While what some call a proxy war between Russia and the West continues to drag on following Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Putin's forces have again ratcheted up their aggression directly against the U.S. in a confrontation that ensued in the skies above Syria over the weekend.
A release on Tuesday from AFCENT called out "Russian unprofessional behavior" displayed when a "Russian fighter aircraft flew dangerously close to a U.S. MQ-9 while conducting a defeat-ISIS mission."
Video released by AFCENT shows how close the Russian jet came to the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drone before surging ahead and deploying flares normally used as an infrared weapon countermeasure to send a missile away from a jet's engine to detonate away from the aircraft.
On July 23 Russian military aircraft deployed flares, damaging a U.S. MQ-9 while conducting a defeat-ISIS mission. For the full statement by Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, Commander, 9th AF (AFCENT) visithttps://t.co/5cQm8MQ6aQ@CENTCOM @DeptofDefense @usairforce @CJTFOIR pic.twitter.com/ViVTI3P05i
— US AFCENT (@USAFCENT) July 25, 2023
While "harassing the MQ-9 and deploying flares from a position directly overhead, with only a few meters of separation between aircraft," one of the flares "struck the U.S. MQ-9, severely damaging its propeller," explained Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, 9th Air Force and Combined Forces Air Component Commander for CENTCOM. "Fortunately, the MQ-9 crew was able to maintain flight and safely recover the aircraft to its home base."
According to Grynkewich, the "Russian fighter's blatant disregard for flight safety detracts from our mission to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS. We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior," he added.
Russia's harassment of the American Reaper drone over Syria on Sunday is similar to an incident that occurred over the Black Sea in March of this year. In that incident, as Townhall reported at the time, "two Russian Su-27 aircraft conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept with a U.S. Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 aircraft that was operating within international airspace over the Black Sea," causing a "complete loss of the MQ-9" drone.
Following the March incident, the Pentagon spokesperson was careful to offer the same evaluation as Grynkewich did in the most recent encounter between Russian and American aircraft:
REPORTER: "Was this collision itself an accident on Russia's behalf?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 14, 2023
PENTAGON SPOX: "It was unsafe, unprofessional, and I think the actions speak for themselves." pic.twitter.com/j9xmSn80iV