The Department of Defense just released video of the Russian jets forcing down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone on Tuesday over international waters in the Black Sea:
U.S. European Command has released dramatic declassified video taken by the MQ-9 Reaper drone that shows the moment that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet collided with it after attempting to spray the drone with jet fuel.
The video was taken from a camera on the drone’s underside and shows two different passes taken by the jets to spray the drone, the second one being the collision with the propeller at the rear of the drone, which is visible in the footage.
Communications were lost with the drone as the image can be seen pixelating into color bars.
EUCOM also confirmed that communications with the drone were down for a minute and that the released video was edited for time.
When the video feed resumed one of the propeller blades can be seen damaged from the collision with the Russian fighter.
We,
of course, are shocked (shocked!) that the Russians lied about the
encounter, saying the downing was the result of "a sharp maneuver" by
the drone. It's obvious now that it was the result of not very sharp Russian pilots playing games.
