Kremlin Orders Generals to ‘Propose Response’ to US Strategic UAVs Near Crimea

Recently installed Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov has instructed the Russian General Staff to “make proposals for measures to respond promptly” to overflights by US reconnaissance drones, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday, June 28.

The announcement added that “the intensity of flights by US strategic drones over the Black Sea is increasing, which are reconnoitering and targeting precision weapons supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Western countries to strike at Russian targets.”

The Russian Defense Ministry says the drone flights are provocative and claims that they “indicate the growing involvement of the United States and NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kyiv regime.”

“Such flights once again increase the likelihood of incidents in the airspace with aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which increases the risk of direct confrontation between the [NATO] Alliance and the Russian Federation,” the statement added.

On Monday, June 24, the Russian news site Pravda ran a story saying “The Russian Aerospace Forces may have shot down an American drone over the Black Sea.” The piece quickly gained traction on social media with so-called Russian “Z-bloggers.”

The pro-Russian milblogger, “Military Observer,” said on his Telegram channel that it was certain that a Russian MiG-31 fighter on patrol over the Black Sea had “shot down a US Air Force reconnaissance drone.”

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He said it was presumably “a high-altitude reconnaissance drone RQ-4B Global Hawk,” later confirming there had been “a certain incident” but that the “Pentagon denies the incident.”

While neither Russia or the US confirmed or denied the reports at the time, doubt on the veracity of the claims was cast by Open-source intelligence analyst Oliver Alexander. He said on X that an RQ-4B Global Hawk had been operating over the Black Sea on Sunday / Monday but flight radar data showed it had safely returned to the Sigonella airbase, in Lentini, Sicily on Monday morning.

The pro-Kremlin milblogger Fighterbomber, who had been one of the sources for the original “shooting down” story “clarified” the situation in a further post. He said that the drone hadn’t actually been shot down as this would have been “an act of aggression.” He said there was video of the encounter that showed how the Russian MiG-31 interceptor flew in close proximity to the UAV, forcing it to change course and return to base.

Other pro-Western military social media suggested that as a result of the MiG-31 near miss, the Global Hawk had simply switched off its transponder making it “disappear” from radar. Later on during its mission over the Black Sea it could have reactivated its transmitter prior to its return to base.

A similar incident occurred in March 2023, when two Russian Su-27 fighter aircraft “buzzed” an MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea several times before inadvertently striking it and forcing it to ditch into the sea.

The RQ-4B Global Hawk UAV, manufactured by Northrop Gruman has a 39.6-meter (130 feet) wingspan and a maximum altitude of 17,700 meters (58,000 feet) with a flight endurance of around 32 hours. The drone is designed to provide valuable intelligence information in close to real time. It has been operated by the US Air Force since 2001 on military operations in Afghanistan, Asia, the Pacific region, Iraq and North Africa.