U.S. erased information from downed drone before it fell into the Black Sea – CNN

The drone's software was removed after a collision with Russian fighter jets.

The US remotely erased confidential software on an MQ-9 Reaper drone before it crashed into the Black Sea.

This is reported by CNN, citing two US officials.

So, the software on the MQ-9 Reaper was erased to prevent Russia from obtaining classified information.

The publication clarified that measures to remove the software were taken after the drone collided with two Russian Su-27 fighters.

It should be noted that the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev announced an attempt to pick up the wreckage of the drone.

The US does not have a single ship in the Black Sea , which would make any attempt by the country to rebuild extremely difficult and time-consuming, a US Navy official said.

We add, on the eve of the coordinator of the US National Security Council for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, said that Washington had taken measures to protect “shares” associated with the drone so that no one took possession of it.

Drone and fighter jets incident

Recall that on the eve of two Russian Su-27 fighters very unprofessionally tried to intercept an American reconnaissance drone MQ-9 Reaper. This happened near the coast of the occupied Crimea, when the drone was conducting a routine operation in international airspace. One of the planes hit the drone on the propeller, so the Americans had to flood their own device.

According to the NYT, Russian Su-27s circled over the Reaper and poured fuel onto it, possibly flooding the drone's cameras or damaging its sensors. This episode stunned the US military, who followed the video broadcast from the UAV.