WASHINGTON (AP) — When a Russian fighter jet collided with a large U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea, it was a rare but serious incident that triggered a U.S. diplomatic protest and raised concerns about the possibility Russia could recover sensitive technology.
U.S. and Russian officials had conflicting accounts of the collision Tuesday between the MQ-9 Reaper drone and the Russian Su-27 fighter jet; each side blamed the other. A Pentagon spokesman raised the possibility that the Defense Department could eventually declassify and release video it has of the collision.
Russian authorities said Wednesday that they will try to recover the fragments of the drone. But National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN that the Reaper crashed into very deep water and he was not sure whether a recovery was possible.
