The U.S. and Russian militaries scrambled Wednesday to locate the wreckage of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone that crashed into the Black Sea after being hit by a tailing Russian fighter jet a day earlier, with the Pentagon’s top military officer suggesting that the U.S. may ask regional allies to help retrieve the unmanned, high-tech craft from an increasingly dangerous, disputed body of water.
After the collision, U.S. crews were forced to bring the drone down in the Black Sea. Gen.said the craft likely sank to the bottom of the sea at a depth of 4,000 feet or more, making any recovery operation challenging.
He said the drone probably broke apart on impact and there is “probably not a lot to recover, frankly.”said the U.S. will explore options to recover the drone if and when American personnel locate the wreckage.said. “We do have allies and friends in the region. We don’t have any naval service vessels in the Black Sea at this time. We’ll work up options.”would not elaborate on what recovery operations might look like or which U.S. allies may be asked to help with the mission.
Russian officials made clear that they hope to retrieve the craft. Finding and displaying the destroyed Reaper could represent a significant public relations win for the Kremlin, which is in desperate need of a morale boost after military setbacks in
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