The United States promised to continue flights over the Black Sea after the incident with the UAV
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The United States will continue flying over the Black Sea after the incident with the Russian Su-27 and the American drone (UAV) MQ-9 Reaper. John Kirby, White House Strategic Communications Coordinator, writes “RIA News”.
“We have been flying over this airspace for a year, we will continue to do so, and we do not need confirmation from Russia to fly over international waters,” he told reporters. Kirby stressed that the flights are for the security of the United States.
The White House spokesman added that if the Russian authorities want to “send a message about their desire to keep us from flying over the Black Sea, this will not happen.”
On March 14, the US European Command reported that two Russian Su-27 aircraft intercepted an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea. The incident occurred in the morning of the same day at about 9.03 Moscow time. It is specified that one of the Russian Su-27s touched the MQ-9 propeller, as a result, the US military had to sink the drone.
Kirby said US President Joe Biden had been briefed on the incident. He added that Russian fighter jets had already intercepted American aircraft in the area, but that this case “deserves attention because of how unsafe and unprofessional it was.”
According to a Vedomosti source, unlike heavy high-altitude RQ-4 UAVs, whose flights are displayed on the Flightradar24 resource, MQ-1C flights over the Black Sea take place with the transponder turned off, but they give Ukraine no less valuable intelligence information – this has become one of the reasons for the impact on the American drone.
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