That is almost routine now.Ironically, these peacetime shows-of-force put the forward flattops-not to mention their 70 aircraft, dozen or so escorts and thousands of embarked sailors-at extreme risk in CSIS’s simulations. “ they wouldn’t turn and attempt to dogfight our aircraft. “What has been qualitatively different since March is that there’s been an increase in activity and an increase in the unprofessional nature of interactions,” the official said.

Temporary increases in Russian military activity in the region are nothing new, the U.S. He said Moscow’s claim of a routine exercise was “just an excuse to go after our MQ-9s.” The senior defense official said the Russian plane Friday approached the MQ-9 in a “safe” but “unprofessional” manner.

After the drones were harassed by Russian planes last week, they succeeded in a strike that killed ISIS group leader Usamah al-Muhajir. A Russian Su-27 fighter collided with an MQ-9 in March and forced it to crash in the Black Sea. Last week, Russian fighter jets harassed other MQ-9s over Syria by dropping flares in their path. MQ-9 drone on Friday, continuing a recent pattern of similar behavior. The senior official also said Russian aircraft intercepted a U.S.

service members are based in Syria to support operations against the Islamic State group and train partner forces. The base houses American troops and partner forces. “This just happened to be one of the periods when we had a small gap in our coverage.”Īl-Tanf is an American military base located in a part of Syria that’s controlled by forces opposed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and aligned with the United States. “You can never cover everywhere that you have to cover all at once,” he said.

Us air force tank carrier