The Pentagon is afraid of conflict escalation: the U.S. has no plans to transfer MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones to Ukraine

We have written more than once that Ukraine wants to receive MQ-1C Grey Eagle drones from the United States. Unfortunately, it is not worth waiting for them in the near future.

Here's What We Know

According to The Wall Street Journal source, the administration of President Joe Biden decided not to transfer its strike drones to Ukraine even despite bipartisan support from members of Congress on the issue. Washington believes that sending the MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones could lead to an escalation of the conflict.

"The Pentagon declined the request based on concerns that providing the Gray Eagle MQ-1C drones could escalate the conflict and signal to Moscow that the U.S. was providing weapons that could target positions inside Russia, U.S. officials and other people familiar with the decision said "," the WSJ wrote.

Flashback

The MQ-1C Gray Eagle is a medium-altitude (MALE) unmanned aerial system (UAS) that can carry up to four Hellfire air-to-ground missiles. They can destroy armored vehicles. The UAV has a wingspan of 17 meters, a maximum speed of up to 250 km/h and a flight time of up to 30 hours. By the way, besides Hellfire missiles, MQ-1C Gray Eagle can also carry four bombs, radars and optoelectronic systems.

Source: WSJ