Military releases footage showing Russian fighter jet forcing down US drone over Black Sea
The U.S. military has released footage that depicts a portion of the Tuesday encounter between two Russian fighter jet pilots and the U.S. drone they forced down.
The newly declassified video, which U.S. European Command released early Thursday, depicts critical moments in the midair incident that resulted in the downing of a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 unmanned aircraft.
The video is from a camera on the MQ-9 Reaper drone pointed backward toward its tail and the drone’s propeller, which is actively turning at the beginning of the clip. A Russian Su-27 approached the rear of the drone and began to release fuel as it passed the unmanned drone. The feed is briefly disrupted as the Russian fighter jet passed over the drone while continuing to release fuel. When it comes back seconds later, the propeller was visible and appeared undamaged.
