BREAKING: RUSSIAN FIGHTER CLIPS US DRONE

 

A Russian fighter jet collided with an American Reaper drone over the Black Sea, bringing the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) down, the US military confirmed today.

The US military said one of two Russian fighters jet clipped the propeller of the drone, forcing the US to bring it down in the area of intense NATO military activity close to the Ukraine war frontlines, amid Russia's on-going invasion of the country.

'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,' U.S. Air Force General James Hecker, who overseas the US Air Force in the region, said in a statement. 'In fact, this unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash,' he added, saying the incident 'follows a pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots...over international airspace'.

One Western source said earlier that an investigation was underway to check whether the drone had been shot down.

It was quickly clarified that a collision had occurred between a US-made MQ-9 Reaper and a Russian Su-27 fighter jet at 7:03am CET (6:03am GMT).

USAF RELEASES NEW B-21 PHOTOS THAT HINT AT TRAILING EDGE

CLICK TO ENLARGE 

 

ENLARGED AND BLOWN OUT TO SHOW INLET DETAIL -ENGINE COVERS IN PLACE 

contrast shows more details 

CLICK TO ENLARGE 

enhanced contrast shows tape and panel lines 

President Biden "make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, I will take it down"

President Joe Biden said the U.S. "acted out of an abundance of caution" when shooting down three unidentified aerial objects flying over North American airspace this past weekend.

While officials are still working to recover the objects and assess them, Biden said nothing currently suggests they were related to China's surveillance program or that they were surveillance objects from other countries.

"But make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, I will take it down," Biden said.

On the Chinese surveillance balloon, Biden added: "I make no apologies for taking down that balloon."

The president's remarks on Thursday were the first time he's commented extensively on the issue, coming more than two weeks after the Chinese spy balloon was spotted over Montana.

The balloon that traversed the continental U.S. between Jan. 28 and Feb. 4 added tension to the already fraught U.S.-China relationship. Biden was criticized by Republicans for not taking action to shoot the balloon down earlier, though he said he ordered it be taken down as soon as possible but his military advisers said it was too risky to do over land.

Since then, three unidentified aerial objects were downed by the U.S. military over three successive days -- one over Alaska, one over Canada and the third over Lake Huron in Michigan.

The administration has yet to confirm what those objects were or where they came from, though White House spokesperson John Kirby said earlier this week a "leading explanation" within the intelligence community is that the objects may have been for commercial or benign use.

Biden echoed that sentiment Thursday, saying while they still don't know for sure the objects were "most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions" for weather purposes or scientific research.

An interagency review has been underway to study broader policy implications for detecting and analyzing unidentified aerial objects that pose either safety or security risks.

BREAKING: U.S. SHOOTS DOWN HIGH ALTITUDE OBJECT OVER ALASKA

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military on Friday afternoon shot down a "high-altitude object" flying over Alaskan airspace that the Department of Defense was tracking over the last 24 hours, National Security Council official John Kirby confirmed at the White House.

"The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight. Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object and they did and it came inside our territorial waters and those waters right now are frozen," Kirby told reporters at the White House briefing.


Fighter aircraft assigned to U.S. Northern Command took down the object "within the last hour," Kirby said around 2:30 p.m. ET.


The Pentagon will have more to say about the situation later in the afternoon, Kirby said. A press briefing is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.

Kirby made clear the U.S. does not know who owns the object and he would not call it a balloon, like the one allegedly owned by the Chinese government that the U.S. military shot down last weekend.

"We're calling this an object because that's the best description we have right now," Kirby said. "We do not know who owns it, whether it's state-owned or corporate-owned or privately-owned. We just don't know."

Officials did not understand the full purpose of the object, Kirby added, saying the U.S. expects that it will be able to recover the debris because it fell over what they believe is frozen water. "A recovery effort will be made and we're hopeful that it'll be successful and then we can learn a little bit more about it," he said.

The object was described as "roughly the size of a small car," Kirby said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

US NAVY photos of downed Chinese Spy Balloon recovery surface.

 SOURCE: US NAVY 

click to enlarge