Posted on 03/16/2023 4:33:39 AM PDT by tlozo
US General Mark Milley said the MQ-9 Reaper drone sank in an area of the Black Sea where depths are up to 1,500 metres.
Recovery of a US surveillance drone that crashed after being intercepted by Russian fighter jets would be challenging given the deep waters in the Black Sea, a senior United States general said, as reports emerged of Russian vessels at the crash site.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said remains of the uncrewed MQ-9 Reaper drone, which the US claims was brought down by one of two Russian Su-27 jets clipping the drone’s propeller, sank in waters as deep as 1,219 to 1,524 meters (4,000 to 5,000 feet).
“It probably sank to some significant depths, so any recovery operation from a technical standpoint would be very difficult,” Milley told reporters on Wednesday. Milley added it would take several days before the US would know for certain the size of the debris field.
Moscow – which denies that its jets were in physical contact with the drone – said it would try to retrieve the drone wreckage as reports emerged on Thursday of US officials confirming that Russian ships had reached the crash site.
ABC News senior Pentagon reporter Luis Martinez tweeted that two US officials had confirmed the presence of Russian ships at the location of the crash in the Black Sea.
The Black Sea borders both Russia and Ukraine.
Russia’s Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told the Rossiya-1 TV channel on Wednesday that Russia would attempt a recovery operation for the US spy drone.
“I don’t know whether we will be able to retrieve it or not but it has to be done. And we’ll certainly work on it. I hope, of course, successfully,” he said.
Milley said the US had taken measures to ensure there would be no loss of sensitive intelligence if the drone were to be salvaged by Russia.
“We’re quite confident that whatever was of value is no longer of value,” Milley said.
Patrushev also said the drone incident proved that the US was involved in the war in Ukraine. “This is another confirmation that they are directly involved in these actions, in the war,” he said.
Moscow’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said Washington deploying a drone thousands of kilometres from the US and near to Russia’s borders proved it was collecting intelligence for the Ukrainian army to help it carry out attacks on Russian forces.
Ukrainian officials cautioned on Wednesday that the drone’s downing signalled Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intention to “expand the conflict”.
“The purpose of this all-in tactic is to always be raising the stakes,” Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said on social media.
But with US officials saying the Russian plane may have unintentionally collided with the drone and Moscow maintaining the jets did not interfere physically with the aircraft, it appeared both sides were focused on restraint and averting a military escalation at a time of already fraught relations over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Milley, the US general, said it was clear the intercept and harassment of the drone by Russian jets was intentional but it was unclear whether the Russian aircraft deliberately made contact with the MQ-9 – a manoeuvre that could also put the Russian jet at risk.
“Was it intentional or not? Don’t know yet,” Milley said.
Earlier on Wednesday, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the incident was likely unintentional.
Milley also spoke with his Russian counterpart, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, in a rare phone call on Wednesday, the Pentagon said.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, after the incident but did not reveal details of their conversation.
so you’re saying Russia does have that capability?
My understanding is that the drone was in a No-Fly Zone
Its a Russian declared "No-Fly Zone" not recognized internationally, just like the Chinese "No-Fly Zone" in the South China Sea is not recognized internationally.
“My understanding is that the drone was in a No-Fly Zone..”
Since when does any nation get the right to declare International air space a no fly zone?
Oh that’s right. They can’t.
L
I’d love to see the response by the US to Russians flying drones over international waters of our east coast, west coast or in the Guif of Mexico.
WarNews24|7 is reporting the Russians have recovered the drone.
Quoting what news article?
(/sarcasm)
Most of these Zeepers do not comprehend that Russia has advanced beyond us in certain capabilities.
We have spent our time on idiocy like woke and leftist dogma.
There’s nothing like a little global thermonuclear war to be the perfect excuse for a complete reset of the global financial system as well as a reset of the global population.
Put those two together and you have the Great Reset!
I’m surprised there isn’t a remote self-destruct function on something that expensive and classified.
Right, because we would definitely dump fuel on them while approaching dangerously close...
US intercepts Russian bombers off Alaska for 2 straight days Feb 16, 2023
The U.S. intercepted Russian aircraft flying off Alaska in international airspace as they approached an identification zone for two straight days this week, according to officials.
Planes are required to identify themselves when they approach the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ. If they don't, U.S. aircraft are launched to check on them.
The Alaskan Region of North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, announced on Thursday an incident that took place on Feb. 14 in which U.S. Air Force F-35s intercepted four Russian aircraft, including two Tu-95 bombers. The U.S. announced on Tuesday it had intercepted two Russian Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic bombers on "a seven-hour flight over neutral waters of the Chukchi Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk" on Feb. 13.
Neither time did the Russian aircraft enter the U.S. or Canadian airspace, according to officials.
"This Russian activity near the North American ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative," NORAD said in a statement Thursday.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/us-intercepts-russian-bombers-off-alaska-2-straight/story?id=97260923
They had any identifiers turned off which means it was spying. LOL It was not one of Joey’s innocent weather balloons.
The only thing still flying is the lies. They got caught with their pants down.
Maybe that is what happened?
That's the Russian claim which the US denies.
Why is it that we should consider this an act of war. A drone is no different than a missile. Its a hunk of metal. It has no more moral authority than a cannon ball. If it is interfered with, take it up with the world court. If you shot it into Russian airspace you can best believe they will shoot it down straight away.
If there was a person strapped to it. Thats a different story. They will try to capture him alive and figure out what he is doing. Then after some roughing up, they will hand him back in their time.
Just checking! History has a way of being weird, ironic, funny, and stranger than fiction.
There could be a Pary Gowers. I Go ogled the name and the closest I found was Patrick Gowers.
Who in the US is saying this is "an act of war"? Provocation, yes.
Milley Won't Call Russia's Downing of U.S. Drone an Act of War
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