The US has drastically reduced its RQ-4 Global Hawk drone flights over the Black Sea since a Russian fighter jet collided with a Reaper drone last month causing it to crash into the sea.
The US Air Force last flew the reconnaissance drone on March 21, a week after the incident on March 14, RIA Novosti wrote, citing Flightradar24.
The air force flew the Northrop Grumman aircraft three times over the sea between March 21 and April 20 while staying within Romanian airspace, the Russian state-owned news outlet wrote.
According to RIA Novosti, the drone did not approach Crimea closer than 400 kilometers (248 miles) during the flights, which is over twice its radar range.
Ten Flights Per Month Since Feb 2022
In comparison, the service flew the drone eight to ten times every month since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
“After the incident with the American Reaper drone, which fell into the waters of the Black Sea on March 14, only two more Global Hawk flights were performed over the Black Sea – on March 17 and March 21 – both at a distance of no closer than 140 kilometers (87 miles) from the southern coast of Crimea,” the outlet quoted a source as saying.
“On the one hand, at such a range, the amount of information received by the UAV is sharply reduced, on the other hand, after March 14, the American side was in danger of losing such a device, and the Global Hawk is several times more expensive than the Reaper and is saturated with the most advanced equipment.”
At over $200 million, the RQ-4 is far costlier than the Reaper and has superior endurance, with a range of 36 hours and over 22,000 kilometers (13,670 miles).
There you have it, folks, another typical Biden action.
Mafia land purposefully downs one of our drones in international airspace, and the consequence for this outrage is a much reduced surveillance at an increased distance from Ukraine’s Crimea. Nothing happened to mafia land as a repercussion to this gross violation. Absolutely nothing. Nada, zilch, nichevo, nix nein Frankenstein. The mafiosi are laughing their asses off as our other drones fly uselessly far off the coast, and once in a while. Its mission accomplished for them.
No words can describe the disgust I have of Biden’s continuous, non-stop cowardice.
Meanwhile Biden single handedly is keeping Ukraine afloat. Without him, Ukraine would no longer be a country. But be sure to spite him as much as you can!
Does this mean that you concur to Biden’s handling of the downing of our drone?
Single-handedly?
You haven’t been paying attention, just spouting hard left talking points and propaganda.
Had Biden a spine he would authorize US strikes on ruSSian invaders inside Ukraine upholding the Budapest Memorandum.
Nothing in the Budapest Memorandum states the US will would do that. It clearly states the US will refer to the UN Security Council in the case of a nuclear attack on Ukraine and to consult other signatories should questions arise over compliance. That’s it. Then the US consulted and is offering military aid.
If Ukrainians thought giving up Russian weapons they couldn’t use and would be expensive to maintain entitled them to NATO style mutual protection, then why didn’t they insist on that in writing?
Of course, the US knew pre-memorandum that Russia had already declared Crimea to be Russian territory and wouldn’t agree to such assurances. I believe that actually U.S. and Ukrainian officials didn’t discuss in detail how the US would respond to a Russian violation as Yeltsin insisted it wouldn’t happen.
Perhaps Ukraine would have been better off investing into making the weapons actually operational but wouldn’t that just have triggered an early Russian reaction?
The entire thing about Budapest Memorandum was a bad deal, forced upon Ukraine with a gun to its head. The way we conducted ourselves was dishonorable, to say the least. We took away the only real guarantee for the country’s security for the exchange of a basically totally worthless piece of paper, assuring ourselves of doing almost nothing if something should happen. We should be ashamed.