The U.S. European Command on Thursday released declassified video footage taken by the MQ-9 Reaper drone showing the moment a Russian Su-27 fighter collides with it after attempting to spray it with jet fuel.
U.S. European Command released declassified footage of a Russian Su-27 aircraft conducting an unsafe/unprofessional intercept of a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 in international airspace over the Black Sea, March 14. In addition to the footage, a storyboard of the events with declassified stills from the MQ-9 footage is also released.
The video was taken from a camera inside the drone and shows up to two different passes made by the Russian aircraft to spray it with fuel. On the second pass, the Russian fighter collides with the propeller at the rear of the drone.
VIDEO: Two #Russian Su-27s conducted an unsafe & unprofessional intercept w/a @usairforce intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 operating w/i international airspace over the #BlackSea March 14. https://t.co/gMbKYNtIeQ @HQUSAFEAFAF @DeptofDefense @NATO pic.twitter.com/LB3BzqkBpY
— U.S. European Command (@US_EUCOM) March 16, 2023
After the impact, which occurred two days ago, the image and communication with the drone was lost.
