U.S. drones have resumed flying over Black Sea after Russian intercept: officials – National | 24CA News
The United States has resumed surveillance drone flights over the Black Sea area following a Russian fighter jet intercept on Tuesday that led to the downing of a U.S surveillance drone, two U.S. officers mentioned on Friday.
An RQ-4 Global Hawk flew a mission to the area on Friday, the officers mentioned, with one including that it was the primary such drone flight because the Tuesday incident. Pentagon officers have repeatedly careworn this week the incident wouldn’t cease Washington from flying such missions.
Still, the downing of a U.S. MQ-9 drone on Tuesday was the primary direct U.S.-Russian incident because the Ukraine conflict started, worsening already tense relations between Washington and Moscow as each nations publicly traded blame.
Russia has denied U.S. accusations that its two Su-24 fighter jets acted recklessly across the unmanned U.S. plane, and as a substitute has blamed “sharp maneuvering” by the drone for the crash.
However, the Pentagon launched a video on Thursday displaying a Russian Su-27 fighter jet coming very near the drone and dumping gas close to it, in what U.S. officers mentioned was an obvious effort to wreck the American plane because it flew.
It additionally confirmed the lack of the video feed after one other shut Russian maneuver, which the Pentagon mentioned resulted from a Russian jet colliding with the drone.
The video ends with photos of the drone’s broken propeller, which the Pentagon mentioned was attributable to the collision, making the plane inoperable and main it to crash into deep waters.
The incident over worldwide waters was a reminder of the danger of direct confrontation between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, which Moscow invaded greater than a yr in the past and which Western allies have supported with intelligence and weapons.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart in WashingtonEnhancing by Matthew Lewis)
