have the word of a Biden.; 3/14/23, 6:38 PM
Rabel said...: Have we seen one single bit of hard evidence proving that the Chinese spy balloon was actually a spy balloon?

Recovered instruments, close-up photos, transmission captures, anything?

Proving that it was a spy balloon would be a strong point in our favor in any future such incidents. But we haven't done that.; 3/14/23, 6:44 PM
Dave64 said...: Biden's Gulf of Tonkin incident?; 3/14/23, 7:09 PM
Big Mike said...: Latest reports say both the Russian fighter and the US drone crashed. If true, that would be a good exchange — a relatively cheap drone for one of Russia’s latest fighters. But initial reports are usually wrong.

Still laughing at the initial USAF response, accusing the Russians of conducting “a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner.” [My emphasis]

Does this mean that in the event of war they will no longer shoot down enemy fighters or bombers because of possible environmental impact? Will the Navy stop sinking enemy ships lest the resulting oil slicks cause environmental damage?; 3/14/23, 7:11 PM
Lawcruiter said...: I am assuming that this sort of thing happens regularly, but is usually unreported - mostly for operational security reasons or b/c it would be embarrassing for our side. So I am wondering why this incident (which seems pretty innocuous - but for the bizarre name-call?ing) now?; 3/14/23, 7:21 PM
Aggie said...: Well, since we've sent every other kind of armament to the Ukraine, gratis, then why wouldn't the Russians simply assume this was yet another example, and treat it like a belligerent? Was it flying with USA markers, one wonders.

Of course, it would be fairly straight forward to arm these things with a sidewinder, just sayin'. Russian pilots might just weigh the odds in a slightly different way before showing their ass to such a remotely-controlled machine, whose pilot could missile-lock & launch from a comfortable chair while sipping on a nice cold soda pop.; 3/14/23, 8:09 PM
chickelit said...: I enjoyed the frisson between Biden’s neocon, Russophobia foreign policy and his turning the fighting corps into paid-for gender reassignment corps. Priceless.; 3/14/23, 10:57 PM
Rusty said...: Mary Beth said...
"Yancey Ward said...

Why exactly is the US flying a fucking Reaper drone over the Black Sea that near the Russian border in the first place? These fucking idiots are going to blunder us into WWIII.

3/14/23, 4:55 PM

I thought maybe I'd jumped into a new timeline where we are at war with Russia."
Give it a few weeks. All thanks the the Biden voting chucklehead brigade.; 3/14/23, 11:05 PM
Rusty said...: Mary Beth said...
"Yancey Ward said...

Why exactly is the US flying a fucking Reaper drone over the Black Sea that near the Russian border in the first place? These fucking idiots are going to blunder us into WWIII.

3/14/23, 4:55 PM

I thought maybe I'd jumped into a new timeline where we are at war with Russia."
Give it a few weeks. All thanks the the Biden voting chucklehead brigade.; 3/14/23, 11:05 PM
Readering said...: So Biden filling middle position between appeaser DeSantis and loon Graham.; 3/15/23, 1:01 AM
m said...: Russia downs U.S. drone... Pentagon officials searching furiously for Russian pilot's pronouns.; 3/15/23, 7:19 AM
Rusty said...: Readering said...
"So Biden filling middle position between appeaser DeSantis and loon Graham."
Who have nothing to do with our foreign policy. The simpleton and chief that you elected though is in charge of our foreign policy and the military.
No matter how you paint it, Readering, you fucked up. This is the nonsense you voted for.; 3/15/23, 7:23 AM
MadisonMan said...: Compare Russia's actions in International Waters with American Spyware to America's actions over USA airspace to Chinese spyware.; 3/15/23, 8:57 AM
Static Ping said...: I think the correct response is to let it go. If it was an accident, then there's nothing really to discuss. If it was the action of a rogue pilot, then there's nothing to discuss. If it is an intentional provocation to try to escalate the conflict, there's no advantage to giving Putin what he wants.

What will Biden do? Depends on the preferred graft and the quality of his forever poo-poo brain.; 3/15/23, 4:56 PM