(TargetLiberty.org) – A Russian fighter jet had fired at an American aircraft while flying over Syria. According to a U.S. military report on Tuesday, the jet had originally flown close to the U.S. drone and had then struck and damaged it.
On Sunday, a senior Air Force commander claimed that this move had been an attempt made by the Russians to damage the MQ-9 Reaper drone so that it would no longer be able to fly. This incident came only one week after a Russian fighter jet had recently flown too close to a U.S. surveillance aircraft that had a crew within it within the region. That incident endangered the lives of the four Americans that were aboard the aircraft.
U.S. Air Forces Central head Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich issued a statement noting that one of the flares from the Russian jet had damaged the propeller of the MQ-9. He further urged the Russian forces to stop displaying this sort of reckless behavior over the region.
Grynkewich noted that one of the crew members that had been responsible for operating the drone had managed to get it to return to the home base. There has been an increase in incidents between Russian fighter jets and U.S. aircraft over Syria. In most of these incidents, the Russian air jets have been targeting MQ-9 drones that do not have any crew members.
The one exception to this was on Sunday when a Russian Su-35 jet had flown very close to a U.S. MC-12 surveillance aircraft that carried a crew. This reckless flight path caused the U.S. aircraft to go through a turbulent wake.
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