MQ-9 Reaper collision with SU-27

WacoFan said:
So what happened to the Ruskie plane that hit it? A Reaper is not exactly a small, balsa and tissue covered model....I think colliding in mid-air with one could be suboptimal.
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and Russian aircraft aren’t exactly flimsy F-16s either. Probably a couple of dents is all.
 
SteveC said:
For some perspective, read up on the Cold War period. Now there's a time period when we were close to the brink for real.

Edit to add:

A few of the potential triggers during that period included the 1948–1949 Berlin Blockade, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, the 1956 Suez Crisis, the 1961 Berlin Crisis, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis...
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you may as well be citing a the civil war, as it comes to the hand wringing kids on this forum…

One drone. A drop in the bucket. We’ve had planes shot down directly and lives lost, and it was business as usual afterwards.
 
fholbert said:
I've been wondering the same. I understand the prop was damaged and assume the commie either trailed something or maybe flares?

The prop is pretty short to bump it.

View attachment 70465

Russian aircraft struck drone over international waters
  • Two Russian aircraft intercepted a U.S. drone over the Black Sea
  • Officials described the collision as "dangerous and unprofessional"
  • There have been other intercepts in recent weeks
Stephanie Whiteside
Updated: MAR 14, 2023 / 12:48 PM CDT
(NewsNation) — Military officials confirmed Russian fighter jets struck a U.S. drone over international waters.
Two Russian Su-27 aircraft intercepted a U.S. Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance unmanned MQ-9 aircraft over the Black Sea. One aircraft struck the propeller of the drone, requiring it to be brought down in international waters.
U.S. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander, U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, confirmed the incident.

www.newsnationnow.com

Russian aircraft struck drone over international waters

The drone was brought down in the Black Sea and considered a total loss.
www.newsnationnow.com www.newsnationnow.com
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The propeller isn’t much different than what you’d have on a regular turboprop, given the poweplant is a TPE331. Being a pusher, the diameter is shaved for ground clearance and the blades have the camber/ face reversed in the hub as any other pusher (337 or Starship).
 
DropTank said:
Ruskies dumped fuel on drone and were trying to set it on fire like the old air shows:

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After bombing Libya that's how the F-111 flights joined on their lead aircraft in the night sky, all nav lights were off. They asked lead to Torch.

Besides F-111's there were several other US aircraft over Libya that night.
 
derg said:
Everyone wants to be us at the moment.
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Well.....a lot of you are nearly retired.....so that's something

At least the people I would consider to be heart of that generation (60's/early-mid 70's).....rather than someone born in 1979 who was in high school at the same time I was, and wants to bemoan "millennials"
 
Spitballing, but if they damaged the prop on a Reaper, I would think they probably just got their radome chewed up a bit. I'd say it might be a win, putting an SU-27 out of useful commission, but it's not like they seem to be doing much for the Russkies in Ukraine, atm.

OTOH, God only knows whether they have the parts to fix the thing, in their current state.

Anyway, as suggested above, I think WW3 is about zero percent closer than it was before this happened. Everyone have a drink.
 
It isn't a direct comparison (this actually being a military aircraft), but to be fair, they shot down a 747 loaded with passengers at one of the worst points of the Cold War, and nothing came of it....so
 
At least one of the “zomg wwwiii” posters has been dooming about everything we’ve done to support Ukraine so….there’s an agenda
 
The Soviets intentionally shot down more than a few US military aircraft in international airspace and far from any conflict during the Cold War.

Then again we got ours when the opportunity presented itself (thinking of the Panther driver who waxed 4 migs by himself.

We never lobbed nukes at each other, even when a Russian sub attempted a launch on Honolulu. Allegedly.
 
MikeD said:
you may as well be citing a the civil war, as it comes to the hand wringing kids on this forum…

One drone. A drop in the bucket. We’ve had planes shot down directly and lives lost, and it was business as usual afterwards.
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I’ve always wondered about this. There’s plenty of open source info about US/allied planes that the Soviets shot down (not counting civilians) for straying across the border or sometimes not. Did we or our Allie’s ever do that to Soviet aircraft? I’ve never been able to find anything saying yes or no.
 
NovemberEcho said:
I’ve always wondered about this. There’s plenty of open source info about US/allied planes that the Soviets shot down (not counting civilians) for straying across the border or sometimes not. Did we or our Allie’s ever do that to Soviet aircraft? I’ve never been able to find anything saying yes or no.
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Not that has ever been publicly released, if we did. And we’ve had several planes shot down during the Cold War by Russia and China, including with POWs.
 
MikeD said:
Not that has ever been publicly released, if we did. And we’ve had several planes shot down during the Cold War by Russia and China, including with POWs.
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Tons during the Cold War, and not just by the Soviets but other Warsaw Pact countries too.
 
MikeD said:
and Russian aircraft aren’t exactly flimsy F-16s either. Probably a couple of dents is all.
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In the early '70's a Russian pilot defected flying the latest and greatest MIG. US analyst rushed to the aircraft to inspect it. First reports, it had rust on the wings.

Russia demanded the aircraft back and the US compiled. It was shipped back months later in several boxes.
 
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