Russian fighter jet in incident with US drone over Syria

Overnight the US Department of Defence released footage of the latest such encounter, between an MQ-9 Reaper drone and a Russian fighter jet. It accused the Russian plane of flying “dangerously close” to the drone and then “deploying flares from a position directly overhead, with only a few metres of separation between the aircraft”.

“One of the Russian flares struck the MQ-9, severely damaging its propeller. Fortunately, the MQ-9 crew was able to maintain flight and safely recover the aircraft to its home base,” said Lieutenant General Alex Grynkewich, who commands the Ninth Air Force.

“The Russian fighter’s blatant disregard for flight safety detracts from our mission to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS,” he said.

“We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked and unprofessional behaviour.”

The American drone was unmanned and operated remotely. The model is used for surveillance and some targeted military operations.

This incident happened on July 23.

The Americans’ impatience with Russia’s mid-air antics appears to be growing as the dangerous encounters become more frequent. Fighter jets have repeatedly harassed MQ-9 drones in recent months.

The worst such incident occurred over the Black Sea in March, when a Russian Su-27 actually collided with a drone and forced it to crash.

“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,” the White House said at the time.

“This unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians nearly caused both aircraft to crash,” General James Hecker, commander of US air forces in Europe and Africa, said.

Video of that incident showed the Russian plane dumping fuel on the drone. The footage cut off as the two aircraft collided.

US European command called it part of a “pattern of dangerous actions” by Russian pilots when interacting with American craft over international airspace.

In the wake of today’s cranky statement from the US, The Washington Examiner reported that Russian planes “have increased the frequency of their harassment”.

On July 5 and 6, Russian fighters disrupted multiple drones by dropping flares in front of them. And on July 17, a Russian Su-35 flew dangerously close to an American MC-12 surveillance plane – an incident which stood apart from the rest, because the MC-12 was manned by four crew members. The US stressed that their lives had been put at risk.

“These actions against a manned aircraft represent a new level of unsafe and unprofessional actions by Russian aircraft operating in Syria,” Gen Grynkewich said at the time.

An unnamed US official told The Examiner there was a “qualitative difference now” in the frequency of the incidents.

“My assessment, and we have some evidence to support this, is that as Russia and Iran have pulled themselves closer together, that there is interest on both sides to push us out of Syria, to put a pressure campaign on us,” the source said.

“There’s a confluence of interest between these three – the Iranians, Russians and Syrians – and my assessment is that there’s a degree of co-operation, collaboration, planning, where they potentially are looking at how they pressure us over time to push the US out.”

The Biden administration has expressed concern publicly about the growing collaboration between Russia and Iran. In December, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby characterised it as a “full scale defence partnership” with support “flowing both ways”.

Russia in particular was said to be providing Iran with an “unprecedented level of military and technical support”. However there have been signs of friction more recently, as the flailing invasion of Ukraine sucks up Russian resources.

The partnership was supposed to involve Russia giving Iran at least 24 Su-35 jets – the same type of craft involved in this week’s drone incident. As yet, it hasn’t delivered on the pledge.