Amateur radio hobbyists catch Russians talking about recovering downed US drone

Amateur radio hobbyists appear to have obtained audio recordings of the Russian military trying to retrieve a US spy drone.

They were monitoring publicly accessible airwaves after the MQ-9 Reaper drone was downed following an encouter with two Russian warplanes last Tuesday, the New York Times reports.

The radio intercept started about eight hours after the collision in the Black Sea – in what was the first recorded physical clash between Russia and the US since the Ukraine invasion began.

The clips reveal conversations between multiple Russian ships and aircraft over a four-hour period, discussing 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) was heard saying. ‘Now I am proceeding toward the helicopter to search for more.’

There is a series of transmissions about the vessels’ declining fuel reserves and concerns about whether they will have enough to make it back to shore.

They then return to the Port of Sevastopol and one crew member indicates he passed an area called Striletska Bay.

This provides an insight into the units operating near the crash site, and indicates Russia’s continued use of open, unencrypted radio channels for operational communications in Ukraine.

A source close to the Russian defense ministry claimed Kremlin forces had found the downed drone at a depth of up to 2,953ft in the Black Sea.

While there is no indication sensitive US information was recovered, the intercepts contain special military words which are difficult to understand.

Pentagon officials said any sensitive information was wiped from the drone’s software.

‘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.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed on Friday two fighter pilots had been honored with state awards for preventing the US drone from entering Russian airspace.

They claimed there was no physical contact between the aircrafts, and that ‘quick maneuvering’ caused the drone to fall into ‘unguided flight with a loss of altitude’.

But this contradicted US claims that a Russian jet rammed the drone and damaged its propeller.

Moscow did not officially acknowledge a salvage operation, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the military would decide whether to attempt a recovery.

‘This is the prerogative of the military. If they deem it necessary to do that in the Black Sea for our interests and for our security, they will deal with that,’ Pescov said at a news briefing in Moscow last week. 

The US has since resumed surveillance drone flights over the Black Sea region, officials said. 

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