Hit as in shot down, or hit as in crashed into?
Doh, ignore me "Russian jet collides with"...
Hit after repeatedly having fuel dumped on it in a "reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner"
Dumping fuel to try and set it on fire? That it would ignite itself on the Reaper's engine, or use the fighter's afterburner to ignite a trail of fuel?
Iran has a presence in Syria too
Iran has a presence in many countries it shouldn't.
Spent time on night aviation patrols chasing IRG back across the border in Iraq while they were trying to ferry arms to Insurgents.
Sadly dropping a JDAM on them was a hard pass by brigade.
Geopolitics is a funny old game.
🙁
Looks like putin just needs to keep going till the US elections. 300 000 mobilized at 1000 a day. That should work. Grim.
Since Surging Lavatory is spouting on in my twitter feed about Russiaphobia, an interesting read as a presentation to the unsc.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/playing-the-victim?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=auto_share
Christ, this is grim
Apparently a base with lots of RU troops was hit by himars in Krasnyi, Luhansk
@rickmeister - Thanks. Interesting and powerful, especially his Response to the Russian questioning his validity and requesting sources.
Are the Russians happy with the strategy? Let Ukraine exhaust itself, there are always more grunts to chuck at it? Plus all the dead can now be celebrated as martyrs of mother russia? Bet with so much russian blood that the populace HAVE to back it?
Dunno, it'd be classic Putin double think.
Dunno, it’d be classic Putin double think.
The idea that Putin is a strategic mastermind just doesn't hold up to any scrutiny. He blundered into a war that his army was not equipped to fight. He thought he had an army to rival NATO, but that was just a delusion. Russia seems to be fixated on capturing territory, regardless of its strategic value. They've squandered tens of thousands of soldiers and equipment for a few square kilometers of territory that has no real value. There's no real thinking, let alone double thinking, behind it. It's just Putin demanding that his generals show that their army is capturing territory, regardless of the cost involved.
Thats not what I'm saying, by any objective measure its a catastrophe but it might suit Putin. He'd prefer a straightforward victpry but a great patriotic sacrifice might be 2nd best - as long as at some point he wins
Are the Russians happy with the strategy?
Doesn't matter. Russia is an autocratic dictatorship. The only person that needs to be content is Putin. As long as he's happy then the war will go on. He could declare that "The war is over, we won, everything is great now" and the Russian media would report that. Doesn't have to be true or false.
What Russian citizens want here is immaterial
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-64974825
Footage of the drone getting a golden shower. maybe they think all US things like being peed on from above
Blimey...
difficult for the pro putin us right wingers to spin that 😀 !
If watch the second attempt the prop is bent as well so more than 2 attempts?
Not accounting shutter speed ect. those cameras look fantastic on that drone.
maybe the drones need to be fitted with a small charge that goes off if nudged. amazing this sort of thing seems to be fairly routine....seems highly likely to mess up...
Klunk
Free Member
difficult for the pro putin us right wingers to spin that 😀 !
Rubbish!
The glorious Russian pilot was simply attempting to refuel the drone as it was perilously low on fuel.
The pro Putin republicans will ignore it and then airbrush it from history. This is happening already with J6.
maybe the drones need to be fitted with a small charge that goes off if nudged. amazing this sort of thing seems to be fairly routine….seems highly likely to mess up…
Apparently they have a 'wipe all software' mode and can be deliberately crashed hard - damaging it beyond much use.
Am I also right in saying that a Predator is pretty 'old' all things relative, therefore unlikely to be that much secret or latest tech on board?
For the Flanker to have hit the prop, it almost certainly hit the Y-tail too. The prop is substantially smaller than the tail. This might also explain why they had to bring it down. A damaged prop and it will glide for a good long while with that wingspan, but with stability affected, maybe not.
Its not a Predator, it's a Reaper - It's MUCH bigger, with far more payload and is usually armed. Reapers are hunter killers, Predators are ISR. Which begs the question, why was there a Reaper over the Black Sea?
Which begs the question, why was there a Reaper over the Black Sea?
Training mission over international waters. Nothing to see. 😉
Its not a Predator, it’s a Reaper – It’s MUCH bigger, with far more payload and is usually armed. Reapers are hunter killers, Predators are ISR. Which begs the question, why was there a Reaper over the Black Sea?
Reaper is ISR capable, think the US retired their Predators a while back, so not that unusual, they'll just be doing basic recce, as they're cheaper to operate and have longer duration.
They're old tech though, doubt the US care about finding it, they've already got the next generation coming in with Protector.
The aircraft and avionics will be older tech, but I'd bet the sensors and signals equipment still has secrets they'd like to keep.
Reaper is ISR capable,
Very true and the video clearly shows there's nothing on the inner hardpoints, which is usually where the guided munitions are attached.
So it had already fired its weapons
If it was deliberate, it begs the question why the Russians would risk downing a fighter jet to take a drone out... in interntional air-space aswell... presumably the jet is a lot more expensive?
So it had already fired its weapons
Could have been on a recon or test flight if unlaiden?
Reaper in an ISR role wouldn't be fitted with weapons, so all stanchions would be empty, unless it's utilising an ISR payload on one.
Reaper is used everywhere, the US use them as part of their border force, they don't have to have weapons fitted, especially when it's flying over water and tends to only have Air to Ground munitions.
why was there a Reaper over the Black Sea?
Surveillance obviously. Looking at the Russians, and probably the Turkish as well. Or anyone else the US feels they need info on.
In international waters all large countries with such facilities use the 'law' to spy on each other, though it would be funny the furore it would cause, if China for example did the same think around the Hawaiian islands, or off the west coast of the United States.
The US would class and report that as a provocation. Fox news phone lines would probably go into meltdown.
If it was deliberate, it begs the question why the Russians would risk downing a fighter jet to take a drone out… in interntional air-space aswell… presumably the jet is a lot more expensive?
They could have downed it with cannon fire or a missile without any risk to the jet. The collision only happened because the pilot was dicking around and cocked up.
The collision only happened because the pilot was dicking around and cocked up.
Doesnt bode well for the discipline of the Ru airforce, they been watching too much Top Gun?
Only because the pilot does not understand basic physics.
If you want to cover a drone in unburnt fuel, fly on ftont of it, then open the taps. The jet wash will distribute the fuel in a nice cone behind the airframe.
Reaper is used everywhere, the US use them as part of their border force, they don’t have to have weapons fitted, especially when it’s flying over water and tends to only have Air to Ground munitions.
I wonder why they didn't they use a Globalhawk? It's a better ISR platform. Risk perhaps?
Risk perhaps?
Risk of being rear-ended by a MiG? 😀
Only because the pilot does not understand basic physics.
If you want to cover a drone in unburnt fuel, fly on ftont of it, then open the taps. The jet wash will distribute the fuel in a nice cone behind the airframe.
I wonder if he was trying to ignite the aerosolised fuel using the engine exhaust, hence the extreme maneuverer close to the drone. Fuel dumps are designed to avoid the hot exhaust, so you'd need to do something a little extreme to try and get it to light. Jet fuel is hard to ignite at the best of times.
Globalhawk has an operating altitude of ^55k ft, Reaper is 25k ft. A Flanker can certainly get to 55k ft (or it could when new), but it wouldn't have the same performance relative to the drone that you could see in the video.
They must have been told to down it without firing a shot thinking the USA would not show the footage only a drunk pilot would do that without authority.
People surmising the jet fuel as an attempt to choke out the air intake on the drone and bring it to stall.
I do like how the USA keep putting out footage it keeps the conspiracy loons in check at home a lesson learned after trump used it to his advantage.
In international waters all large countries with such facilities use the ‘law’ to spy on each other, though it would be funny the furore it would cause, if China for example did the same think around the Hawaiian islands, or off the west coast of the United States.
All major countries conduct surveillance on each other. Russia and China routinely shadow U.S. Navy ships and exercises. It doesn't cause any furore, it's just routine when it's conducted in international waters or airspace. What causes problems is when it strays into territorial waters or it violates rules of peacetime engagement. For example, turning on targeting radars is a provocation. So is flying dangerously close to other aircraft. In this case, the Russian pilot was behaving utterly recklessly. It was almost certainly a deliberate action to provoke the U.S., not just a pilot making an innocent mistake.
Maybe the Russian jet didn't have any ammo left!