U.S. Military Releases Video of Russian Jet Releasing Flares in Path of and Damaging American Aircraft
The U.S. military released video of a July 23 incident during which a Russian fighter jet deployed flares in the path of an American aircraft on Tuesday.
According to the explanatory caption attached to the video, “the Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to the U.S. aircraft and deployed flares in its path which struck the propeller.”
New video: American military releases footage of Russian fighter jet deploying flares, severely damaging a US MQ-9 while conducting a defeat-ISIS mission pic.twitter.com/62C95Tvxsy
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) July 25, 2023
The American plane was an MQ-9, an unmanned drone vehicle used for surveillance and targeted military operations. The U.S. says the MQ-9 was conducting a defeat-ISIS mission at the time of the incident.
“We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior,” said Lt. General Alex Grynkewich, the commander of the Air Forces Central in a statement.
The flare attack on the U.S. drone came less than a week after a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a manned surveillance plane over Syria on July 17. Russian planes have repeatedly harassed U.S. drones over the last several months. In March, a Russian Jet approached and released fuel in front of another MQ-9 before colliding with it over the Black Sea, leading to its “complete loss.”
The European Command of the U.S. Armed Forces published a video of the collision between a #Russian Su-27 and an American MQ-9 Reaper #drone. The incident occurred on March 14.
The footage shows the Russian plane dropping fuel and then hitting the drone, forcing the “operators… pic.twitter.com/t8wXXwzXr9
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 16, 2023
After the March incident, U.S. European command characterized it as part of a “pattern on dangerous actions by Russian pilots while interacting with U.S. and Allied aircraft over international airspace.”
