Whether the collision was intentional or accidental – Pentagon says Russia’s actions were reckless and aggressive
The Pentagon has released declassified video showing Tuesday’s mid-air incident between an American MQ-9 ‘Reaper’ surveillance drone a Russian fighter jet in international air space over the Black Sea.
U.S. officials say the interaction lasted about 30 minutes.
In the video, the Russian aircraft can be seen approaching the U.S. drone, dumping fuel on it -then returning to dump more fuel before clipping the drone’s propeller, causing it to crash into the Black Sea.
Whether the collision was intentional or accidental – the Pentagon says Russia’s actions were reckless and aggressive.
Russia said it would try to recover the drone wreckage from the sea.
General Mark Milley said says the waters where it crashed down are 4,000 to 5,000 feet making any recovery attempt difficult.
He added that measures were taken before the $32 million unmanned vehicle crashed to ensure that no sensitive information could be recovered.
The U.S. Secretary of Defence says the United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows.
