Somewhere in Crimea there is a damaged Flanker that is probably lucky to have made it home...

"My guess is that there is video of the incident."

Of course there is. The whole purpose of the MQ-9 is ISR. The article already mentions that the Flankers were dumping fuel while conducting intercepts.

"The US sends military hardware into a war zone, and its Putin fault?"

The US MQ-9 was operating over international waters. That's not a war zone.

And the last thing Russia would ever want is for that to be a war zone, because they would lose absolutely every article they elected to put in the air.

I don't think the Flanker pilot intended to hit the MQ-9, but the fact is Russia's VKS air forces are utter steaming -------.

"So the US is at war with Russia? This is what you are saying?"

Of course not.

If the US were at war with Russia, the Russians would have been within the laws of armed conflcit to shoot down a belligerent.

Since the US and Russia are not at war, Russia has no business interfering with US (or any other) non-belligerent aircraft.

Last Septmeber, the commies took a shot at a UK RIVET JOINT. Again, the pilots were -------. If you can't shoot down a 707 with a MiG-29, you suck really, really bad. Thankfully for the Russians, they suck really, really bad, or else those RJ's would have been escorted by 5th Gen jets that would have smoked any fighters the Southern Military District chose to put up against them.

"The US is helping Ukraine defend itself against an unprovoked invasion by Pres Putin."

The US/UK used to park RJ's within 20 NM of Crimea (and Kaliningrad) prior to conflict. You only need to legally be 12 NM outside.

I would submit that the west is showing some level of restaint by not doing that anymore.

#26

They jus about got dealt with...

"Thanks for noting that."

I've seen the video. It's just poorly trained pilots IMO. Just like with the RJ.

If the Russians wanted to shoot down an MQ-9, it's not hard to do.

Much less difficult than shooting down a balloon.

"If they claim an airspace as part of operations, seems perfectly reasonable to stay out of the area. It is a war after all, and not our war."

Really?

You think that the Russians should be able to claim an exclusion zone over any area they choose, even if it legally considered international airspace?

And I don't know this for certain, but the MQ-9 was almost certainly unarmed.

But back to my original point, the commies didn't intend to down this aircraft. That only happened because their pilots suck and accidentally ran into the MQ-9. If I were a betting man, there will soon be manned aircraft flights, in all likelyhood bombers, conducting freedom of navigation flights in the Black Sea with F-22s in trail. And I'm not sure the ROE's will permit an F-22 to allow a Flanker to get that close to a bomber.

"There was more at risk for the Russian pilots in their manned jets than the unmanned remote controlled Reaper."

Tonight, somewhere in Crimea, a former Flanker pilot is going to fall out the window of a high-rise.

Suicide, of course.

"#35 Isn't that what America routinely does in every war?"

No. But the US has not fought a modern war against a peer or superior adversary.

The US would issue a NOTAM stating the danger of operating in a certain area, but for Iraq and Afghanistan that happened infrequently if ever.

Commercial airliners fly over Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan every single day.

The Russians were not trying to crash the aircraft. Damage it, maybe. The pilots just didn't carry out the intercept correctly.

They occasionaly do similar maneuvers against manned aircraft. This is the first time I've seen the fuel dumping though.

"If any country owns the Black Sea it's turkey and turkey is part of nato. Does Russia dare risk open Warfare with an organization that will end Russian history in a week?"

Turkey controls entry into the Black Sea, which is why the Russians (or anyone else) have brought any combat ships into the Black Sea since the conflict began. This arrangement is known as the Montreux Convention, and was signed in 1936.

"No one noticed the date?"

I did.

The western IC has been saying that Russia is going to be winchester for probably close to a year now.

"Annnyway, it's not like they shot down an airliner full of people, lied about it, then refused to apologize."

They (the Russians) most definitely did that.

I'm referring to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down by Russians back in 2014.

#74

Pretty much every last bit of ISR data, be it from a targeting pod, SAR, ball, whatever, is collected and databased. Honestly, I don't even know why most of it is classified.

By ball I mean EO/IR ball on an RPA. Not a satellite. That imagery is almost always classified.