Russians recover pieces of US Reaper drone they destroyed over the Black Sea trends now
Moscow has recovered components of the US surveillance drone that was destroyed by two Russian fighter jets last week, according to intercepted military radio traffic.
Just hours after the March 14 incident, radio traffic from the Russian scramble to salvage the MQ-9 Reaper drone was captured by amateur hobbyists on unencrypted channels, according to the New York Times.
Clips of the radio traffic reveal conversations between multiple Russian ships and aircraft about attempts to recover the drone's engine casing, nose, wing and gas tank.
'At this moment, we have brought up three parts of the frame,' one unit code-named Apelsin (Orange) is heard broadcasting. 'Now I am proceeding toward the helicopter to search for more.'
Pentagon officials have said any sensitive information was remotely wiped from the drone's software after its propeller was stuck by an Su-27 fighter jet during a close pass, and that any wreckage recovered will have little military value.
Hours after Russian Su-27 fighter jets (above) destroyed a US drone, Russia began salvage operations and recovered some wreckage, radio intercepts suggest
Pictured: The Prof Vodyanitskiy research vessel in Russia which is said to be part of the search for the drone wreckage in the Black Sea
'Whatever is left of that floating will probably be flight control surfaces, that kind of thing — probably nothing of real intrinsic value to them in terms of re-engineering or anything like that,' National Security Council spokesman John F. Kirby told CNN.
'We're not overly concerned about whatever they might get their hands on,' he added.
The downing of the US surveillance drone was the first direct military incident between US and Russia since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine began a year ago.
The US Navy does not currently have warships operating in the Black Sea, and is not believed to be undertaking a salvage operation on the surface of the waterway.
The newly released radio communications indicate that Russian salvage ships from the Russian-controlled Crimean port of Sevastopol rushed to the area where the drone crashed into the water within eight hours of the incident.
Fragments of the transmissions spanned about four hours, and included repeated conversations about dwindling fuel
