A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to the US military. Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper joins CNN’s Jake Tapper and weighs in. #CNN #News
Style experts spot a ‘no-no’ inside the Oval Office
Amanpour: Dissent about war in Ukraine in Putin’s circle is ‘silenced’
Cannes Film Festival 2023: The stand-out films and stars this year
Anti-Putin Russians based in Ukraine allegedly stage incursion into Russia
I imagine they dumped fuel on it to try to flood the air intake and down it.
@Jay YouTube THAT will be in Top Gun III: ROOSTER TAIL
Are you sure it was fuel?
@Eva Smith Now the video has been released…yeah…that’s a fuel dump.
Usually releases at about 75 gal/minute (depending on fuel load). Some have gravity dump and some have fuel pumps.
The whole purpose is to reduce weight and make you less of a smoking hole when you hit the ground. At least that was our joke about it. I was on CH-53E helicopters (16k pounds of fuel alone). If we had to go in with full bags, you’d be able to see the fireball from orbit.
@CREW CHIEF , it was a joke. I thought they emptied the lavatory tank by mistake!
@Eva Smith lol, the “blue meteor”
Ok, dropping fuel on this drone. And expsperts trying to figure it out, was it intensional or not… are you stupid? YES, that WAS intentional
@Sean McCartney if you know russian, hear that. If not, answer somebody to translate putins words
The UK news is saying they dumped fuel on it and could see (from the onboard camera) the fighters lighting off afterburners near it to catch it on fire..
It’s actually rather funny! Just an accident……like all “accidents”!
So now they say dumping fuel at other aircraft is fair game? Next we hear both sides are now equipping all fighter aircraft and drones with super soakers.
@Charged x5 Not up to me but I’m on our side not Russia’s
@Julian Petkov begin with the annexation of Crimea by Russia. Russian speaking people can go home. There are English speakers all over the world but that doesn’t justify an invasion. Russia could have repatriated them. It’s the land and control of the Black Sea that they’re after.
Can you justify rape, torture, murder and targeting civilians ? Please do if you can.
@Zoe R True, the drone fell out of the sky instead of being shot down. My bad . . . .
@Zoe R Run against Joey B. for Prez, you might even win.
This was a deliberate act, it was engineered to create a reaction to see how far we will go at this time.
Mission provocation
Americans experiencing real war for the first time in many years; and shocked that America is not the best 🤣🤣🤣🤣. This is real war not the terrorist attacks and invasions America has been doing for many years.
It wasn’t unprofessional or wreckless. Russia did what it intended to do. As for interaction, spraying it with fuel IS interaction, and then hitting the propeller purposely, is also interaction.
Here is the full clip : u don’t want to miss this
https://youtu.be/h83GLjvDH8U
Exactly. It sounds like they dumped fuel on it. And tried to light the fuel with exhaust.
@Ian Heier They did everything else to take it down.. might as well have.
Love Rusia , nothing comapare to Nord Stream blown up by US
Main reason we should be helping is because we promised them we would if they gave up their nukes, and they did.
Those saying they didn’t have the codes to fire tge nukes , they could of dismantle them and make other nukes with them. If NK or Iran had them you know that’s what they’d do .
@darklord I know that.
Perhaps there is another reason. The US is not a world leader because they are so great, but because others willingly follows them. But who will respect a boss who only cares about himself? Even great powers die when they lose their “raison d’etre”.
I truly love with Mark Esper said about “what would Ronald Reagan do?” he was a true Republican. Someone like Trump or DeSantis saying this does not affect the United States truly communicates that they are in support of a dictator like Putin. Does anyone else remember the saying in the 80s that I’d rather be dead than red? What happened to the republican party?
What is stopping you from volunteering in Ukraine? You get a free rifle and might just get to see a Russian if you can get close enough to their artillery.
@Kyn Chan Ukraine doesn’t need volunteers. It needs gear.
@cal c It needs bodies for the Russian artillery to expend on, US ones are cheap and plentiful.
In 1994 USA, Great Britain, Ukraine, and Russia signed the Budapest Memorandum, acknowledging Ukraine’s borders and sovereign integrity. It is not a dispute about land since the treaty guaranteed Ukraine security if it gave up nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile I just pack lunch for my kids and walked them to the bus stop and we saw a coyote. The kids never saw one before. Great times.
@OSVALDO Doron I could link a dozen videos of the dictator, the undisputed ruler of Iraq declare war on the USA over and over and over again. While I opposed the war , saying the USA started it is absurd. The USA just accepted sadams invitation.
@Mad Max So, then why would the Budapest Memorandum even exist?
@Spots Corner where are those weapons of mass destruction? What is undisputed is the fact that it was an illegal war, just like the Kosovo war when they disrespected Yougoslavia s international borders, or Irak where a few powers decided it was time to invade a who country. How could you justify probably one million people dead in Iraq? But whose counting dead bodies now?
@Spots Corner are you serious ?
What would happen if the drone just up and blew itself into bits and shards. Some sort of malfunction
That would be a dark day for the US military complex that invested hundreds of millions in those technologies. Wait, there still is
The Russian Jets dropped their wing tanks to hit and damage the drone. Leaves no damage to the jets, only missing their wing tanks when they landed.
Su-27 don’t have drop tanks.
@killer murderer Most report say “external tank of the jet” could have easily been equipped as a pre planned attack
@Steve In war time, legallity is ignored for security reasons.
@Reilo As if it cant be equipped. The drone was intercepted for atleast 30 mins..
You must be new to think jets cant have additional modular equipment like external tanks for intentional attack
My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the drone.
Too bad they can’t bill Putin.
bro 😂😂
Looks like the Russian pilots employed the “fuel piss maneuver” – a real classic. Maverick would be proud.
Like a cat pissing on the coyote
Actually a first for a jet! It’s actually funny! Would that work on “spy” Balloons?
Good answers. When you’re free of politics, you can give honest assessments.
My condolences to the drone’s family😢😢
The fact that they pissed on the drone proves that they a lot of qualified pilots😂
Wooo… what a strong facial expression of this hexagon guy… I’m scared! Nah… He made me smile 😂
It would be interesting to see what damage to drone prop occurred. Seems pretty hard for a jet to hit the drone prop without risking damage or even crashing. That said, I knew some ex -viet nam crop dust pilots in the 70’s that did crazy stuff with their planes for fun , but they were flying much slower and doubt it included mid-air collisions.
Its an overpriced paper drone dude. Lower your expectation.
This is why the whole story smells funny. IFR off. No CAS in area. Some value to recover a 20 year old design? I say the military doesn’t tell you about their surveillance operations, ever.
Just the air pressure below the Russian plane would tip one wing of the drone down if it passed on that side, if that could be a tactic that does work it is not good news for any drone with a wide wing-span. Perhaps the prop is the only damaged part on the whole drone after a low speed water landing.
The Russian pilot threw s shovel at the drone as he flew by
The video is out now and shows the bent propeller… Something hit it.
Good to hear this guy being fair in his views.
Tracking it on flight radar often I’m familiar with the reaper ALWAYS having it’s transponder on when flying in international airspace. Tracking it’s course from Malta to the black sea and back it’s never turned off the transponder. I’ve seen fighter jets do it.
In this case let’s go with it being like 9/11, still on radar scopes minus the ID of said plane. Reapers can fire missiles at ground targets, such as ‘weddings’ and ‘funerals’ of the perceived enemies of NATO. (Collective punishment is a war crime.
NATO applies that to their enemies while ignoring their own crimes that are equal or bigger.
Love the ‘community of action’ line. Too many such groups are all talk and no action!