{"id":36133,"date":"2023-05-04T21:33:18","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T21:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/05\/04\/russian-missile-nearly-hit-us-mq-9-drone-in-syria-last-year-centcom\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:14:12","slug":"russian-missile-nearly-hit-us-mq-9-drone-in-syria-last-year-centcom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2023\/05\/04\/russian-missile-nearly-hit-us-mq-9-drone-in-syria-last-year-centcom\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian missile nearly hit US MQ-9 drone in Syria last year: CENTCOM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Russian surface-to-air missile nearly hit an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over Syria in a previously undisclosed incident last November, U.S. Central Command confirmed Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The near-shootdown is the second known skirmish between Russian forces and U.S. drones in recent months, amid growing tensions between the two countries in conflict zones where both maintain a military presence. Air and Space Forces Magazine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airandspaceforces.com\/russian-missile-mq-9-syria-damaged\/\">first reported<\/a> the incident on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe can confirm that a Russian-controlled SA-22 fired a missile at a U.S. MQ-9 on November 27, 2022,\u201d CENTCOM spokesperson Maj. John Moore said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Air and Space Forces Magazine reported the attack drone was damaged, Moore said the military was not aware of the missile exploding or the MQ-9 being hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CENTCOM spokesperson Will Laney declined to answer whether the command believes the missile was intentionally or accidentally fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The interaction prompted U.S. officials to contact Russian troops on a deconfliction hotline the two powers maintain to avoid confusion and potential altercations between their air forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis kind of behavior is not what we expect from a professional force,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four months later, on March 14, a Russian<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/unmanned\/2023\/03\/16\/us-releases-video-of-russian-jet-dumping-fuel-on-its-drone\/\"> Su-27 harassed an MQ-9 Reaper intelligence drone on patrol<\/a> over the Black Sea, apparently damaging it enough that the U.S. opted to bring it down into the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was the first time such an interaction was made public since the beginning of Russia\u2019s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. U.S. officials pointed to the incident as a uniquely unsafe moment in an area where Russian and American aircraft routinely pass without a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The November incident comes to light as Russian forces <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2023\/04\/28\/russians-seem-to-be-baiting-us-jets-to-dogfight-in-syria-general-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">grow increasingly confrontational<\/a> in Syria, where Moscow backs the Assad regime and Washington supports the patchwork of rebel groups in the country\u2019s 12-year civil war. The U.S. and Russia are also waging parallel campaigns against Islamic State militants who have gained a foothold amid the power vacuum there. About 900 U.S. personnel remain in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Russian aircraft violated agreed-upon deconfliction protocols 85 times from March 1 to April 28, including 26 times when armed aircraft flew over U.S. positions, Lt. Col. Marnee Losurdo, a spokesperson for CENTCOM\u2019s Air Force branch, said May 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s about six times the violations Russia logged in January and February, combined, according to Air Forces Central.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The countries have established areas where, if aircraft are traveling through, they are supposed to notify each other, and they have agreed to stay at least 3 nautical miles apart from other aircraft and 3,000 feet above ground forces while in transit. The U.S.-led coalition\u2019s al-Tanf garrison, on the border with Jordan and Iraq, is protected by a 34-mile deconfliction zone. Armed overflights are banned under the protocols as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet Russian pilots have flown in a \u201cloose formation\u201d within 500 feet of American jets multiple times this spring, appearing to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenseone.com\/threats\/2023\/04\/russian-warplanes-are-trying-dogfight-us-jets-over-syria-general-says\/385736\/\" target=\"_blank\">urge U.S. pilots to dogfight<\/a>, Air Forces Central Commander Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich recently told news outlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Air Force in April released two videos that appear to show Russian Su-35 fighter jets veering close to American F-16 fighters in coalition airspace over Syria, filmed from the viewpoint of the F-16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grynkewich questioned why Russian forces are opening themselves up to the possibility of escalation by flying over U.S. troops with air-to-ground munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t think that anyone\u2019s going to give an order for Russians to go in [and] attack a position or anything like that,\u201d he told the Wall Street Journal April 24. \u201cBut I do think it increases the risk of miscalculation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grynkewich has suggested Russians may be growing more brash as a favor to their ally Iran, which opposes the U.S. military presence in the region. In response, the Air Force has dispatched A-10C \u201cWarthog\u201d attack planes that are specially modified to carry around three times their typical bomb load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019re really here as a message to both assure our partners \u2026 but also as \u2026 a true capability that can work against some of the threats that we face with respect to Iran,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenseone.com\/threats\/2023\/04\/uparmed-10s-return-mideast-skies-amid-tension-iran-russia\/385727\/\" target=\"_blank\">Grynkewich told Defense One<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each plane can carry up to 16 Small Diameter Bombs, plus laser-guided rockets and its 30mm Gatling gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s a lot of targets that you can hit from an air-to-ground perspective,\u201d Grynkewich said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s unclear whether the air-defense missile was intentionally or accidentally fired at the drone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":71426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,8,23,93,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3404],"class_list":["post-36133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"CU45B6PEQ5H7LJNYYGC2VYTOXA","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2023\/05\/04\/russian-missile-nearly-hit-us-mq-9-drone-in-syria-last-year-centcom\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Russian missile nearly hit US MQ-9 drone in Syria last year: CENTCOM - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s unclear whether the air-defense missile was intentionally or accidentally fired at the drone.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russian missile nearly hit US MQ-9 drone in Syria last year: CENTCOM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s unclear whether the air-defense missile was intentionally or accidentally fired at the drone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2023\/05\/04\/russian-missile-nearly-hit-us-mq-9-drone-in-syria-last-year-centcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Army Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-04T21:33:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T21:14:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel S. 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