The US decision to reroute reconnaissance drones further south over the Black Sea after a Russian jet collided with a US drone earlier this month “definitely limits our ability to gather intelligence” related to the war in Ukraine, the CNN a high-ranking American military official. Also, going back to old routes can be difficult.

Flying drones over long distances reduces the quality of information they can gather, a US military official explained, noting that spy satellites can compensate to some extent, but have less time on target and are less effective than drones.

After a collision between a Russian jet and a US MQ-9 Reaper drone earlier this month, the US rerouted surveillance drones further south and higher above the Black Sea than before, placing them further from the airspace around the Crimean peninsula and the eastern Black Sea.

When CNN first reported the change, a U.S. official said the new routes were part of an effort to “avoid being too provocative” as the Biden administration continues to be careful to avoid any incidents that could escalate into direct conflict with Russian forces. .

The official said drone flights would continue “for now” but added there was already an “appetite” to return to routes closer to Russian-controlled territory.

Asked about the impact of the new routes on intelligence gathering, Pentagon spokesman Gen. Patrick Ryder told CNN that “we will not discuss missions, routes or timing of operations. Nor will we discuss intelligence-gathering operations, other than that we maintain a strong ISR capability in the region and beyond.”

It will be difficult to move the routes closer to the coast of Ukraine again

After the collision of an Su-27 with an American MQ-9 Reaper drone on March 14, US officials have repeatedly stated that the US will continue to fly in international airspace. However, according to the new routes, these flights are located more than forty nautical miles from the Ukrainian coast, compared to the 12 nautical miles that are usually recognized as the border of the country’s airspace.

According to a senior U.S. military official, there is concern that once the U.S. moves its flight paths away from areas closer to the Ukrainian coast, it will be harder to return to them and maintain freedom of flight for U.S. aircraft. The US Navy has not entered the Black Sea since December 2021.

The downing of the drone was the first case of direct physical contact between Russian and US military aircraft since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Footage of the interception of an American drone by Russian planes proves that the Russians lied when they initially said they did not even touch the drone.

The latest footage shows that one of the propeller blades is bent, indicating that the Americans were right when they talked about the contact between the Su-27 and the Reaper.

We will remind you that on March 17, 3 days after the incident that led to the crash of the MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Black Sea, the Russian press wrote that both pilots of the Russian Su-27 aircraft, participants in the collision, were awarded by the Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergei Shoigu.

US Senator Mark Kelly, a former NASA astronaut who flew with Russian pilots while in the US Navy, said the incident that led to the crash of an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Black Sea once again showed the incompetence of Moscow’s military.

Read also:

• Russia denies that it shot down the American drone: it had an uncontrolled flight and lost altitude
• Moscow claims that the American drone had no right to be near Russia’s borders: it was a provocation by the United States