"The United States will continue to fly and to operate wherever international law allows."

The drone was taken down after a nearly 40 minute 6encounter southwest of Crimea when Russian Su-27 fighter jets flew in front of it and dumped fuel in its path. One jet flew underneath the drone... likely attempting to get in front of it while dumping fuel and clipped the propeller on the back of the MQ-9.

"Because of the damage, we were in a position to have to essentially crash it into the Black Sea."

But Russia denies the two aircraft collided. The Russian 7ambassador to the U.S. trying to calm 8tensions after the Biden administration summoned him to the State Department.

"We prefer to¡¦ [INAUDIBLE] not to create a situation where we can face unintended clashes or unintended incidents between the Russian Federation and the United States."

But with both U.S. And Russian aircraft operating over the Black Sea as the nearby Russian 9invasion of Ukraine drags on, so too do the chances of a dangerous 10miscalculation.

"We know that the intercept was intentional. We know that the aggressive behavior was intentional, and we also know it was very unprofessional and very unsafe. The actual contact of the fixed-wing Russian fighter with our UAV, the physical contact of those two, not sure yet."

Russian aircraft have had other dangerous confrontations with the U.S. in the Black Sea before such as this interception of a B-52 in 2020. Like a scene from Top Gun, a Russian pilot staring down his American counterpart while flying dangerously close. Or this intercept of a U.S. P-3 plane in 2018. The Russian jet turned on its 11afterburners causing the plane to shake. Pentagon says the incidents are getting worse.

"There is a 12pattern of behavior recently where there¡¯s a little bit more 13aggressive actions being conducted by the Russians."