WATCH: Stunning Video of Mid-Air Encounter Between Russian Fighter Jet and US Drone Released By Pentagon
The U.S. Military has released video footage that purports to show the mid-air encounter between a Russian fighter jet and the American Drone, which occurred over the Black Sea earlier in the week.
On Tuesday, the U.S. military announced that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet had collided with an American military drone over the Black Sea, making the drone “unflyable.” The White House called the Russian plane’s intercept of the unmanned aircraft “reckless.”
“Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” U.S. Air Force General James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, said in a statement. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.”
The video, released Thursday morning, shows a jet approaching the drone, getting very close, then an apparent incident in which that footage turns to color bars, suggesting that the drone had been hit. Another clip shows the jet appearing to dump fuel on the drone as a means to damage it.
Watch above via CNN.
