© Northrop GrummanUS Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk
The RQ-4 Global Hawk cruised over war-torn east Ukraine before coming within 30 kilometers of Sevastopol's coast. CivMilAir, which monitors military aviation flights worldwide, announced as much in a tweet on Friday.
The unmanned craft is thought to have taken off from a US Navy installation at NATO Base Sigonella in Sicily, Italy.
US and NATO air patrols have become increasingly common in international airspace near Russian territory, in many cases leading Russian fighters to intercept the mischievous aircraft. In January, a Russian Su-27 intercepted a US Navy EP-3 Aries surveillance aircraft over the Black Sea, leading to accusations from the Pentagon that the Russian fighter flew too closer to the US plane.
A more high-stakes incident occurred in June over the Baltics, when a NATO F-16 approached a plane carrying Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. An escorting Su-27 politely tipped its wing to the NATO jet, displaying its arsenal of air-to-air missiles.
As I recall, Iran did it. I imagine the only reason that Russia has not yet done so, is that they are waiting to display such capability at the most opportune time.
They play smart, with logical ends in mind. The US, (A/K/A, the MIC) plays it for P.R. Madison Avenue.
When the SHTF, Russia will likely wait until we have a maximum number of such out flying, and take control of each. They might even be able to steal them from the ground if we are not careful. Either way, in the end, (assuming that they might be able to take control of their flights), then they might well program them to accelerate/maximize their engines to the point they burst... or install some bug that takes effect at altitude 'x', etc. The possibilities are endless.
R.C.