Russian Fighter Jet Approaches US Drone... Even Fired 'Flare'

US Air Force "Unprofessional and Unsafe Behavior"
Attempted Interception Flight in March... Drone Crash Landing

A Russian fighter jet interfered with the flight of a U.S. Air Force drone over Syrian airspace. It was confirmed that the fighter jet also fired flares, a heat-seeking missile decoy system.

On the 6th (local time), the U.S. Air Force posted a related video on its official website, stating that a U.S. MQ-9 drone performed evasive maneuvers to avoid the Russian fighter jet.

The video was recorded at around 10:40 a.m. the previous day, showing three Russian SU-35 fighter jets approaching the U.S. MQ-9 and firing flares. Flares are decoys developed to deceive missile sensors that track heat, dispersing compounds that emit high-temperature heat. The MQ-9 reportedly maneuvered to avoid the flares emitted by the SU-35.

A portion of the video released by the US Air Force.
[Image source=US Air Force]

During this process, one Russian fighter jet moved in front of the drone, activated its afterburner (a device for re-ignition in fighter jets), increasing speed and air pressure, and performed aggressive maneuvers. The U.S. Air Force pointed out that this affected the safe operation of the drone.

The U.S. Air Force stated, "This event shows the unprofessional and unsafe behavior of the Russian Air Force operating in Syria."

Earlier, in March, a similar incident occurred where Russian fighter jets approached a U.S. Air Force drone. At that time, two Russian SU-27 jets conducted blocking maneuvers against an MQ-9 in international airspace over the Black Sea.

One of the SU-27 jets collided with the MQ-9’s propeller, causing the MQ-9 to make an emergency landing in international waters. Multiple U.S. media outlets reported that this was the first time since the Cold War that a physical collision between U.S. and Russian military aircraft caused a U.S. aircraft to crash.

The U.S. Air Force also released related footage on its website when the incident occurred.

At that time, Patrick Ryder, spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense, said in a briefing, "It is not uncommon for us to release images of unsafe and unprofessional conduct," emphasizing, "Especially in this case, it is important to provide images to show what actions Russia took."

However, he moderated the response level, stating that they do not seek escalation of tensions with Russia. Ryder added, "We need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture," and "The United States does not seek conflict or escalation of tensions with Russia."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.