US drone intercepted over Crimea

[AndThenThereWas1]

 

A United States surveillance drone has been intercepted above the Ukranian region of Crimea, a Russian state arms and technology group said Friday.

“The drone was flying at about 4000 metres and was virtually invisible from the ground. It was possible to break the link with US operators with complex radio-electronic” technology, Rostec said in a statement on Friday.

The drone fell “almost intact into the hands of self-defence forces” it added, claiming to have manufactured the equipment used to down the aircraft but not specifying who was operating it.

 

“Judging by its identification number, UAV MQ-5B belonged to the 66th American Reconnaissance Brigade, based in Bavaria,” Rostec said on its website, which also carried a picture of what it said was the captured drone.

 

The Crimean port of Sevastopol is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, which is believed to be equipped with detection equipment.

Im not sure if this is true or just propaganda by Rostec. Currently, a "pentagon official has denied Russian media reports that a U.S. intelligence drone has been intercepted while flying surveillance missions over Crimea"source. But I doubt the US government would confess to loosing a drone to the Russians.

If it is true, then its kind of crazy that they were able to jam the signal between the drone and it's operator from 12000 ft away and take control of the drone. I guess this is a pretty good test to show  how prepared the US is for a war with Russia.

Here are some other sources

http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-intercepted-us-drone-over-crimea-2014-3

http://www.news.com.au/world/russia-claims-to-have-intercepted-a-us-drone-in-crimea-russian-land-grab-has-other-eastern-european-nations-worried/story-fndir2ev-1226855384158

 

update:

I found this original article. It states they blocked the signal between the drone and it's operator. Following a loss in signal the drone performed an emergency landing where it was recovered. According to the article they downed a second one as well, but were unable to recover it.

http://warsonline.info/ukraine/amerikanskiy-bespilotnik-mq-5b-perechvachen-v-nebe-nad-krimom.html

[AlwaysFSX]

The US needs to butt out of what's going on over there or they will start another war for no reason what so ever.

[SJBijzitter]

The US needs to butt out of what's going on over there or they will start another war for no reason what so ever.

They are obliged to protect the Ukraine, though. They pretty much HAVE TO be there.

[carolkarine]

The US needs to butt out of what's going on over there or they will start another war for no reason what so ever.

 

to be fair, russia needs to do the same.

[AlwaysFSX]

They are obliged to protect the Ukraine, though. They pretty much HAVE TO be there.

No they aren't. Under what reasoning? They're saying Russia can't protect any Russians living in Ukraine by sending troops but do you know what the US does? The same exact thing. Where do people get the idea that the US has the final say so in foreign affairs that aren't relevant to it?

[ACatWithThumbs]

Sounds unrealistic to me.
I don't think that you can jam a drone from that far away.

And how did it stay almost intact if they jamed it??
Drones are bigger than fighter jets if that thing falls from the sky it would be wrack.
Sounds like Russia propaganda to me.

[AlwaysFSX]

to be fair, russia needs to do the same.

True, but if Crimea (which isn't even the proper name...) votes to be part of Russia they have every ability to do so and even if the US doesn't recognize that it's tough luck for them because what they say doesn't need to determine what people do.

[warmmilk]

They are obliged to protect the Ukraine, though. They pretty much HAVE TO be there.

 

can't tell if sarcasm...

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

Sounds unrealistic to me.

I don't think that you can jam a drone from that far away.

And how did it stay almost intact if they jamed it??

Drones are bigger than fighter jets if that thing falls from the sky it would be wrack.

Sounds like Russia propaganda to me.

Based on what? - snip -

 

You think that it is able to be controlled from thousands of miles away, but its impossible to produce radio waves that will disrupt it from just 4KM away?

 

And all aircraft are capable of gliding. It most likely has self stabilising controls onboard (even DIY quadcopters have these) to simplify it for the pilot, so that they can focus on killing innocent civilians in middle eastern countries.

 

Perhaps you, yourself are a victim of Americas "hurr durr we #1" propaganda?

Edited March 15, 2014 by alpenwasser
not being very nice

[AndThenThereWas1]

No they aren't. Under what reasoning? They're saying Russia can't protect any Russians living in Ukraine by sending troops but do you know what the US does? The same exact thing. Where do people get the idea that the US has the final say so in foreign affairs that aren't relevant to it?

"The United States, Great Britain and Russia agreed in a pact "to assure Ukraine's territorial integrity" in return for Ukraine giving up a nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union"source

[DaRk0]

They are obliged to protect the Ukraine, though. They pretty much HAVE TO be there.

How so? Ukraine is not in NATO... or am I wrong?

@OP

I wouldn't call this crazy. Russian old 3D radars were detecting US stealth bombers over Yugoslavia in the 1999 bombings. It shouldn't be a problem for russian military to detect and intercept UAV visible from the ground.

[bob345]

How so? Ukraine is not in NATO... or am I wrong?

@OP

I wouldn't call this crazy. Russian old 3D radars were detecting US stealth bombers over Yugoslavia in the 1999 bombings. It shouldn't be a problem for russian military to detect and intercept UAV visible from the ground.

pretty much Ukraine gave the us all their nukes in exchange for protection from Russia. There is a bit more to it than that but you get the idea.

[DaRk0]

pretty much Ukraine gave the us all their nukes in exchange for protection from Russia. There is a bit more to it than that but you get the idea.

I'm aware of this, but if Crimea referendum passes and Crimea become part of the Russian Federation there's nothing US or EU can do about it.

[Mysticode]

I know it's a drone, but is this really "Tech News and Reviews"? It's interesting news in any case, but I don't think this is the right forum for it.

[fade]

I'm aware of this, but if Crimea referendum passes and Crimea become part of the Russian Federation there's nothing US or EU can do about it.

 

Crimea is as of right now part of Ukraine...it would have to be a Ukrainian referendum as a whole.

[ACatWithThumbs]

Based on what? Your comments are idiotic.

 

You think that it is able to be controlled from thousands of miles away, but its impossible to produce radio waves that will disrupt it from just 4KM away?

There is no way it's so easy to disrupt.

Do you really think the US/Europe would spend so much money on drone development if they can get jamed so easy.

And if you can jam stuff so easy why does nobody jam missiles,planes ect.

And how is it still intact???

Drones are massive.

If that thing falls uncontrolled to earth it would be a wrack.

 

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

There is no way it's so easy to disrupt.

Do you really think the US/Europe would spend so much money on drone development if they can get jamed so easy.

And if you can jam stuff so easy why does nobody jam missiles,planes ect.

And how is it still intact???

Drones are massive.

If that thing falls uncontrolled to earth it would be wrack.

 

Your spelling and logical thinking skills are awful. This will be my last reply to you.

 

There is no proof that it is intact. There is no proof that it fell uncontroled, or self stabalised itself down to the ground.

 

Im sure that missiles are controlled in a very different way to planes and drones.

 

Here is a defcon talk about the vulnerabilities in todays airplanes.

 

All aircraft are capable of gliding. It most likely has self stabilising controls onboard (even DIY quadcopters have these) to simplify it for the pilot, so that they can focus on killing innocent civilians in middle eastern countries.

 

Perhaps you, yourself are a victim of Americas "hurr durr we #1" propaganda?

[DaRk0]

Crimea is as of right now part of Ukraine...it would have to be a Ukrainian referendum as a whole.

Crimea is autonomous republic so they should be able to choose for themselves. For example Kosovo as autonomous region held independence referendum in 1991.

[AndThenThereWas1]

And how is it still intact???

Drones are massive.

If that thing falls uncontrolled to earth it would be wrack.

I dont think it crashed. I think they landed it.

[alpenwasser]

There is no way it's so easy to disrupt.

Do you really think the US/Europe would spend so much money on drone development if they can get jamed so easy.

And if you can jam stuff so easy why does nobody jam missiles,planes ect.

Any signal can be jammed. Whether or not you can take over control of the drone

is another matter (but then, you might not need to, the wing shape of a drone

is well suited to gliding, if you compare it with a glider you can see that very

nicely), but basic physic dictates that any radio signal can be jammed. Doesn't

matter how much money you throw at the problem.

EDIT:

Also, planes and missiles are jammed all the time btw. Sometimes it works,

sometimes it doesn't. Race of technology.

[warmmilk]

Drones are massive.

 

 

not all drones are that huge...  just google image search drones and you'll see a bunch of different sized drones...

 

the quote also says "almost intact" implying there was some damage...

[Imaginaerum]

The US needs to butt out of what's going on over there or they will start another war for no reason what so ever.

What about the rest of the EU? What about Russia?

[NInety]

And? The U.S. probably has 100 more that are above Crimea that aren't jammed. Let's not forget about the satellites they probably have over it too.

[martinrox1568]

not all drones are that huge...  just google image search drones and you'll see a bunch of different sized drones...

 

the quote also says "almost intact" implying there was some damage...

I don't think that the us sent an ar drone if that's what ur implying. Googling drones is irrelevant. Googling drones and googling military drones that can be operated from thousands of miles away

[DaRk0]

And? The U.S. probably has 100 more that are above Crimea that aren't jammed. Let's not forget about the satellites they probably have over it too.

100 drones? When did US deployed 100 drones over same area? If there are 100 drones they would be shot down with anti-air systems under excuse of direct threat to russian armed forces.