A Russian fighter jet hit a U.S. drone over the Black Sea on March 14, U.S. officials said.
A Russian Su-27 aircraft “struck the propeller” of the drone, the U.S. European Command said in a statement.
The impact forced U.S. personnel to bring the drone, an unmanned MQ-9 model, down in international waters.
The drone was “conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9,” U.S. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, said in a statement….