Russian Defense Minister Belousov instructed the General Staff to respond to US provocations with UAVs
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov instructed the General Staff to make proposals for rapid response measures to US provocations with drones. The defense department indicated that the intensity of flights of US strategic drones over the Black Sea has increased.
Such flights greatly increase the likelihood of incidents in the airspace with aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which increases the risk of direct confrontation between the alliance and the Russian Federation. NATO countries will be responsible for this
US Drones Help Ukraine Target Russian Territory
According to the department, American unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) conduct reconnaissance and designate targets for high-precision weapons, which are used by Ukraine to strike targets on Russian territory.
“This indicates the increasing involvement of the US and NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kyiv regime,” the Russian Defense Ministry believes.
Photo: Konstantin Mikhalchevsky / RIA Novosti
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov forwarded to the Ministry of Defense the question of whether Russia has the right to shoot down US reconnaissance drones over the Black Sea after the attack on Sevastopol, which occurred a day earlier, on June 23. War correspondent Alexey Zhivov previously stated that the American RQ-4 Global Hawk reconnaissance drone helped the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) guide missiles during the attack on Sevastopol.
Earlier it became known about a mysterious incident with a US drone over the Black Sea
On June 25, the FighterBomber Telegram channel, allegedly run by a former military pilot, spoke about a mysterious incident with an American RQ-4B Global Hawk reconnaissance drone over the Black Sea. There were few details of what happened, but journalists and bloggers decided that a Russian fighter might have shot down a US reconnaissance drone. Later this information was not confirmed.
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Photo: Inna Varenytsia / Reuters
The next day, the author of the FighterBomber channel spoke about what happened in more detail. The Russian Mig-31 fighter did not open fire or make any aggressive actions towards the US drone. The blogger pointed out that a long-awaited event took place after the incident with the American MQ-9 Reaper drone. On March 14, 2023, a Russian Su-27 intercepted and damaged a drone, after which it crashed in the Black Sea. It is noted that this was the result of unfortunate accidents.
This time, the RQ-4B Global Hawk began reconnaissance of the Black Sea coast, the coast of Crimea and moved deeper into the territory. The expert explained that the Global Hawk, unlike the MQ-9 Reaper, is a huge strategic drone the size of a house. It can fly for many hours at an altitude of 16 kilometers and above. It coincided that a Russian Mig-31 was flying past at very high speed, and it was flying above the Global Hawk.
After which some changes occurred with the Global Hawk’s flight parameters, which ended at such an altitude for the Global Hawk that it suddenly changed its mind about carrying out its combat reconnaissance mission, turned around and went home.
He stressed that the MiG-31 did not open fire, it was flying at a speed of 2.3 Mach (more than 2,800 kilometers per hour). RQ-4B Global Hawk usually operates over the Black Sea waters at an altitude of about 16,000 meters. The altitude ceiling for the MiG-31 is 21,500 meters, and its speed is 3,100 kilometers per hour, so the crew was actually working at the limit of their capabilities.
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