RuAviation

A dangerous rapprochement between an MQ-9 drone of the so-called “international coalition” led by the US and a pair of Su-35 and Su-34 aircraft of the Russian Air Force was recorded in Syria on the morning of 26 July, Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, deputy head of the Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of Enemy Parties in the SAR, told a briefing.

Earlier, the US Air Force Central Command reported another “unsafe manoeuvring” of a Russian Su-35S near an MQ-9 Reaper UAV (on video). The Russian fighter jet shot off heat traps, one of which hit the propeller of the US drone, seriously damaging it. US commanders say they nevertheless managed to save the drone and land it at the base.

“At 07:34 on July 26, at an altitude of 6,200 metres near El-Bab, a dangerous rapprochement was once again recorded between a “coalition” MQ-9 drone and a pair of Su-35 and Su-34 aircraft of the Russian Air Force. Russian pilots once again recorded the exposure of weapons guidance systems, which led to the automatic activation of onboard defence systems and the firing of false thermal targets,” Gurinov said at the briefing.

In addition, he called unfounded the US accusations against Russian pilots who allegedly allowed a “dangerous approach” to the “coalition” UAVs in Syria. Oleg Gurinov noted that the flight of the US “coalition” drone was purely provocative, but Russian pilots “demonstrated high professionalism” and prevented a collision.