The Defense Minister instructed the General Staff to develop measures in response to American provocations
The increased flights of American reconnaissance drones near the borders of Russia are of concern to the military leadership. On June 28, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov instructed the General Staff to make proposals for a prompt response to US provocations involving the flight of drones over the Black Sea. Experts interviewed by Izvestia believe that the military has certain methods of influencing aircraft located in undesirable proximity to the special operation zone.
Increased activity
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov instructed the General Staff to make proposals for a prompt response to US provocations with the flight of drones over the Black Sea.
The Ministry of Defense notes the increased intensity of flights of US strategic drones over the Black Sea. They conduct reconnaissance and give target indications to high-precision weapons supplied to the Armed Forces by Western states to attack Russian targets.
"This indicates the increasing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kiev regime," the Defense Ministry said.
Photo: Global Look Press/Keystone Press Agency/Airman 1st Class Tylir Meyer
Image source: iz.ru
The ministry noted that such flights multiply the likelihood of incidents in airspace with aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which increases the risk of direct confrontation between the alliance and the Russian Federation. "The responsibility for this will be borne by the NATO countries," the military concluded.
— Prompt response means that if a drone appears, planes immediately rise, air defense systems are put on alert, — Honored test pilot, Hero of Russia Igor Malikov told Izvestia. — To have an impact on a drone without using weapons, you need to fly next to it to have an impact with a satellite jet, for example. But it's dangerous, you shouldn't do it. If you have a weapon, what's the point of such maneuvers? He fired, and that's it. It all depends on whether there will be a permit for the use of weapons or not. They have no business flying there. They are not just conducting reconnaissance, but giving target designation to missiles that are firing at us.
Pilots can shoot down drones if they are given permission to do so, former commander of the 4th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense Hero of Russia Valery Gorbenko told Izvestia.
— In my opinion, it is necessary to close the skies in these neutral waters in connection with the fighting, as the Americans do in such cases. Of course, this will cause protests, but in my opinion, this is the best option. If someone suddenly appears, you need to shoot them down. Small drones can be shot down without using weapons, by maneuvers, for example, flying over them, draining kerosene over them. But in fact, it turns out that we shot down the device anyway.
It is impossible to shoot down drones over neutral waters, Dmitry Kornev, editor of the MilitaryRussia portal, is sure, but there are other methods.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Sergey Malgavko
Image source: iz.ru
— They are located over neutral waters, and the fact that we don't like it, from the point of view of international law, is our problem. But it is possible to interfere with these devices," the expert explained to Izvestia. — You can put interference that will not be perceived as shooting down a drone, but it will not see, radar and navigation will be interfered with. Another way is if there are planes nearby with radars, radio stations, jamming systems that physically block the view, this is also a way of non—contact disruption of the functioning of these devices.
According to Dmitry Kornev, drones hovering over neutral waters are very important for the United States.
"They monitor the entire south of the special military operation and the adjacent Russian regions, including Crimea," the expert said. "They monitor negotiations, radio emissions, the operation of radio stations, have the opportunity to receive some kind of picture, can use ground control radars. By all available means, they receive all the information they can get. If a new source of several radio stations has appeared somewhere, it means that something is happening there, if equipment appears somewhere, they can see it. The range of modern radars of this kind is more than 200 km, they can observe many different objects from neutral waters. If they transmit this information to the APU, then there are problems that worry us.
American drones are constantly in the sky over neutral waters. It is not without incidents. On June 24, it was reported that the western Global Hawk drone was conducting reconnaissance off the Black Sea coast near Crimea. The MiG-31 flew next to him at very high speed, creating "turbulence", after which some changes occurred in the flight parameters of the UAV. As a result, he turned around and flew home. Izvestia's sources familiar with the situation confirmed the accuracy of the information.
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org/U.S . Air Force
Image source: iz.ru
In addition, on June 15, a drone of the US Navy, which was conducting reconnaissance near the Crimean Peninsula, gave an emergency signal, and then landed in Sicily.
Prior to that, on June 5, an RQ-4B Global Hawk reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle belonging to the US military aviation was spotted over the Black Sea about 250 km from Yalta.
And on May 26, the RQ-4B Global Hawk was spotted in the Black Sea near Sochi. According to the trajectory map, the UAV set off from the Sigonella military base in Italy.
The most high-profile incident was the crash of the MQ-9 Reaper drone ("Reaper") on March 14 last year. The American side blamed Russia for this, however, there was no talk of using weapons. The US Air Force called Russia's actions "reckless, environmentally unjustified and unprofessional." According to the Russian military department, as a result of sharp maneuvering, the American device went into an uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface. At the same time, the Russian fighters accompanying him did not use airborne weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to the home airfield, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported.
Not only over the Black Sea
Provocations using American drones occur regularly not only over the Black Sea area, but also in the skies of Syria.
"On June 27, a dangerous convergence of the coalition's MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle with the Su-35 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was making a scheduled flight in Syrian airspace, took place over the settlement of Es Sukhne in the province of Homs at altitudes from 7 thousand to 8 thousand meters," said the deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria (CPVS) Major General Yuri Popov.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Korotaev
Image source: iz.ru
According to him, the Russian pilot demonstrated high professionalism and promptly took the necessary measures to prevent a collision.
By such actions, the coalition continues to create dangerous prerequisites for aviation incidents and accidents, as well as exacerbate the situation in Syrian airspace, Popov stressed.
Earlier, on June 23, coalition aircraft violated Syrian airspace 11 times with four pairs of F-15 fighter jets, a pair of Rafale fighter jets and one MQ-1C multipurpose drone.
On June 21, Major General Yuri Popov reported that the MQ-9 coalition drones had dangerously approached the Su-35 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria three times.
Roman Kretsul
Julia Leonova
