US drone may not be recovered from Black Sea after Russian interception -White House

[Chris]

US drone may not be recovered from Black Sea after Russian interception - White House
Russia's defense ministry blamed "sharp maneuvering" of the drone for the crash and said that its jets did not make contact.
By REUTERS

The US military surveillance drone that crashed into the Black Sea may never be recovered, White House spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday after the craft was intercepted by Russian fighter jets, worsening taut relations between Washington and Moscow.

In the first such incident since the Ukraine war began, Russian Su-27 jets struck the propeller of the unmanned drone and made it inoperable, the Pentagon said. Russia's defense ministry blamed "sharp maneuvering" of the drone for the crash and said that its jets did not make contact.

"It has not been recovered," Kirby said in an interview with CNN. "And I'm not sure that we're going to be able to recover it. Where it fell into the Black Sea - very, very deep water. So we're still assessing whether there can be any kind of recovery effort. There may not be."

more.............. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-734407

 

[daygo]

Seen video of a drone possibly the American one doused with some form of liquid possibly petrol from an aircraft.

 

[pixelpusher]

Seen video of a drone possibly the American one doused with some form of liquid possibly petrol from an aircraft.

I just watched the clip, looks like that first one, they dumped fuel on the drone, then came back and clipped the propeller. I guess that's cheaper than firing a missile at it.

No idea why they'd dump expensive jet fuel on it tho, unless it was some symbolic gesture of disdain?

 

[Wally]

They may have been trying a dump and burn fuel like the old F111s would do to lose weight.

That would have toasted the Reaper.

If the reaper would have blown some titanium chaff and the SU's sucked it into the engines,
We may have had our first soviet air kill by a drone.... unless there already are classified downings labeled Operational Loss...


There is a story of an IAF drone that had a pair of Syrian MIGs pursue it to the point of not paying attention and they slammed into the ground when the drone out maneuvered them. The operator was credited with the MIG kills. 3 more and he's an ace.

 

[bigmoose]

...No idea why they'd dump expensive jet fuel on it tho, unless it was some symbolic gesture of disdain?

Engine air inlet was on the top. Ingesting liquid JP-4/kerosene would greatly upset the engine, from compressor stall, or combustor flame out, to very high turbine inlet temperatures resulting in melting/damage to high pressure turbine. Any or all of this would have resulted in a "no contact" "splash" of the Reaper.

Two Flankers involved. The kerosene dumps were intentional, IMO the contact was not. Wingman made the second pass and got too close. To nip the prop he had to take a lot of the vertical stabilizer off. There is going to be significant damage to the Flanker.

Most of the black sea, especially near Crimea and Russia is about 2000 meters. Deepwater horizon was at 1500 meters. So it will take that type of robotic diving equipment to get to the Reaper. I read that Turkey won't let US warships into the black sea...(imagine that a NATO country)... so looks like we are not going to recover it.

 

[Carl]

If can recover the drone the prop should have some mig material on it.

 

[Rome36863]

I still find it hard that the Russians would have risked damage to a fighter by hitting a drone. Something is just not right about this.

 

[DanLMP]

If can recover the drone the prop should have some mig material on it.

The video clearly shows the prop damage.

 

[daygo]

I still find it hard that the Russians would have risked damage to a fighter by hitting a drone. Something is just not right about this.

Not making sense at moment.

 

[Wally]

I still find it hard that the Russians would have risked damage to a fighter by hitting a drone. Something is just not right about this.

Pilot error. They are copying the Chinese pilot who tangled with an EP3 Orion surveillance plane.

Planes don't just fly in straight lines, they float in the air and slide trough curves. Getting close to another plane at speed is asking for trouble.

Professional stunt pilots like the Blue Angels or Red Arrows practice constantly as a mere few feet equals a fraction of a second miscalculation.

And when you don't know exactly what the other pilot is going to do the foolishness of such maneuvers compounds.


It is very possible that Sukhoi pilot would have lost a very expensive fighter and his own life.
Stupid is as stupid does, and the current soviet regime is convincing the world they are about as militarily stupid as they come.


It is sad this war even started. Could dialogue have been in place trying to really solve the problem?

But then evil desire will not just go away. It wants what it wants and will wait only so long.
Sometimes its similar with the daily sin we deal with.

But God doesn't negotiate with sin, He conquered it. May we strive to claim the victory and surrender our lives to Him.

 

[Carl]

Just pump the water out til can see it and then go get it!