Russian fighter jets drop heat traps on US UAVs in Syria again

The White House said the incident occurred on July 26. According to AP, this is the sixth reported incident this month and the second in 24 hours in which the US accused Russian fighter jets of flying dangerously close to US UAVs and manned aircraft, putting both pilots and aircraft at risk.

Two US officials confirmed that the actions of the Russian fighter jet on July 26 damaged the US MQ-9 Reaper UAV. The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

Russian Su-35 fighter jet fires flares that damage US UAV in Syria

"We have seen reports, initial reports, of a second Russian fighter jet this week flying dangerously close to our UAV," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Russian fighter jet flies near US UAV on July 25

The incident occurred while the US military was conducting a mission against Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, a US spokeswoman said. Ms. Jean-Pierre said "Russia's close approach and deployment of flares to a US UAV during a routine mission" was a violation of international rules.

In previous incidents, Russian aircraft have intercepted US aircraft at dangerously close distances, including one instance with a manned aircraft that the US said could have endangered the lives of four American crew members.

Image believed to be the propeller of a US MQ-9 UAV affected by a heat-trapping flare launched by a Russian aircraft

A senior Russian military leader has blamed Washington for the latest incident and accused US-led coalition aircraft in Syria of violating deconfliction protocols with Russia 10 times in 24 hours.

Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian military's Reconciliation Center in Syria, said that a US UAV flew very close to two Russian fighter jets in the Syrian sky early on the morning of July 26. Mr. Gurinov said that the systems on the two Russian Su-34 and Su-35 fighters detected the targeted aircraft and activated the automatic flare firing function.

Russian fighter jets drop heat traps that damage US MQ-9 UAV in Syria

"The United States continues to misinform the public about illegal flights of its UAVs in Syrian airspace, which do not comply with deconfliction protocols, while accusing the Russian side of dangerous actions," Gurinov said in a statement carried by the Interfax news agency.

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