The Pentagon released declassified footage Thursday that it says shows a Russian jet conducting "an unsafe and unprofessional intercept" with a U.S. drone over the Black Sea earlier this week.
Driving the news: The 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 jet approaching the MQ-9 Reaper drone and releasing fuel as it neared the U.S. aircraft on Tuesday.
- A jet is then seen approaching the drone for the second time and colliding with it before the feed cuts out.
- The footage appears to show damage to the drone's propeller.
The big picture: The collision led to the "complete loss" of the drone, the U.S. European Command said
- The incident followed a "pattern of dangerous actions by Russian pilots while interacting with U.S. and Allied aircraft over international airspace," it added.
A top Russian official on Wednesday said that Russia would attempt to recover the remains of the drone.
- But Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley noted at a press conference that the remains had likely broken apart and sunk, adding that had been taken measures to prevent the loss of sensitive intelligence.
- "There's probably not much to recover, frankly," he added.
