## US Reconnaissance Drone Overflights Concern Russia## US Reconnaissance Drone Overflights Concern Russia Moscow, June 28, 2024: The newly appointed Russian Defense Minister, Andrei Belousov, has directed the General Staff to develop measures to respond swiftly to overflights of US reconnaissance drones over the Black Sea. The Defense Ministry has expressed concerns over the increasing frequency of drone flights, alleging that they are targeting Russian targets with precision weapons provided by Western countries to Ukraine. Moscow views these flights as provocations and an indication of the growing involvement of the United States and NATO in the conflict in Ukraine. The Defense Ministry has warned that such flights increase the risk of incidents and potential confrontation between Russian and NATO forces. In recent weeks, Russian social media has been awash with claims that a US drone was shot down over the Black Sea. However, neither Russia nor the US has officially confirmed or denied these reports. Open-source intelligence analysts have cast doubt on the veracity of the claims, citing flight radar data that shows the alleged drone returned safely to its base in Italy. Despite the lack of official confirmation, the incident highlights the heightened tensions between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine. The US has been providing significant military support to Ukraine, including reconnaissance drones and other weapons systems. Russia, on the other hand, has accused the US and NATO of escalating the conflict by providing arms to Ukraine. The RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV is a high-altitude, long-endurance reconnaissance drone used by the US Air Force for intelligence gathering. It has been deployed in various military operations around the world. Its advanced capabilities make it a potentially valuable asset for the US in monitoring the conflict in Ukraine and providing targeting information for precision weapons. The Russian Defense Ministry’s response to the drone overflights signals its determination to protect its airspace and deter any perceived threats from Western countries. It remains to be seen how the situation will evolve in the coming weeks and months, as the war in Ukraine continues to escalate tensions between Russia and the West.
The newly installed Defense Minister in the Kremlin, Andrei Belousov, has instructed the Russian General Staff to “make proposals for measures to quickly respond” to overflights of US reconnaissance drones, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday June 28.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that “the intensity of flights by US strategic drones over the Black Sea is increasing, reconnaissance and targeting of precision weapons supplied by Western countries to the armed forces of Ukraine to attack Russian targets.”
Join us on TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on @Kyivpost_official.
Moscow’s Defense Ministry called the drone flights provocative and claimed they were “an indication of the growing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kiev regime.”
“Such flights once again increase the likelihood of incidents in the airspace involving Russian Air Force aircraft, increasing the risk of direct confrontation between the (NATO) Alliance and the Russian Federation,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
On Monday, June 24, Russian news site Pravda published a story that read: “Russian Aerospace Forces may have shot down a US drone over the Black Sea.” The piece quickly gained attention on social media among so-called Russian “Z-bloggers.”
Pro-Russian milbloggers, ‘Military Observer’, said on its Telegram channel that it was certain that a Russian MiG-31 fighter on patrol over the Black Sea “shot down a US Air Force reconnaissance drone”.
Other interesting topics
Russian oil depot on fire after Ukrainian drone attack
Ukraine, which has been facing a Russian offensive for more than two years, regularly launches attacks on Russian energy and defense sites in response to attacks on its territory.
He said it was likely “a high-altitude reconnaissance drone RQ-4B Global Hawk,” and later confirmed that “some incident” had occurred, but that the “Pentagon denies the incident.”
Although neither Russia nor the US confirmed or denied the reports at the time, doubts were cast on the veracity of the claims by open-source intelligence analyst Oliver Alexander, who said on X that an RQ-4B Global Hawk had been operating over the Black Sea on Sunday/Monday, but flight radar data showed it had returned safely to the Sigonella airbase in Lentini, Sicily on Monday morning.
Pro-Kremlin mil-blogger Fighterbomber, who was one of the sources for the original “shooting down” story, “clarified” the situation in a later post, saying that the drone was not actually shot down, as this would have been “an act of aggression.” He said that there was video of the encounter that showed the Russian MiG-31 interceptor flying close to the UAV, forcing it to change course and return to base.
Other pro-Western military social media suggested that the Global Hawk had simply switched off its transponder following the Mig-31’s near miss, causing it to disappear from radar. It had been able to reactivate its transmitter later during its mission over the Black Sea before returning to base.
A similar incident occurred in March 2023, when two Russian Su-27 fighter jets ‘flew’ an MQ-9 Reaper drone several times over the Black Sea before inadvertently flying into it, forcing the aircraft to land in the sea.
The RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV, manufactured by Northrop Gruman, has a wingspan of 39.6 meters (130 feet), a maximum altitude of 17,700 meters (58,000 feet), and a flight endurance of approximately 32 hours. The drone is designed to provide valuable intelligence information in near real time. It has been used by the U.S. Air Force since 2001 during military operations in Afghanistan, Asia, the Pacific, Iraq, and North Africa.
RQ-4 Global Hawk for strategic reconnaissance of Northrop Grumman UAVs. It can patrol for 30 hours at an altitude of up to 18,000 meters.
departure – 574 km/h. The range is 22.7 thousand. km.
It is considered to be the most powerful reconnaissance drone in the world. photo.twitter.com/rbtIB8wOzx
— TOGA (@TOGAjano21) February 25, 2024
