Originally Posted by
Flyhighfirst
Yea I did. For self defense. Again I will repeat myself. No command authority is going to tell a drone operator to shoot down a manned Russian aircraft even in self defense of an unmanned drone. They reason the US has gone down the drone route is they are expendable. Having your drone knocked out of the sky is a minor international incident (what are the US going to do? More sanctions). Knocking down a manned Russian fighter in international airspace even in self defense of again.. a drone is going to make a **** storm international incident.
I think that you have the right of it
... but ...
if a Reaper were to shoot down a MiG or Su with a Hellfire missile, would that not be newsworthy? (More of a "Man bites dog!" sort of headline)
(Yes, the feces storm would soon follow)