{"id":4549,"date":"2023-07-25T12:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4549"},"modified":"2023-07-25T12:56:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T17:56:00","slug":"russian-jet-launches-flares-at-mq-9-reaper-in-syria-severely-damaging-propeller-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=4549","title":{"rendered":"Russian jet launches flares at MQ-9 Reaper in Syria, \u2018severely damaging\u2019 propeller: US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>US Air Forces Central released video footage of the \u201creckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior\u201d after a Russian official seemed to attempt to blame American forces.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-4550\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117-770x433.png 770w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117-293x165.png 293w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117-1400x788.png 1400w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117-390x219.png 390w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/image-117.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An MQ-9 Reaper lands on Highway 287 during Exercise Agile Chariot, April 30, 2023, honing capabilities linked to Agile Combat Employment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Carly Kavish)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 A Russian fighter jet&nbsp;launched flares at a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/tag\/mq-9-reaper\/\">US MQ-9 Reaper<\/a>&nbsp;drone flying above Syria and \u201cseverely\u201d damaged its propeller recently, US Air Forces Central (AFCENT) Commander Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.afcent.af.mil\/News\/Article\/3468819\/russian-unprofessional-behavior-over-syria-23-july-2023\/\">alleged today<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn 23 July, 2023 at 12:23 a.m. (EST) Russian fighter aircraft flew dangerously close to a U.S. MQ-9 drone on a defeat-ISIS mission, harassing the MQ-9 and deploying flares from a position directly overhead, with only a few meters of separation between aircraft. One of the Russian flares struck the U.S. MQ-9, severely damaging its propeller,\u201d Grynkewich said in a press release.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The crew piloting the drone was able to safely land it, Grynkewich said, whose release was accompanied by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USAFCENT\/status\/1683810172131483648\">video footage<\/a>&nbsp;of the encounter. \u201cWe call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior,\u201d he added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Russian official, speaking to the Russian news agency TASS on July 23,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tass.com\/defense\/1650735\">accused a US-led coalition drone<\/a>&nbsp;of \u201cdangerously approach[ing]\u201d Russian jets that subsequently deployed flares. But AFCENT\u2019s video of the incident Grynkewich described appears to show the Russian jet approaching the drone from behind and overflying it, contrary to the Russian official\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The incident marks yet another run-in between US and Russian forces, where Russian pilots have been increasingly harassing US aircraft since March. That month, a US Reaper\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/03\/russian-jet-collides-with-us-drone-over-black-sea-in-unprofessional-act\/\">crashed into the Black Sea<\/a>\u00a0after Russian pilots dumped fuel on it and struck its propeller, presaging a slew of similar incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within a week at the beginning of this month, Russian pilots separately harassed Reapers mid-flight&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/07\/07\/politics\/russian-aircraft-us-drone-syria\/index.html\">three times<\/a>&nbsp;and intercepted another drone flight after that prior to the incident over this past weekend. Last&nbsp;week, Grynkewich disclosed a&nbsp;manned&nbsp;US MC-12 reconnaissance aircraft was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.afcent.af.mil\/News\/Article\/3462071\/russian-unprofessional-behavior-over-syria-16-july-2023\/\">forced to fly in the wake turbulence<\/a>&nbsp;of a Russian fighter jet on July 16, which he claimed threatened the lives of the aircraft\u2019s crew.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A senior US defense official previously said that the actions by Russian pilots are representative of a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/07\/as-russia-intercepts-another-us-drone-over-syria-official-warns-triumvirate-with-iran-to-force-us-out\/\">\u201ctriumvirate\u201d between the Iranian, Syrian and Russian governments&nbsp;<\/a>to pressure the US to leave Syria, who warned that the Russians may be gradually escalating their campaign. US forces are still in Syria fighting the remnants of the Islamic State (ISIS).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That official said a deconfliction line to coordinate and deescalate activities between the US and Russian militaries is still actively used, though the dialogue is not always fruitful.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>US presence in the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility has separately ramped up recently in large part to deter attempted seizures of oil tankers by Iran, leading the US to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/07\/doubling-down-on-deterrence-us-sends-f-35s-destroyer-to-gulf-after-iran-linked-alarming-events\/\">deploy fresh forces<\/a>&nbsp;to the region. In addition to those forces, CENTCOM&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.centcom.mil\/MEDIA\/PRESS-RELEASES\/Press-Release-View\/Article\/3465842\/us-central-command-increases-forces-in-the-region\/\">announced July 20<\/a>&nbsp;that an Amphibious Readiness Group\/Marine Expeditionary Unit will also be deployed to further bolster deterrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/07\/russian-jet-launches-flares-at-mq-9-reaper-in-syria-severely-damaging-propeller-us\/\">https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/07\/russian-jet-launches-flares-at-mq-9-reaper-in-syria-severely-damaging-propeller-us\/<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/07\/uk-annual-defense-spending-jumps-over-8-5b-but-warrior-cancellation-costs-mount\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2023\/06\/the-state-of-air-dominance-in-europe-and-what-the-air-chiefs-say-they-need-to-stay-ahead-of-the-threat\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Air Forces Central released video footage of the \u201creckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior\u201d after a Russian official seemed to attempt to blame American forces. WASHINGTON \u2014 A Russian fighter jet&nbsp;launched flares at a&nbsp;US MQ-9 Reaper&nbsp;drone flying above Syria and \u201cseverely\u201d damaged its propeller recently, US Air Forces Central (AFCENT) Commander Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich&nbsp;alleged today. \u201cOn 23 July, 2023 at 12:23 a.m. (EST) Russian fighter aircraft flew dangerously close to a U.S. MQ-9 drone on a defeat-ISIS mission, harassing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4551,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4549\/revisions\/4551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}