Russian Fighter Jet Shoots Down U.S Reaper Drone Over Black Sea (Photos)

Pictured: Russian Su-27 multi-role 4th generation fighter jet flying over the Black Sea.

Two 🇷🇺 Russian Su-27 fighter jets shot at and struck the propeller of a 🇺🇸 U.S. military "Reaper" surveillance drone on Tuesday, causing it to crash into the Black Sea in an incident condemned as "reckless' by the U.S. military.

"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," U.S. Air Force General James Hecker, who overseas the U.S. Air Force in the region, said in a statement.

“Two Russian Su-27 aircraft conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept with a U.S. Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 aircraft that was operating within international airspace over the Black Sea today.

At approximately 7:03 AM (CET), one of the Russian Su-27 aircraft struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters. Several times before the collision, the Su-27s dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner.

This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional.