Photo: Still from the video
On July 23, there was an incident in the sky over Syria with an American Reiala vehicle, which was damaged by a Russian MQ-9 fighter jet.
According to Lt. Gen. Alex Grinkevich, the top commander of air force operations in the Middle East, this drone was on a mission against the terrorist organization ISIS (banned in the Russian Federation).
The US Air Force Command specified that a Russian fighter jet approached the US drone and then fired several flares towards the MQ-9 Reaper, one of which seriously damaged the device's propeller. Despite this, the operators managed to maintain control of the drone and the drone successfully returned to base.
U.S. Air Force officials expressed concern over this risky behavior by Russian forces, calling it a “blatant disregard” for aviation safety. In addition, the American side points out that the Russian aviation distracts the attention of the American air force from the important mission to finally defeat the terrorist group ISIS. Lt. Gen. Alex Grinkevich called on Russian forces in Syria to stop such reckless and unprofessional behavior to avoid similar incidents in the future.
On July 23, Russian military aircraft deployed flares that damaged the U.S. MQ-9 while carrying out the mission to defeat ISIS. For the entire statement, Lt. Gene. Alex Grynkewich, Commander, 9th AF (AFCENT) visit https://t.co/5cQm8MQ6aQ@CENTCOM @DeptofDefense @usairforce @CJTFOIR pic.twitter.com/ViVTI3P05i
— US AFCENT (@USAFCENT) July 25, 2015: wp-text 20; -content/uploads/2023/07/bddcbae9ceafb1225786ee63657892ba.jpg” />
.jpg” />
