The recovery of the MQ-9 wreckage could be difficult. Estimated water depth by the US is 1.2 - 1.5 km
The orcs have this based in Sevastapol:
Would you look at how old that thing is; 1912! Anyway, if that submersible is all it has available, it might not be very useful as it is rated for 1,000m depth.
However, Orcs are claiming to have found the wreckage at 'only' 850-900m depth.
Specialists from the Russian military were able to locate the downed US MQ-9 Reaper drone in the Black Sea on the day of the incident on 14 March. The drone was found on the seabed 60 kilometres from Sevastopol at a depth of 850-900 metres. ForPost was told this by its own source close to the Russian Defence Ministry and familiar with the details of the operation.
"An underwater robot has descended to the seabed and detected the MQ-9 Reaper at a depth of about 850-900 metres. The deep-sea branch of the South Stream gas pipeline runs close to this area," the source told ForPost.
According to him, a Russian warship is currently on duty on the surface of the water in the area of the fall of the US aircraft. The perimeter area of the drone crash site is also guarded. The source said that experts are now working out a decision on further actions to lift the drone from the seabed.
"The depth where the drone is buried is quite considerable. To carry out the ascent, one should use the means used in the lifting of sunken deep-sea submarines," the source told ForPost.
Such means, ForPost's qualified interlocutor notes, are available to the army and navy, and a plan is being developed to use them effectively in the fall zone of the MQ-9 Reaper.
The specialist told ForPost that the Russian Defense Ministry is interested in the drone's internal electronics, as well as its engine. In turn, he noted, a scenario is not ruled out in which US forces would try to destroy the drone using their own means before it rises to the surface.
On Wednesday, March 15, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev said on the air of the television channel "Russia-1" that the work to lift the fallen drone from the seabed is necessary, and it will be carried out.
Recall that the American drone MQ-9 Reaper fell into the Black Sea in the morning of March 14 as a result of sharp manoeuvring. At around 9:30 (Moscow time), as confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry, the MQ-9 drone went into unguided flight with loss of altitude and collided with the water surface. It was noted that the US drone flew with its transponders turned off and violated the boundaries of the area of temporary airspace use, which had been established for the duration of the airspace defense.
As ForPost wrote, the US military reconnaissance drone MQ-9 Reaper crashed as a result of approaching a Russian Su-27 fighter jet, which was going at supersonic speed.
Sergey Abramov
Orc source so dose of salt may be required,: https://sevastopol.su/news/bespilotnik-ssha-mq-9-reaper-nayden-u-sevastopolya-na-glubine-okolo-900-metrov
Aside: Great Username. Great episode. I only watched it again last week. Every scene is gold
It wont be worth anything to the russians except for a propaganda «victory» to show the russian people,so they have an excuse to mobilize more troops.
Next batch of new conscripts are due in April
If MQ 9 was in international airspace, is it likely that the wreckage is in international waters? If so, what right does Russia have to interfere with a US asset? If Turkey has now allowed US navy ships into the Black Sea, should the US not give a firm notice that it intends to salvage US property?
Depot fire
The international laws anything says anything is up for grabs if in international waters unfortunately,if it was within some countries territorial sea,different story.
This was a well planned manouvre and attack from Russia.
Russia don't need permission to attempt salvage. If they successfully salvage it they don't become owners - US can ask for it back and Russia can charge a salvage fee. Russia might give it back in pieces having studied it, or they might just keep it and say they couldn't salvage it.
There is precedent for both nations trying to salvage each others stuff, it's considered fair game. In the late 60s Russia lost a missile sub and couldn't locate the wreckage. USA found it and secretly built a huge ship that opened at the bottom to try and haul it up without anyone knowing. Seymour Hersh broke the story, same guy who wrote about the Nord Stream pipeline.
That's not the image I was referencing. The Polish Mig29 image is from DCS.
EDIT:- and I'll add, the vid you referenced is definitely not DCS.
Nate
But it's definitely not the MQ9 that was taken down,
Another quoted expert claimed the Su27 couldn't dump fuel ,
The official video show's something else
The same Romanian publication that quoted retired General Dănilă as saying that the Su27 could not dump fuel in this article yesterday:
Are talking about how the Su27 dumped fuel in this article today:
After the initial comment, there was plenty of commentary that it was inconceivable that such a jet would lack the ability to dump fuel, and even before the video came out of it doing so, other evidence was posted that it could indeed dump fuel. So it seems clear that either the General or defenseromania.ro were mistaken in the initial claim.
For me it was the idea of aircraft which has a fairly large internal tank and doesn't carry any external tanks not being able to dump fuel in an emergency couldn't be right,
It's possible something got lost in translation ,or the General quoted has zero experience with the Su27 which the Romanian airforce never operated
Sad to see former Hollywood greats like Mickey Rourke, Steven Seagal, Oliver Stone, Gérard Depardieu and Nemo going over to the Russian side.
The Russians are making an effort going by the number of vessels over the crash site .
Russia starting to fall apart.
😲
233,000 Russians have crossed into Ukraine from november last year to January 21 this year. Oh crap no sorry. 233,000 Russians have arrived into Phuket airport, Thailand.
Who'd have guessed🙄
As usual, and according to normal Russian practice, they do not give a damn for rules, regulations or laws, international or otherwise ( unless of course when the west is perceived as breaking them, in which case its a major crime.)
Absolutely agree. I emailed them about it but haven't received a reply. I am puzzled as to how the general could have been so off. He isn't just a run of the milll ex general, he's a former Mig-21 and Mig-29 pilot who went on to be head of Romania's military and advisor to their President. He's even a recipient of the French Legion of Honor and has a Phd. in Military Science. He's got a Wiki page: https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C8%98tefan_D%C4%83nil%C4%83
Doesn't make him an expert on aircraft he's never flown or had under his command,
But yet they go crying to the UN when it suits them taking about dangerous interactions and international airspace and waters
Utter clowns!
Wagner group now advertising for recruits via pornhub
Prigozhin will be the next dictator of Russia. He'll be seen as more realist and pragmatic when Putin is disposed of. The sucking up to Prigozhin by more of the "faces" of Russia has just begun.
This is what it is. Done with a purpose for the Russian public.
Be terrible if something happened to one of them! I wonder could the Ukrainians 'acquire' a few missiles to reach them! Some coup that.
Russia plans to “nationalize” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife’s Crimean apartment in the coastal city of Yalta, said the Kremlin’s puppet head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov...
Occupation authorities in Crimea threated Zelenksyy with a lawsuit in September 2021 after claiming he had stopped paying for his utilities.
Italians could gift him Putrid's $700m yacht as compensation.
The Ukrainian officer at the centre of this article I posted a few days ago been demoted for his remarks.
My sentiments exactly.
I will be offline again for some period, but I wanted to make a few comments/opinions, in a short thread:
1. On the upcoming "spring offensive". What offensive? There will very likely not be one by then, sorry. This hallucination exists mainly in media and twitter.
2. The currently pledged (insufficient) battalions will barely be ready by May (at earliest), not to mention it is a mess of barely compatible systems. Everything else pledged drags years deep, into 2024/2025. This also assumes no "fading pledges" and bullshit promises.
3. Russians have immense reserves and prepared positions, of which are yet to be tested, and are built in great depth. Even 2-3 western mechanized brigades is not enough to "turn the tide" - for this it's needed 5x more, at minimum.
4. Offensive actions don't happen in a vacuum, you need primary and supporting offensives, etc. There is no "rush" into a narrow pocket towards Melitopol... The enemy can quickly react to such nonsense.
5. Ammunition is a much bigger problem for the ZSU than for RU. Much of the RU "shell hunger" narrative is simply used to explain away their slow progress, but for us, it's a severe issue.
6. RU will likely lose offensive potential in June/July, and will revert to defensive postures, while attempting to regnerate force as before. I have mention I think they will eventually mobilize 1.2mil inside UA. This is not ending soon.
7. It's very possible for the war to last many years of oscillating defensive/offensive lulls, before ending as suddenly as it started in 2014. Any predictions past a few months is futile, including association football analogies...
8. High risk "surprises" like forcing the Dnipro are not impossible (among other things), unlike believed widely. How effective they would be, is another question.
9. Expect important news in Bakhmut soon.
Food for thought, that will go down like a lead balloon here.
“9. Expect important news in Bakhmut soon.”
LOL we’ve been told this for the last 6 months!
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