On Tuesday, two Russian fighter jets intercepted a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone flying over the Black Sea. The jets shot down the drone in international waters, sparking a race between Washington, DC, and Moscow to retrieve the drone – a contest that could potentially extend to the depths of the Black Sea.
The MQ-9, an all-purpose workhorse for the US military, was likely reporting on Russian maritime activities related to the war in Ukraine when it encountered the Russian twin-engined Su-27s. Air Force Gen. James B. Hecker said in a statement that the Russian aircraft performed “dangerous and unprofessional” maneuvers, including spilling fuel on the $12 million uncrewed plane and flying close in front of it.
When Russia challenged the US version of events, the US government, with remarkable speed, declassified video footage that had been captured by the Reaper which showed one of the jets spraying fuel as it headed towards the drone. Eventually, one of the Russian planes made contact with the four-bladed propeller propelling the drone from behind, breaking off a propeller blade and causing the MQ-9 to crash into the water, according to the Pentagon.
The next day, Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, said that Moscow had the capacity to recover the remains of the MQ-9. But US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested in a Wednesday press conference that would remain of little interest to the Russians to find.
“In terms of the loss of any sensitive information…we’ve taken mitigating measures, so we’re absolutely confident that anything that was of value is no longer of value,” Milley said. This could imply that the US military has the ability to remotely disable or destroy some of the drone’s technology.
A standard MQ-9 Reaper carries what is called a multi-spectral targeting system. This includes a number of visual sensors, in particular an infrared (IR) sensor and an electro-optical (EO) sensor, which consists of a color sensor and a monochrome daylight television camera. The images from the three types of cameras on these two sensors can be viewed as a video stream. The drone also has a small Lynx radar to detect movements and activities on the ground. Additionally, the Reaper has other equipment-carrying structures called pylons. Depending on the mission, these can support additional sensors, or even bombs and missiles.
But “this MQ-9 was unarmed; it only carried sensors,” says David Deptula, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and former deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Even without weapons on board, the MQ-9 could have at least initially carried technology that would reward Russian recovery efforts. “The value that Russia could derive from the recovery depends on what is carried on the plane,” Deptula said. “If there was some sort of unique sensor on board, that would be one thing. They could pick up something that they haven’t been exposed to before to mine for its technology. But if it was configured in mode nominal, with its standard EO/IR payload sensor and Lynx radar, then there is no significant loss if the Russians recover it,” he adds.
This is not the first potential loss of MQ-9 technology from the US Department of Defense. In 2017, a Reaper was shot in Yemen. In 2019 a missile shot down an MQ-9 in Libya. There was also another loss on Syria in 2020. “Parts of the MQ-9 have been exploited and shared elsewhere in previous years,” says Deptula.
And the DOD may still attempt to recover the drone that was shot down this month. “We are evaluating options,” Pentagon spokesman Brig. General Pat Ryder during a press briefing on Thursday.
Milley said the US government knows exactly where the MQ-9 landed in the Black Sea. “It probably is [at a depth of] about 4,000 or 5,000 feet of water, something like that,” the general said. “So any salvage operation is very difficult at this depth by anyone.” When the US military lost an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in the South China Sea last year, it took five weeks to put it back together at a depth of 12,400 feet.
Potential MQ-9 salvage options likely include plans developed by the Supervisor of Diving and Salvage within the Navy’s Ocean Engineering Branch. This office oversees a warehouse full of deep sea recovery equipment, including a family of autonomous and remotely operated vehicles, as well as a portable lift system. These machines work together to find the wreckage and pull it up through thousands of feet of water.
But that bulky equipment, along with the contractors trained to perform missions on behalf of the US government, are based in Largo, Maryland, far from the remains of the downed drone. If the United States undertakes a recovery mission, just getting there will take a long time. The military must first hire a commercial vessel in the Black Sea to accommodate the equipment, which will need to be temporarily welded to the ship’s deck. Then it will take more time to hunt and bring up the wreckage. In other words, no US recovery will happen anytime soon.
As for Russia, little is known about its deep-sea recovery capabilities. But such a mission would likely involve dragging the 36-foot-long, 4,900-pound plane through thousands of feet of water, if it’s still in one piece. If it shattered when it crashed into the water, recovering it will require combing the seabed for parts spread over several square miles. This is no small feat for anyone.