4 ms·

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

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.

frozenport 4y ago
Sounds like they pissed on the aircraft? Suspect this will win praise and the only victim was a US drone.
brwck 4y ago
The description reads like made up propaganda. And it's funny how quickly I got downvoted for mentioning that eucom.mil might not be the most trustworthy of sites. It's almost like there is a one-sided propaganda war waged all over social media.
- mediumdeviation 4y ago
  .mil is the US military's TLD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.mil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.mil. EU COM is the US European Command. It is about as primary a source as you can get.
  - brwck 4y ago
    [flagged]
mitthrowaway2 4y ago
I'm not sure I'd interpret this as incompetence. It seems to me like a successful attempt to bring down a drone "by accident" with enough plausible deniability, because shooting it would be too overtly an act of war.
- gorkish 4y ago
  Flying a manned aircraft into a collision with an unmanned aircraft is pilot incompetence. 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?
  - Ruthalas 4y ago
    At least according to the article: >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.
  - mitthrowaway2 4y ago
    Given how much command incompetence Russia has demonstrated so far, I'm not sure why you think that's a less likely explanation than pilot incompetence. It also seems like the collision happened after several other actions consistent with an order along the lines of "bring down that drone without firing on it"
hotpotamus 4y ago
Ever see "Braveheart"? Remember the mooning scene? I'd guess that this is just the 21st century version of that.
mrguyorama 4y ago
Russia can't afford to give it's airforce ample practice time in the jets, so they are really not well trained. Several aircraft have been captured on film crashing during takeoff, from either lacking maintenance or pilot error. 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.

frozenport 4y ago

Sounds like they pissed on the aircraft? Suspect this will win praise and the only victim was a US drone.

brwck 4y ago

The description reads like made up propaganda. And it's funny how quickly I got downvoted for mentioning that eucom.mil might not be the most trustworthy of sites. It's almost like there is a one-sided propaganda war waged all over social media.

mediumdeviation 4y ago
.mil is the US military's TLD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.mil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.mil. EU COM is the US European Command. It is about as primary a source as you can get.
- brwck 4y ago
  [flagged]

mitthrowaway2 4y ago

I'm not sure I'd interpret this as incompetence. It seems to me like a successful attempt to bring down a drone "by accident" with enough plausible deniability, because shooting it would be too overtly an act of war.

gorkish 4y ago
Flying a manned aircraft into a collision with an unmanned aircraft is pilot incompetence. 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?
- Ruthalas 4y ago
  At least according to the article: >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.
- mitthrowaway2 4y ago
  Given how much command incompetence Russia has demonstrated so far, I'm not sure why you think that's a less likely explanation than pilot incompetence. It also seems like the collision happened after several other actions consistent with an order along the lines of "bring down that drone without firing on it"

hotpotamus 4y ago

Ever see "Braveheart"? Remember the mooning scene? I'd guess that this is just the 21st century version of that.

mrguyorama 4y ago

Russia can't afford to give it's airforce ample practice time in the jets, so they are really not well trained. Several aircraft have been captured on film crashing during takeoff, from either lacking maintenance or pilot error. 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.