Sen. Mark Kelly flew with Russian pilots in the Navy and with NASA, and he said the Russian fighter

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

fighter jet running into a US drone shows 'how incompetent they are'

He said the incident last week where a Russian fighter jet dumped fuel on and then clipped the propeller of a US military drone shows how "reckless" and "incompetent" they are.

"I'm not surprised by this. I mean, I flew with Russian pilots, fighter pilots who couldn't fly formation. And I watched this video, and it's pretty obvious what happened. He lost sight of it, and he crashed into it," Kelly told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday.

Link to tweet

On Tuesday, two Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepted a US military MQ-9 Reaper drone that was flying over international waters above the Black Sea. The jets dumped fuel on the drone, and one jet eventually clipped the drone's propeller. The drone eventually crashed into the water.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sen-mark-kelly-flew-with-russian-pilots-in-the-navy-and-with-nasa-and-he-said-the-russian-fighter-jet-running-into-a-us-drone-shows-how-incompetent-they-are/ar-AA18OzET

But they got a medal from Pooty Poot for downing the drone so I guess their incompetence was rewarded.

[republianmushroom]

1. like it

[ProfessorGAC]

2. I Can Accept This

Why would a pilot flying 5 or 6 hundred miles an hour fly into something on purpose?
Seems a wildly dangerous thing to do.
Kelly's explanation makes more sense to me.

[Trenzalore]

3. The Russian Military is very undisciplined

The training doesn't come close to America or our European Allies. They are barbarous thugs.

[moniss]

4. Myself I would be more than

approving if a couple of the unarmed surveillance drones were to turn and go straight into the intake of the next Russian jet that ttries to pull this crap.

[paleotn]

8. The Russians should be more careful.

The MQ-9 can carry the AIM-92 Stinger (ATAS}. The Air Force started fiddling around with that during Operation Southern Watch, the southern no fly zone prior to the Gulf War. ATAS may become part of the standard load out for recon missions going forward. A nasty surprise for unsuspecting Russian pilots.

[paleotn]

5. Ridiculously low training hours compared to the Western pilots and aviators.

That's all they can afford in a kleptocratic state where nearly everything in their military that's not nailed down is pilfered and sold on the black market.

Let me introduce you to Sergei....

&t=2959s&ab_channel=Perun

[MarineCombatEngineer]

6. Lordy, you couldn't be more right,

my experience training with their equivalent of combat engineers after the dissolution of the Soviet Union was nothing more than a shit show.

[GoCubsGo]

7. Malcolm Nance has been saying pretty much the same thing.

[2naSalit]

9. +1

[DallasNE]

10. The Maps I've Seen Of Where Collision Took Place

Shows that the nearest landfall was Turkey, not Crimea. Unless there is some little dot of an island belonging to Crimea the drone was at least 250 miles from Crimea. Turkey has much more of a beef with Russia than Russia. This is a calculated confrontation by Russia that has no bearing on the location. How long before Russia flies an armed war plane over NATO territory?

[Igel]

11. Did I just read all the comments to a post that said,"

"Meh, Biden's US intel apparatus says that they have evidence that pilots were ordered to intercept and down a US Reaper drone, but, you know, it's just negligence on their part. Ignore US intel and Russian interests, let's pretend it's just a bad mistake"?

Why, yes I did.

Why are people covering for the Putin people? "Just following orders!" "Otlichno, tebe medal' podam! Molodets!" "No, there *were* no orders!1! It was a mistake. Must ratchet *down* hostility with the grand Putain!"

Sorry, no. No reset on this one.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russian-leaders-approved-actions-jets-downed-us-drone-rcna75166

In which case this makes sense instead of being Ionesco redux:

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/17/1164156844/russia-awards-pilots-involved-in-confrontation-with-a-u-s-drone-over-black-sea