bentwaters81tfw Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 *boop* 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stalal Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 Was the spy drone confronted in US airspace? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 International airspace over the Black sea I think. Keith 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busnproplinerfan Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 The Reaper was in international airspace. it was shown on Flightrader. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 2 hours ago, stalal said: Was the spy drone confronted in US airspace? Was it congronted in Russian airspace? Or even more relevant, in recognised Russian air space? was it even a spy drone? Or more a recce drone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stalal Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 Its interesting way of interception. Dumping fuel on the drone downed it!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 Drowned the intake possibly? Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 Looking at the damage to the propeller blade, that would surely unbalance the whole craft and cause a considerable amount of vibration resulting in it being hard to control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 3 hours ago, busnproplinerfan said: The Reaper was in international airspace. it was shown on Flightrader. Not sure, I never saw a reaper on flightradar. Only the Global Hawks (usually C/S "Forte") at >50'000ft. The video shows the destroyed prop blades at around 2:27, I assume they were trying to cover the sensors with fuel to hinder the recce mission. But something went a bit wrong with the flight path assessment. Since a Su-27 already hit the propeller of P-3 Orion a few years ago, I suggest Russia changes the materials of their airframes to less propeller-magnetic materials. They seem to attract the whirly parts! Alex 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen Barett Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 2 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said: Looking at the damage to the propeller blade, that would surely unbalance the whole craft and cause a considerable amount of vibration resulting in it being hard to control. Trying to bend a Reaper's propeller in such way utilizing a large tool like the Su-27 might include damaging the Reaper's ruddervator. Maybe the loss / damage of one of those is almost as severe as vibration induced by a bent propeller blade. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 21 minutes ago, Jochen Barett said: Trying to bend a Reaper's propeller in such way utilizing a large tool like the Su-27 might include damaging the Reaper's ruddervator. Maybe the loss / damage of one of those is almost as severe as vibration induced by a bent propeller blade. I'd say that's probably the case. The prop is lower than the flying surfaces at the rear, so if the prop's got a bent tip, you can almost guarantee that the tips of those surfaces are more substantially damaged. That'll make it horrible to control, and if you take into account the lag between action and reaction over that massive distance, it'll be a big reason why it took a bath. I wonder who's going to pick up the wreckage first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen Barett Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 17 minutes ago, Mike said: I'd say that's probably the case. The prop is lower than the flying surfaces at the rear, so if the prop's got a bent tip, you can almost guarantee that the tips of those surfaces are more substantially damaged. That'll make it horrible to control, and if you take into account the lag between action and reaction over that massive distance, it'll be a big reason why it took a bath. I wonder who's going to pick up the wreckage first? All I could pick up in the news was it went down some 139 km South-West of Crimea. Checking a map found on the web http://blacksea-map.ru/576634_BIG_0_0.jpg we can make a guesstimate on the position followed by a second guesstimate if goggles, fins and a snorkel will do or some serious deep sea diving equipment. Looks like 1500-2000m to me (way more than I did during my enjoyable diving vacation around the lovely Danish island Bornholm last September 🥸 ). Well that was just my guess, a quick google search tells us "Russian media ForPost reports Russian military undersea robot found MQ-9 Reaper near Sevastopol and near South Stream pipeline on the depth of 850-900 meters" https://liveuamap.com/?zoom=11&ll=43.58835,32.37122 I wonder how that lines up with the map shown above (maybe the map is just disinformation or depths quoted are in feet) https://www.google.com/maps/place/43°35'00.0"N+32°22'00.0"E/@43.5833333,32.3662812,7z/data=!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d43.5833333!4d32.3666667 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stalal Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 (edited) As soon as the fuel is dumped, the propeller stalls. This seems to be the engine overflowing with dumped fuel. I did not see any damaged propeller blades! Edited March 17, 2023 by stalal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSG0 Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 The drive Pics of drone. Damaged blade? https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/mq-9-sensor-video-showing-collision-with-russian-su-27-released Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 The prop was damaged for sure, in the video (after the distorted images), you can see that the four props doesn't look the same. One looks feathered, one bent, and the other two look ok. Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim R-T-C Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 I believe the reports from the US state that they intentionally crashed the drone into the sea because of the damage affecting control. Presumably it would be very hard to land and they didn't want the risk of it crashing over populated areas. Amazing to see that Russian pilots still practice Taran techniques even today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen Barett Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 8 hours ago, stalal said: As soon as the fuel is dumped, the propeller stalls. This seems to be the engine overflowing with dumped fuel. I did not see any damaged propeller blades! If we watch the video again and immediately pause here (0:44) we see the feathered blade and by using "." to advance single frame and "," to go back single frame we see the bent blade. "Very nice bridge you have over that Kerch Strait, and nice subs you are operating in the Black Sea. It would be a pitty if anything happened to them, wouldn't it?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 No explosives for self-destruction on board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted March 17, 2023 Share Posted March 17, 2023 9 hours ago, tempestfan said: No explosives for self-destruction on board? That would be a waste of weight and introduce a point of failure (both uncommanded destruction and failure to destruct when commanded). There will be a data erase function that totally wipes everything of any worth and turns all the sensitive hardware into dumb pieces of rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 (edited) Personnally I think the Russian pilot got his approach wrong, pretty sure he didnt want to hit it...too much risk of trashing your own airframe...just got the manoeuvre wrong in an attempt to disrupt the Reaper.....or Predator Edited March 18, 2023 by junglierating 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMK Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 47 minutes ago, junglierating said: Personnally I think the Russian pilot got his approach wrong, pretty sure he didnt want to hit it...too much risk of trashing your own airframe...just got the manoeuvre wrong in an attempt to disrupt the Reaper.....or Predator Agreed. This looks like an accidental collision, not ninja-like piloting skills to nick a prop tip at several hundred knots. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Either way, irresponsible flying. Keith 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 3 hours ago, Britman said: Either way, irresponsible flying. Keith Depends on your perspective...from the Russian point of view ...its one up on an annoying nosey visitor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Whatever the cause - accidental collision while trying to disrupt flight or (probably unlikely) an intent to down - it creates a dangerous precedent and potentially breaks the accepted norms which could have unforeseeable consequences. Assuming the Americans are operating their surveillance craft in international airspace the Russians should not be doing anything physically to the craft at all however annoying it’s activities may be. What next? The US continues but with an F15 escort and what then if the Russians attempt to repeat the downing of the drone. Through the Cold War times I think it was accepted by both sides that surveillance from international waters was something you put up with regardless of how damaging the intel collected might be. Once or if the intruder crossed into your airspace he’s fair game. By trying to down the drone in international waters the Russians changed the unwritten rule book and upped the stakes for the next time and that is more irresponsible and dangerous than any flying that was going on by the pilots on this occasion Let’s hope sanity prevails soon 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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