r/worldnews
•
u/HowAboutThisNameNow
•
Mar 14 '23
•
1
Russian jet collides with US drone over Black Sea Russia/Ukraine
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-649577924.0k
u/NearbyImagination585 Mar 14 '23
Did the US lose the drone? If so if it crashes into the sea, would the US Navy speed to the crash site before adversaries get to it?
5.0k
u/captain_holt_nypd Mar 14 '23
Itâs a MQ-9 drone which is nearly 20 years old and have been shot down many times before. If the Russians donât have specifications on the drone then their intelligence apparatus is insanely lacking.
Not to mention the USAF have been begging for Congress to retire this drone meaning they probably couldnât care less about it especially if the fighter jet is damaged from the incident. Thatâs one less 4th Gen fighter Ukraine needs to deal with
998
u/zdakat Mar 14 '23
"Their irresponsible actions ruined a drone. So thanks for that actually, it freed up a spot for a better drone"
→ More replies277
u/Morgrid Mar 15 '23
Replaced by a MQ-9B
→ More replies255
u/-jack_rabbit- Mar 15 '23
Drone pilot walks in all exited to get briefed on some sexy new drone. Walks into the conference room to see an MQ-9B. DAMMIT.
→ More replies1.4k
u/StealthSpheesSheip Mar 14 '23
....you realize that those drones have up-to-date packages, right? The airframe is old, but the package would be state of the art.
1.1k
u/SpaceChief Mar 15 '23
Shhh let the civilians cook.
275
u/Sororita Mar 15 '23 edited Mar 15 '23
I mean, the system I was the SME for on my ship still used a tape drive, so stuff isn't always updated as it probably should be.
Edit: Because of everyone piping in about tape drives being high capacity or extra secure, the thing was built in the 80s or the early 90s at the very latest. It was nowhere near top of the line cutting edge shit. It was cold-war Era tech.
→ More replies176
u/BeigePhilip Mar 15 '23
Yeah, in the 90âs I was working on âstate of the artâ classified shit that made my Super Nintendo look like something from the future.
→ More replies26
→ More replies173
→ More replies148
u/Noisy_Corgi Mar 15 '23
I don't know what package means but an earlier NBC news article stated the US wiped the software already.
51
u/God_like_being Mar 15 '23
Basically the drone itself is old but the software, camera, internal tech crammed into it is nice and new. Like putting a brand new hellcat engine in a 98' corolla
→ More replies→ More replies192
u/Select-Owl-8322 Mar 15 '23
They don't know what package means either. They just read it somewhere.
→ More replies129
u/selwayfalls Mar 15 '23
amazon drones delivering a package, not hard to understand.
74
u/juston3mor3 Mar 15 '23
Honey the 34 million dollar reaper drone is here with your toothpaste
→ More replies593
u/cylonfrakbbq Mar 14 '23
Pretty much. Drone vs jet as a trade benefits the drone cost wise
→ More replies→ More replies168
u/smokeey Mar 14 '23
They did assume they could take Kyiv in 3 days...
→ More replies139
u/mockg Mar 14 '23
Putin thought they could take Kyiv in 3 days. I'm betting there were tons of yes men that were sweating bullets once the invasion started.
→ More replies136
Mar 15 '23
[removed] â view removed comment
→ More replies53
u/APsWhoopinRoom Mar 15 '23
It wasn't just that though, I think people greatly underestimated the abilities of the Ukrainian military. People assumed they would probably fold once they had to face a regional power like Russia, but they've fought like wolverines for a year now.
→ More replies→ More replies188
u/OwnerOfABouncyBall Mar 14 '23
I hope the US has the advantage of knowing exactly where the drone went down.
→ More replies111
u/DancesCloseToTheFire Mar 14 '23
Well even if they don't, Russia definitely doesn't know either.
→ More replies222
1.2k
u/Mazon_Del Mar 14 '23
FORTE11 is fine, it was a different drone!
289
u/fubarbazqux Mar 14 '23
Oh man, that brings memories from a year ago, right before it all started, people were watching those drones and planes for days, trying to guess what it all means. That ominous feeling that shit's gonna hit the fan any moment now..
→ More replies168
u/nightowl1135 Mar 14 '23
âWatching ⌠trying to guess what it all meansâ
As somebody who has helped run those drones in a combat zone before I find it ironic that that is exactly what the crews that fly them are doing as well.
→ More replies→ More replies157
u/Thurak0 Mar 14 '23
Isn't that an RQ4 Global Hawk?!?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4
I was relieved the moment I read MQ-9 Reaper ;).
→ More replies
10.9k
u/pizzaismyrealname
Mar 14 '23
edited Mar 15 '23
•
Somewhere deep in the middle of the contiguous United States, two drone operators just got their lunch early.
EDIT: How in the hell did my comment get 6.3k upvotes? Lmao. Also, it seems that most redditors check their reddit after getting home from work/before going to sleep.
4.7k
u/MrDork Mar 14 '23
They are probably STILL in the mission debrief...
1.3k
u/crimeo Mar 14 '23
Is it catered?
389
→ More replies870
u/HoboMucus Mar 15 '23
All you can eat MRE's
1.0k
u/TheSensualSloth Mar 15 '23
Sir, this is the Air Force. What's an MRE?
1.2k
u/matarael Mar 15 '23
One of my (Australian) Air Force friends one told me " The Navy navigate by the stars, the Army sleeps under the stars, and the Air Force choose their hotels by the stars."
378
u/ReservoirPussy Mar 15 '23
My grandfather joined the Air Corps during WWII because they had the best sleeping conditions đ
His buddy chose the Marines because he liked the uniforms.
132
u/Mysteriousdeer Mar 15 '23
In WW2, the highest attrition rate was found in the b17 crews. It was some crazy high amount, like 1 in 5.
89
u/SuperBottit Mar 15 '23
Seems like a Catch-22
→ More replies27
u/im_dead_sirius Mar 15 '23 edited Mar 16 '23
âThey're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.
No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.
Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.
They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."
"And what difference does that make?â42
u/ChickenMom90 Mar 15 '23
My father was a bombardier in WWII and flew in a B-17. His plane was shot down over Germany (not good) and he was in a luftstalag. He was Jewish and said the only reason he wasn't killed (and they did it very creatively) was because he was the only person on base that could play the bass fiddle and the Germans needed him for the camp band.
→ More replies11
u/KKJdrunkenmonkey Mar 15 '23
Man. I'll bet he had some stories. My wife's grandpa was assistant gunner in his platoon commander's tank, he tended to tell the same stories a lot but they were darned interesting. You had to be careful about what questions you asked, though, otherwise the poor 95+ year-old guy would have trouble sleeping. He passed away just a couple years ago at 101 years old.
25
u/fletch44 Mar 15 '23
I've read a few times that the average life span of a British fighter pilot in WW2 after entering service was 2 weeks.
Would like to see the actual stats.
→ More replies25
u/MajesticRat Mar 15 '23 edited Mar 15 '23
My Grandma, who grew up in England, was engaged to a pilot who ended up being killed in action in WW2. She met another pilot after that, got engaged and (you guessed it) he also died.
She lived near an airbase (I can't remember which one, but this would help explain why she was dating so many pilots) and she told me they could hear the planes taking off and then landing again. They would count the number of planes that took off and would stay up to count the number that landed later that night, so they would know how many didn't return home. It sounded like it was heart breaking, particularly as she knew a lot of the pilots.
→ More replies→ More replies15
170
u/ThegreatPee Mar 15 '23
Buddy didn't pass the ASVAB, did he?
→ More replies259
u/Forest-Ferda-Trees Mar 15 '23
They invented the ASVAB to filter that kind of person into the Marines
114
u/confused_boner Mar 15 '23
Could've just used crayons and saved money, then again, government
→ More replies→ More replies7
u/flapjowls Mar 15 '23
Unless you were going for a Marines officer program like me, then you had to score high on the electric portion of the ASVAB. Why the electric portion? Not a fuckin clue. When I took that test the most electrical knowledge I had was how to plug in my alarm clock that woke me up at 4am for the medical physical that I failed because I had the blood pressure of an elephant.
→ More replies→ More replies11
61
u/Mothanius Mar 15 '23
We bitched one TDY because our hotels didn't have an outdoor balcony. I then realized, I chose the right branch.
→ More replies31
u/FlexibleToast Mar 15 '23
It was obvious before even joining. We arrived at MEPS in a short service limo, the Marines arrived in a school bus.
33
23
u/the_fickle_pickle Mar 15 '23
A similar version I've heard: roughing it for marines is sleeping without shelter, for army it's tents without A/C, for air force it's a room without HBO.
→ More replies→ More replies106
28
→ More replies166
u/makemeking706 Mar 15 '23
Are you familiar with food? Similar to that.
282
u/TheSensualSloth Mar 15 '23
I was in the USAF. Is it similar to a fillet mignon or more like a beef wellington?
86
u/bridgenine Mar 15 '23
I'm sure they meant (meal ready everything) buffet, fresh artisnal surf and terf dinner with a choice of fresh fish from the region the drone was operating. Also chicken fingers and French fries.
41
→ More replies21
u/IAintChoosinThatName Mar 15 '23
surf and terf
heh... surely that would be bitter and leathery no?
→ More replies→ More replies9
u/SuperPimpToast Mar 15 '23
Imagine fillet mignon but you ran out of bearnaise sauce and it was made well done. The steamed veggies weren't fresh and just mostly mush now. And you can't have wine.
→ More replies9
61
u/IctrlPlanes Mar 15 '23
I went on a deployment in the Air Force. We literally had surf and turf Fridays. It wasn't fine dining but far from MREs.
→ More replies41
u/VenusSmurf Mar 15 '23
To be fair, anything that qualifies as food is "far from MREs".
→ More replies→ More replies75
→ More replies28
u/Lavasioux Mar 15 '23
Hey this isn't powdered Gruel, it's Crusty's IMITATION powdered gruel!
→ More replies223
u/RCrl Mar 15 '23
Or chugging water for the urinalysis.
69
→ More replies216
u/Data-Suspicious Mar 15 '23
Been there. Done that. It's not fun to come out of a meeting, find your pager on you desk beeping with a message from an hour and a half ago that says "piss in the cup within two hours or you're fired" and your immediate reaction is "OHHHHHHHH fuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck" and chugging half a case of water as you pray to whatever deity up there wants to hand you a break here, and the drug testing van is where it should be.
And the drug test van... Isn't where it should be. It's left a vast, empty void of "haHAAA! Good luck! You have 12 minutes and 57 seconds. Assuming your pager is accurate!"
So the next thing you know, you find yourself in the parking lot of the main medical center, pounding on the doors and mentally screaming "FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY, TAKE MY URINE RIGHT THIS SECOND"
Eventually someone lets you in, gets through the paper work and says "sorry, you're five minutes late. Buuuuut... I've heard about you over dispatch, and you look pretty worked up. Let's get you going anyways."
And then you spend the next 45 minutes of your allotted observed hour wanting to piss, but you're so full of adrenaline that all you can do is sit in the non-descript lobby and watch ten year old NCIS reruns on a TV with one working speaker.
Yes, I passed the drug test, obviously.
But the real kicker was finding out it was for a clearance/certification/tier that I no longer held because it was my first week in a different division within the same organization, and my former manager was an absolute shit show of a human being, and multiple coworkers told him, to his face, in front of other coworkers "you're only qualified to approve time cards, and everything you do on top of that makes everyone's lives harder."
Yeah, that manager didn't put in an immediate request to have my relevant needs cancelled. I had to do all the managerial work and then some for months afterwards.
Drug tests are never fun.
→ More replies173
127
→ More replies73
u/Crunkbutter Mar 15 '23
Tomorrow it's straight to medical for piss and blood tests. Then after that, a nice interview with mishap investigators.
Source: almost crashed an air force aircraft
525
u/Accidental-Genius Mar 15 '23
Itâs Nevada and theyâre probably still writing the post op report
→ More replies62
u/ClydePossumfoot Mar 15 '23
in some trailers in the middle of nowhere at creech
27
u/Accidental-Genius Mar 15 '23
With a busted AC unit and black mold that someone spray painted green.
→ More replies20
u/IamJohnGalt2 Mar 15 '23
You might be confusing it with Army housing. Air Force will condemn a building if the AC stops working.
8
u/Accidental-Genius Mar 15 '23
Not in Creech. Because the USAF isnât the only ones using those trailers lol.
214
49
→ More replies69
u/Pac0theTac0 Mar 15 '23
Are remote drones really piloted from the other side of the planet? I always assumed the operators were relatively close. Like I thought it would be in eastern Europe at least. I have no clue, this is a question
112
u/sirsmiley Mar 15 '23
Large drones are typically operated using encrypted satellite links and other data links.
Small drones are the ones piloted nearby as they don't have the payload for the avionics communication packages. A DJI drone carrying a grenade is a far cry from USAF drones which are as big if not bigger than piloted planes. They can loiter for many hours and drop a precision strike via bombs or missiles. There will be a team at a friendly airbase to launch and recover them and maintain them but the pilots could be either there or across the globe.
14
u/MushinZero Mar 15 '23
Gosh that's wild to think about. Is the pilot seat like a big flight simulator rig or is it closer to an Xbox controller and a screen?
32
u/NoEngrish Mar 15 '23
Its a console with a keyboard, joystick, and a bunch of old screens. Much less nice than even privately owned flying/racing sims.
19
u/Ok-disaster2022 Mar 15 '23
When the system was designed it was state if the art, by the time it was built it was high end, today cells phones have better resolution
→ More replies→ More replies34
u/ghygggg Mar 15 '23
I remember going into a van at Beale AFB one time and seeing Global Hawk pilots in flight suits ... Hilarious.
→ More replies→ More replies12
u/Falafelofagus Mar 15 '23
Depends on the drone but yes, most larger drones are run from the US and operated in theater all over the world.
4.8k
u/RockinMadRiot Mar 14 '23 edited Mar 14 '23
According to sky news, the Russian jet tried to dump fuel over the drone and it caused both the jet, an SU-27 (there were two) and the drone (MQ-9) to crash. They were over the black sea in international waters.
Edit: when I looked it said both had crashed but it's seems it's changed to the jets nearly crashed as a comment pointed out below.
1.8k
u/Pronoes84 Mar 14 '23 edited Mar 14 '23
The BBC tells the story a little differently
"The "unsafe and unprofessional act by the Russians" nearly caused one of the fighter jets and the drone to crash, the US European command added"
Edit: nevermind, they have updated the story and apparently the US European command's words. I guess it really is breaking
"Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9," said US Air Force Gen James Hecker.
429
u/RockinMadRiot Mar 14 '23
You are correct, I will update my post. When I looked it said both.
→ More replies→ More replies363
u/Japak121 Mar 14 '23
Technically, wouldn't this be considered a direct attack? If it's international airspace and Russian military equipment purposefully hits or attacks using anything at all, fuel in this case, with the intent to disable or destroy equipment belonging to the European Union...than that would mean they just attacked the EU?
I'm sure politically it could easily be handwaived as not being the case, but my point is this was extremely stupid on an international level.
719
u/toxic0n Mar 14 '23
It is an attack but nobody will start a war over a lost drone. If American lives were lost, it might have been a different story
→ More replies331
u/Mandalord104 Mar 14 '23
If only a few American lives lost, the US will demand compensation from Russia. Maybe demand the culprit imprisoned. They will not going to war which might cost million of lives over just some lives lost.
→ More replies166
u/Bitter_Coach_8138 Mar 14 '23
Depends on which lives. Shoot down one jet, youâre right. Shoot down a transport plane with say a general or Senator on board? Likely escalates to war.
217
u/implicitpharmakoi Mar 15 '23
Depends on which lives. Shoot down one jet, youâre right. Shoot down a transport plane with say a general or Senator on board? Likely escalates to war.
Mh17 was full of civilians, we didn't even slap their wrists.
We owe them.
→ More replies150
u/Sausagewizard69 Mar 15 '23
There were no Americans on board. But yea, blatant murder of civilians and they got away with it.
→ More replies57
u/Buzzkid Mar 15 '23
There was 1 American.
72
u/Sausagewizard69 Mar 15 '23
Ooh it says there werenât any on Wikipedia, but I guess one Dutch person had dual citizenship. My bad
→ More replies→ More replies50
→ More replies111
u/JuVondy Mar 14 '23
Technically yes, but if we retaliate it will most certainly be low-key and I doubt weâe see major escalation over a single incident.
Fuck Russia, but I also understand why they would do this, and it was a drone and not a live human so that does factor into the US/EU response.
→ More replies112
u/homeworkrules69 Mar 14 '23
Thatâs the thinking when Iran shot down a drone a few years ago. Trump was quoted as not understanding why weâd kill hundreds of Iranians for a drone, which I think was broadly agreed with in Washington.
→ More replies101
u/artem_m Mar 14 '23
I kinda have to agree with Trump's thinking here. Thats just not equitable.
→ More replies65
u/Impeachcordial Mar 15 '23
He did then have the Saudis invite the Iranians for talks and blow them to fuck with a missile strike...
→ More replies32
3.0k
u/ptwonline Mar 14 '23
Sounds like Russia is pretty eager to stop US surveillance in the Black Sea. Guessing they have shipping going on right now they really don't want the US to track.
1.5k
u/G07V3 Mar 14 '23
One drone goes down another drone goes up.
1.7k
Mar 14 '23
4 more. Security threat increased
→ More replies788
u/TabletopMarvel Mar 14 '23
Just wait until they realize there's like 200 balloons fighting a secret balloon war above Moscow for the best vantage points.
233
u/throwaway92715 Mar 15 '23
Silly balloons, just zooming around without a care in the world
196
u/Longjumping-Taste936 Mar 15 '23
US vs China proxy balloon war in the skies over European Muscovy
→ More replies25
u/Pooperoni_Pizza Mar 15 '23
Oh yeah. What ever happened with those balloons? A train derailment, bank disaster and cocaine bear almost made me forget that it happened.
→ More replies→ More replies16
u/Chewbock Mar 15 '23
âWithout a care in the worldâ used in the context of the conversation had me absolutely rolling
26
→ More replies13
→ More replies116
346
→ More replies72
→ More replies675
u/ToastTurtle Mar 14 '23
I feel like dumping fuel on a US asset should be considered attacking it. Just because it wasn't a missile doesn't change anything. The fact they hit is just makes it more clear it was a deliberate attack on a US asset.
628
u/cletus_spuckle Mar 14 '23
Definitely, and the US military will see it that way even if others don't. This won't elicit a direct military response but will be a good reason for the Biden administration to send more military aid to Ukraine.
248
u/fatbaIlerina Mar 14 '23
Yup, it is a perfect excuse for their own "irresponsible operation" as well. Like whoops. We accidentally sunk a Russian shipment we thought was attacking us. Our bad. It is also a great excuse to post ships in the Black Sea if they aren't there already.
→ More replies37
u/schietzs Mar 14 '23
AFAIK Turkey closed the Bosphorus Strait to military ships over a year ago.
→ More replies→ More replies111
u/SpinozaTheDamned Mar 14 '23
I believe the US is going to do everything in its power to keep this from escalating. HOWEVER, one has to wonder how thin their patience has run, and what the benefit of not responding has on deterring further aggression. What will be key in all this is whether or not this can be determined to be the action of a pilot loosing his cool, or if this was something he was told to do by leadership.
→ More replies128
u/zombo_pig Mar 14 '23 edited Mar 14 '23
what the benefit of not responding has on deterring further aggression
This is why Russia is attacking Ukraine in a metaphorical little package. The world let Russia do horrific things for a decade+ and Russia kept escalating because, well, why not? They murder English citizens with chemical weapons. No issue. They invade parts of Ukraine in 2014. No issue. They bomb Syrian hospitals. No issue.
Find a way to push back appropriately or it'll happen again. This doesn't get better by being a floor mat.
→ More replies→ More replies276
u/hgaterms Mar 14 '23
The US is not going to go to war with Russia over a downed drone. Dick move? Yes. War time? Nah.
176
u/ephemeraltrident Mar 14 '23
I agree, the US is calling this âunprofessionalâ because we have no desire to go to war directly. If we wanted an excuse, weâd be calling it an act of war.
→ More replies→ More replies45
u/ASDFzxcvTaken Mar 14 '23
IMO this is the value of a drone. No life was lost, just send up another one, and move on. But if there was a pilot doing unarmed surveillance and it got downed, the conversation would be retaliation and public outcry. Instead, meh, send up another drone.
→ More replies
3.6k
u/SSHeretic Mar 14 '23
People always flip out about these things when they happen but they never matter, like the Chinese balloon. Hell, Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that wondered into their airspace in 2015 and Russia whined a bit but did nothing. And without any US personnel involved the US isn't going to escalate.
There's just going to be finger-pointing and calls for things to calm down.
573
u/BirdLawConnoisseur Mar 14 '23
Russian forces even literally shot down a passenger flight and killed nearly 300 people and it seems weâve mostly forgotten about it.
→ More replies120
u/DifferenceClean616 Mar 15 '23
What do you mean, the Russians said it wasnât them?
/s
→ More replies86
u/JustinianIV Mar 15 '23 •
âThe plane was shot down by a russian made missile system from territory held by russian friendly forcesâ
Russia: no u
895
u/adfddadl1 Mar 14 '23
Indeed. No one is starting ww3 over one drone.
→ More replies389
u/I_AmA_Zebra Mar 14 '23
I remember when the missile landed in Poland and some of immediate comments were convinced Nato would launch a full scale war lmao. Reddit is anything but the voice of reason
→ More replies→ More replies125
u/IlikemeaBJay Mar 14 '23
If you consider politics as chess there will be a reaction no one of us recognizes but the opponent will.
→ More replies
741
u/BeginByLettingGo Mar 14 '23
How does a Russian jet collide into a large drone? I know very little about the military..
→ More replies550
u/RockinMadRiot Mar 14 '23 edited Mar 14 '23
They were dumping fuel on it to bring it down but
it brought down the jetand the drone.Edit: they changed it to say the jet was nearly brought down.
→ More replies103
Mar 14 '23 edited Mar 14 '23
[deleted]
→ More replies28
u/theumph Mar 15 '23
While details are important, it really won't make a difference in this case. I'd constitute this as a tension type of event. Nothing direct will come of it, but it is on record. It may have a small effect on future conflicts, but nothing major will happen because of it.
→ More replies
1.7k
u/miranomejoda Mar 14 '23
the irony on this is russian channels and telgram are applauding this downing saying that even if in international waters it was collecting data and should have been blown out the sky.
Russia needs to remember this can easily happen to any of its boats. planes and anything else collecting data anywhere....... dont cry
566
u/Orcapa Mar 14 '23
You mean its random fishing trawlers scattered around the world? That just happen to be festooned with antennas?
→ More replies376
u/Kimchi_Cowboy Mar 14 '23
China is the fishing trawlers. Russia is "Russian language speakers".
→ More replies50
u/luke1042 Mar 15 '23
I mean Russia just openly parks intelligence collection vessels off the coast right outside our territorial waters. Usually when our warships are out there doing their training exercises.
22
u/Kimchi_Cowboy Mar 15 '23
Yeah but they don't call them trawlers. This is a 100% Chinese thing. They are the ones with the boats market as commercial fishing vessels that are actually military recon assets. They do this around the Spratly Islands regularly to try and intimidate the Philippines. Instead of Filipino people being scared they signed a pact with Japan pissing off Xini the Pooh.
→ More replies252
u/CurtisLemaysThirdAlt Mar 14 '23
Oh, so what theyâre saying is that Russian jets over international waters are fair game.
Because thatâs what Iâm hearing.
→ More replies
423
u/Hail-Hydrate Mar 14 '23
"Russian fighter jet collides with US surveillance drone over Black Sea, forcing US to bring down drone, US military says"
Wonder if that was one of the Global Hawks? Those drones are a lot bigger than they look in photos. I'd be curioius to see how the Russian Jet fared.
321
u/RoDeltaR Mar 14 '23
Nope, it's an MQ-9 Reaper. The typical image of a "normal" military drone
→ More replies34
→ More replies148
330
u/Hyperostosis Mar 14 '23
It's a pretty silly move to further antagonize diplomacy with the United States by downing 1 of 316+ of these drones. Surely it doesn't offer Russia much benefit, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was used as justification for us to send more lethal aid to Ukraine.
→ More replies51
u/IBeBallinOutaControl Mar 15 '23
Yeah theres a possibility that Biden's aid to Ukraine starts to become unpopular in the U.S. for fiscal reasons, especially if the u.s. economy gets worse and the Ukraine frontline remains stagnant. Kinda crazy that Russia would close that off by creating headlines like this, all just to take out a drone.
→ More replies
257
Mar 14 '23
This won't amount to anything. It will be forgotten next week. In 2015, Turkey shot down Russian fighter jets and killed a pilot, then that was the end of it.
→ More replies65
u/Buddyshrews Mar 14 '23
At most this could be used as an excuse to send more equipment or tighten sanctions. Even then, only if the US really wants to.
→ More replies
560
u/chehov
Mar 14 '23
•
Time for US to send ATACMS to Ukraine.
→ More replies76
u/mctomtom Mar 14 '23
Can we first take a moment of silence for the MQ-9 family and all of the other sad Reapers today? There are a lot of crying drones at the base today.
→ More replies
311
u/Kvovark Mar 14 '23
Loads of people and places online and pushing fear over this.
Friendly reminder to everyone to keep calm and remember we've had far worse without escalation to direct war between global superpowers.
If you're feeling tense/worried perhaps avoid these comments section of news articles for a while. Nothing good comes from it if you're already on edge!
→ More replies57
88
u/idlebyte Mar 14 '23 edited Mar 14 '23
"Shashank Joshi, defence editor for the Economist magazine, said the Russians may have been trying to intimidate the drone as it was hoovering up their communications." I enjoy hating on the Russian government as much as anyone else... but an 'attempt' to intimidate a drone? I don't think the Russians are that stupid, pretty sure they were hoping the engine would catch fire from the fuel in the intake.
→ More replies
119
u/porky1122 Mar 14 '23
Who in their right mind thinks it's a good idea to get that close to another flying object whilst flying at those speeds?
Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a military pilot.
→ More replies
31.2k
u/buttsoupsteve Mar 14 '23 •
As you peruse the comments in this thread, consider reminding yourself that a ton of the people commenting have no clue what they're talking about.