Drones in the Black Sea

Credit CNN

The downing of a US surveillance drone (Reaper MQ-9 class) which flew from its base in Romania to carry out its routine mission of capturing images of Russian assets and troops deployment and its falling into the Black Sea may heighten tensions in the Ukraine war zone. What makes a Reaper drone suitable for surveillance is its capability to ascend upto 15,000 m , a flying time of more then 12 hours at a stretch and its range of 1800 km. The mid air encounter was an uneven match as the fire power and strike capability of a drone has no comparison with that of a Su-27 jet.

Stepping up the Ante

Initial reports indicate that Russian Su-27 jets caused fuel to spill on the drone’s fuselage.The drones invariably fly with transponders switched off to avoid detection and Russian jets scrambled when the drone’s aerial presence was confirmed .

 

Credit AP News

This act of aggression may compel the US to ante up its military might in the region and further escalate tension . A cause of concern for the US is that Russia may attempt to recover the debris of the drone as it is in international waters off the coast of Crimea which is occupied by Russia and it has a naval presence there.US sources indicate that as the wreckage is in deep waters (more then 1500 m) it is unlikely that it can be salvaged. The chances of any sensitive material being recovered from the drone are dim.Russia and US military vessels are not permitted to pass through the Dardanelles Straits since the start of  the Ukrainian conflict .Russia’s interest in salvaging the debris could be to establish that the US is directly involved and participating in the Black Sea and Ukrainian conflict.

Previous Mid Air Collisions

Credit DailyO

Incidents of military mid air collisions are few and far between perhaps as militaries keep a safe distance to avoid any small crash that may escalate warranting a matching response.In the year 1987 the fin of a Russian S-277  struck the propellor of a Norwegian P-3 Orion maritime surveillance plane but both planes managed to land safely.Stealth technology has its disadvantages.In the year 2001 a Chinese jet crashed into a US Ep-3 spy plane. In this collision the Chinese plane was destroyed and the US spy plane made a forced landing on a Chinese island . Clashes on ground have taken place between Russian and US armed personnel as recent as the year 2018 when US troops deployed in eastern Syria called in air strikes and artillery on a Russian paramilitary or mercenary company known as Wagner.In the ensuing air strike scores of Russian paramilitaries and their Syrian armed companions were eliminated however as they were not regular troops no international or diplomatic crisis took place .