“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,” said Gen. James B. Hecker, a senior military official overseeing Air Force operations in the region. “In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash.”
It was not immediately clear where over the Black Sea the incident occurred or what mission the drone was conducting. U.S. military officials also did not immediately specify what other recent actions by Russian pilots fit into the pattern of dangerous activity that they described.
White House spokesman John Kirby said that President Biden was briefed about the incident on Tuesday morning by national security adviser Jake Sullivan. While intercepts of aircraft are not uncommon, Kirby said, “this one obviously is noteworthy because of how unsafe [and] indeed reckless that was in causing the downing of one of our aircraft.”
Kirby, asked if U.S. military officials have been in contact with Russia since the incident, referred additional questions to the Pentagon. The State Department intends to reach out and express concerns about the incident with Russian officials, Kirby said.
U.S. and Russian militaries set up years ago a phone line for the “deconfliction” of air operations to avoid collisions and other incidents that could potentially prompt a crisis. Kirby said the Black Sea is “an enormous body of water,” and U.S. aircraft have been flying in international airspace there “consistently” for a year.
“We’re going to continue to do that,” Kirby said. “And we don’t need to have some sort of check-in with the Russians before we fly in international airspace.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
*This story has not been edited by The Infallible staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.
