The United States remotely wiped sensitive software data from a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone before it crashed into the Black Sea in an effort to prevent Russia from gathering classified information, two U.S. officials said, cited by CNN.

An MQ-9 Reaper drone shot down a Russian planePhoto: ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia

The software was removed after the drone was attacked by two Russian Sukhoi 27 (Su-27) fighter jets.

Russian jets dumped fuel in front of a US surveillance drone on Tuesday, after which one collided with the drone, damaging its propeller and prompting the United States to sink it in the Black Sea, News.ro reported.

The Secretary of the Russian Security Council Mykola Patrushev said on Wednesday that Russia will try to find the wreckage of the drone.

Patrushev was the director of the Russian Security Service (FSB), the successors of the Soviet KGB.

“I don’t know if we will succeed, but we have to do it. We will definitely sort it out,” he told the Russian TV channel “Russia 1”.

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According to a US Navy official, the United States has no warships in the Black Sea, complicating a possible American attempt to seize the drone.

The United States has taken steps to protect classified “valuable” information from the drone.

“Without going into detail, I can say that we have taken steps to protect our assets on this drone. It is the property of the United States. Obviously, we don’t want anyone but us to get hold of it,” Kirby said.

According to a US official, the drone encountered the planes 45 miles (about 72 kilometers) southwest of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.

According to this source, the drone entered the sea about 70 miles (about 112 kilometers) from Crimea after leaving the Russian-occupied peninsula.

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