Russian jets vs US drone. 1-0 Russia
Last Post 03/16/2023 09:12 PM by Orange Crush. 3 Replies.
Author Messages
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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03/14/2023 11:44 PM
From the NY Times website; two Russian Su-27 fighter jets approached an MQ-9 Reaper drone, made contact with it and perhaps damaged the prop, sending it or requiring the controller to ditch it into the Black sea. US officials said the drone was a complete loss. Blamed the Russians for inept flying.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/03/14/world/russia-ukraine-news?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20230314&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=cta®i_id=119138258&segment_id=127767&user_id=8f11a8156c2244a55036c76cfd0222a9#the-us-european-command-says-the-drone-was-downed-after-a-russian-aircraft-struck-its-propeller

I read that and thought: two powers at war. Yes, not declared yet but ... We fly a drone in their controlled airspace. (It might be "international waters" but war is war.) The aircraft, all military, meet and the Russians disable (and apparently destroy the US one without anyone getting hurt). Probably minor damage to the Russian plane. Russia wins and we look bad. And we tossed far more US dollars into the Black Sea than the Russians did rubles.

Inept flying? Sounds to me like they got the best of us and we didn't have the flying skills to disengage. I'd be willing to bet also that we invested more money in that drone than Russia did in both their jet and pilot.. Maybe both jets and both pilots.
longslowdistance

Posts:2881

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03/15/2023 03:37 PM
Jet vs remote controlled prop plane is not a contest. Maybe played chicken.
79pmooney

Posts:3178

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03/15/2023 08:52 PM

Posted By Frederick Jones on 03/15/2023 03:37 PM
Jet vs remote controlled prop plane is not a contest. Maybe played chicken.



I'm hoping that our drones, if they are that easy to knock off, are cheap and expendable but I suspect they are only expendable in the sense that knocking those drones off keeps our military-industrial complex healthy.
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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03/16/2023 09:12 PM
As LSD notes, no contest. These things have been brought down with some regularity: Libya, Yemen, Syria and Iran.

None as bad as the US drone Iran took control of in 2011, made it land safely, took it apart and reverse engineered it to kickstart their own drone program, used in Ukraine among other places.

This particular incident was probably pilot error. They were messing with it but one of them got to close.


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