Russia Says it's Going to Try to Recover Downed U.S. Reaper Drone
Western countries have not provided Ukraine with its top technologies out of fear weapons would be sent to Iran for reverse engineering.
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In 2011, under President Barack Obama, the U.S. lost a stealth drone to Iran that was believed to be reverse-engineered by Tehran that, five years later, produced its own aircraft, called the Saegheh, or lightning, that looked almost identical to the American RQ-170 Sentinel.
The drone was being operated by the CIA in Afghanistan and somehow managed to end up “nearly intact,” on the ground in Iran, according to The New York Times.
Iran has since become one of the most prolific countries in drone capabilities and has been accused of providing Russia with drones in its fight against Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the U.S. announced that an MQ-9 Reaper drone that was conducting “routine operations” in international airspace over the Black Sea was clipped by a Russian fighter jet and crashed in the Black Sea.
The U.S. and Russia both expressed ambitions to retrieve the submerged drone. John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, told CNN: the U.S. does not want the drone “to fall into anyone's hands other than ours.”
“We’ve taken steps to protect our equities with respect to that particular drone, that particular aircraft,” he said.
Nikolai Patrushev, the Russian Security Council secretary, told reporters on Wednesday: “I don't know whether we'll be able to retrieve it or not but it has to be done. And we will certainly work on it.”
Ivan Konovalov, a military expert and political analyst, told Sputnik that the drone was a sophisticated and very powerful aircraft of a strategic class that was flying with its transponders turned off in the direction of the Russian border.
How valuable the drone would be for Russia to retrieve is unclear, Mark F. Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) International Security Program, told The Trends Journal.
He called the Reaper a “moderately valuable” for the Russians, who would likely reverse-engineer the aircraft to learn its vulnerabilities to develop new defense systems and countermeasures.
Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, told reporters that two Russian Su-27s harassed the drone before the collision by dumping fuel on the drone and flying in an “unsound and unprofessional manner.”
Dr. Victor Mizin, a political scientist with the Institute for International Studies at MGIMO University, told Sputnik, that the U.S.’s account doesn’t make sense.
"[H]ad they touched the [drone's] propeller, I think it would have been a catastrophe not only for that drone, but for the Russian Sukhoi as well. So it was only, I think, pushed by the exhaustion from the engine of the Sukhoi aircraft," he said.
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder briefed the media regarding the incident, according to the Defense Department.
The incident most likely caused damage to the Russian aircraft, although it was able to land, he said.
The U.S. Air Force routinely flies aircraft throughout international airspace in coordination with applicable host nation and international laws and will continue to do so, he said.
Pretty smart Russian pilot, taking out the propeller.