New incident on an international scene where tensions are already numerous. Tuesday, March 4, the French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu denounced on the social network X an “aggressive” action on the part of the Kremlin: a Russian fighter plane adopted two days earlier “dangerous” behavior “with direct proximity” of a French surveillance drone in international airspace above the eastern Mediterranean. An incident that comes at the very moment when peace negotiations accelerate between Russia and the United States, leaving Europe and Ukraine at the quay.
What happened?
Sunday, March 2, a Russian fighter soukhoï su-35 armed approached dangerously a French Reaper drone on a surveillance mission in international airspace above the eastern Mediterranean without slowing down, before turning around. The Russian machine carried out “three successive close passages, which could have led to the loss of control of the drone”, said the French Minister of the Armed Forces for whom this maneuver attests to a “desire to restrict free air circulation in common areas”.
A video taken by a camera located under the nose of the drone shows the Russian device arriving at low speed from the rear before passing on its right just above the reaper wing.
What reactions did the incident aroused?
Sébastien Lecornu denounced an action “intentional, non-professional and aggressive (which) is not acceptable”. “France will continue to act to defend freedom of navigation in international air and maritime areas,” added the Minister of the Armed Forces.
Invited on LCI, government spokesperson Sophie Primas qualified this incident on Wednesday morning as an “observation”, even “attack”. The plane “has tried to create what are called disturbances, which do not make a mystery that it is an attack, in all a destabilization maneuver. It is absolutely unacceptable,” she said. For the time being, the Kremlin has not reacted.
What is the use of the Reaper drone?
The reaper MQ-9 Drone of American manufacturing has been acquired in twelve copies by France. It is able to fly for 24 hours for intelligence and surveillance missions. The machine can also be equipped for air strike missions.
In March 2023, an American Reaper drone damaged in the Black Sea after being intercepted by a Russian Sukhoï-27. The hunter had also approached it from the rear twice. According to the American army, which had broadcast a video showing the hunter dropping fuel on the drone, the Reaper had been struck by the Russian plane, which had led to its loss.
Although extracted, an incident of this kind could reproduce since, according to the government spokesperson, it is “extremely difficult” to avoid these maneuvers since “it is an open international sky”. For Sophie Primas, there is no doubt: “We have really returned hard and at all levels in power relationships between blocks which are extremely disturbing”.