The description of their actions sounds like more of a joyride than an actual engagement.
Seeing as how they have almost given up attempting air superiority in Ukraine, it makes one wonder how many competent airmen Russia even has.
Seeing as how they have almost given up attempting air superiority in Ukraine, it makes one wonder how many competent airmen Russia even has.
Ordering a human pilot to fly into a collision with an unmanned aircraft is command incompetence.
The attempts here to backsplain this ridiculousness is maddening. Why is a plot-twisting-conspiracy easier to accept than the far more likely explanation that an undertrained russian pilot decided to risk his plane and his life to fuck around and buzz the unmanned drone he ran across?
>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.
That could be argued to be more intentional than just faffing about.
That being said: This stunt is not good evidence of anything good or bad. Intercepting air assets is normal procedure, and things likely get harder when the actual aircraft itself has no fear for its own life, so the pilot of the unmanned vehicle might be a little more bold at testing limits, and the same for the Russian pilot.
Suspect this will win praise and the only victim was a US drone.