It's pretty bad when I find myself, almost reflexively, rooting for the other side to further humiliate the US "government" (and, yes, the US military IS part of the Deep Unconstitutional US State, however much I would prefer it to be a defender of the Constitution, instead).
On the other side of the coin, my admiration for the US Constitution, sans most of the Amendments after the first 10, continues to grow! Can you imagine? Here we are 250+ years from the time of the Founders. And despite MOST of the US government apparatchiks, working overtime, using an infinite money/tax supply to subvert the rule of law system, enough of the system remains to embarrass and harass these Sith Lords, time and again?!;->. WoW! Hehe.
Yeah, I'm sure the Evil SITH Lords are filling up my dossier...probably on to my 3rd or 4th folder by now.
Kremlin Blames US For Crashed Drone: 'Flying With Transponders Off Towards Russian Border'
by Tyler Durden
Tuesday, Mar 14, 2023 - 03:10 PM
Update(1510ET): After nearly two hours since the story first broke in international press, the Kremlin has issued its version of events concerning the US drone crash in the Black Sea Tuesday. The Russian Defense Ministry said nothing about the Pentagon's allegations that a Russian Su-27 aircraft dumped fuel on the MQ-9 drone, but instead blamed the pair of Russian jets' erratic maneuvering for the collision.
"US drone MQ-9 fell into the Black Sea on Tuesday morning due to its own sharp maneuvering, Russian fighters did not come into contact with it and did not use weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry said," according to Russian media. The statement is as follows [emphasis ours]:
"As a result of sharp maneuvering around 09:30 Moscow time [06:30 GMT], unmanned aerial vehicle MQ-9 went into an uncontrolled flight with a loss of altitude and collided with the water surface. The Russian fighters did not use airborne weapons, did not come into contact with the unmanned aerial vehicle and returned safely to their home airfield" the ministry said.
The Russian fighters had been scrambled in response to the drone being picked up on radar: "The ministry clarified that on the morning of March 14, the airspace control of the Russian Aerospace Forces had recorded the flight of US unmanned aerial vehicle MQ-9 over the Black Sea in the region of the Crimean peninsula in the direction of the Russian state border." However, the ministry further noted that the UAV had been flying with its transponders turned off while headed towards Russia's border.
Interestingly, the Kremlin is accusing the Pentagon of ignoring military-to-military protocols related to the war in Ukraine, established in order to avoid inadvertent NATO-Russia clashes:
The flight of the drone "was carried out with transponders turned off, violating the boundaries of the area of the temporary regime for the use of airspace, established for the purpose of conducting a special military operation, communicated to all users of international airspace and published in accordance with international standards," the MoD said.
So given the Russian side has confirmed there was no shootdown, both sides can collectively breath a sigh of relief for now, given this was a highly dangerous incident that had the potential to unleash a shooting war as the two superpower rivals continue crisscrossing airspace over the Black Sea, not far from frontline fighting in Ukraine.
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Update(1328ET): The US military statement of events, blaming a pair of Russian fighter jets for "reckless" maneuvers which resulted in the MQ-9 drone being struck and crashing in international waters at a "complete loss":
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