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c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> after the collision of a russian fire jet at a u.s. drone, pentagon secretary to questions from reporters. he said u.s. military leaders are calling on the russians to conduct themselves safely as the pentagon continues to investigate what happened. this is about 20 minutes. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] >> just a few things at the top and i will get right tyour questions. first of all, i wou like to highlight u.s.-europe statement confirming to russian su27 aircraft conducted unsafe and unprofessional intercept with a u.s. air force

intelligent unmanned aircraft that was operating within international air space over the black sea. to recap at proximately central of the russian aircraf struck e propeller of the mq9 forcing forces to have to bring it down. several times before the collision the s.u.27 dumped fuel on and flew in front of the mq9. this demonstrates a lack o compensation. u.s. air fces in europe. africa routinely fly aircraft over sovereign territory and international air space in tkaord nation th applicable hocks naon and international laws to bolster defense and they support allied partner and u.s. national objectives. as the u.s. favorss in europe,

air force africa commander u.s. and allieaircraft will continue to operate in inteational air space and call on the russians to conct negligencerofessionally and safely. in separate news the secretary concluded a successful visit to the memes with leaders in majority, iraq, israel. it served to deepen partnerships and enable the exchange of views on shared regional and global challenges. specific topics of discussion included ongoi coalition led defeat isis operations iraq and ria, concerning range of threats pod by iran including destabiling regional activies and provision of unmanned ariel systems to russia to use in their war against ukraine and implementing commitments by israeli and palestinian in deskhaeuting violce in the west bank. the secretary had the opportunity to talk to a numb

of u.s. service members serving in the central command area of respsibility and thanked them and their families for their coitment to mission, service appear safe guarding our nation. secretary austin and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff will host the 10th meeting of the ukraineefense ctact group tomorrow virtually in the pentagon and will allow for the secretary, chairman and seni defee leaders to discuss oning efforts to provide tkroeupb with the means -- ukraine with the means to defend itself. with that i will take your questions. we will start with route reuters. >> has anyone reached out to their counterparts om russia regarding the mq9. what can you detail more what the mission was and where it was being piloted from? >> sure. in terms of secretary austin

talking to his counterpart, not at this point to my knowledge. d.o.d. oicials have not sken specifically to russian authorities on this particular incident. i do know the statdepartment isaising our concerns about the incint directly with the russian government so i would refer you to them r the details. in terms of the mission of the mq9 it is an isr platform and they have been flying over the plaque sea inclung before the current contradict started. it is an important waterway so it is not appearen common mission for us to be flying in international air space. >> can you tell what precautions are going forward with an armed aircraft? >> i'm not going into get into the specific profile of this particular aircraft. the mq9 has the ability to be armed. it was again conducting an isr

mission in international space something we have been doing for some time. in terms of the times of tactic, techniques and procedure we take to protect our aircraft i won't get into the spefrls. the key point here is while intercepts in and of themselves are not that uncommon the fact that this type of behavior from the russians pils is uncommon and you fortunate and unsafe and would echo the call on the russians to continue to fly safely. >> was this collision itself an accident on russia's behalf and is the u.s. responding as such? >> we are continuing to accession exactly what happened, but i think based on the anxiouses of the russian pilots it is clear that was unsafe, professional and i think that the actions speak for

themselves. what we saw again were fighter aircraft dumping fuel in front of this u.a.v. and getting so close to the aircraft that it actually damaged the propeller on the mq9. we assessed that it likely calledome damage to the russian aircraft as well, to our knowledge. we know that the aircraft, the russian aircraft, did land. i won't go into where know landed but it is demonstrative of very unprofessional airmanship. >> wil the u.s. try to recover the drone? >> i don't have anything right noto provide in terms of recovery operations. if i have any we will update it. >> is this video of the incident? are you going to release the video? where in the block s did it --

black sea did it happen and how close to russian air space? and did you say that this particular one was unarmed? >> i didn't say whether it was or not. i won't get into the mission profile. it was conducting an isr mission. in terms of the specifics, david, i can't get more spific other than the black sea region in international air space well clear of any type of -- it was international air space. i'm sorry, the other part of your question. >> video? >> we are going through the declassification process and we will updaylight you in tms of imagery with this incident. i'm laser focused on your qution. >> this is a quick one. you haven't said reaper but is it accurate to say it is an mq9

reaper? >> i will stick with mq9. joe. >> an mq9 potentially contains sensitive technology. is the u.s. military undertaking any effort to recover the mq9? is it in the waters of the black sea? has russia recovered it? is there a u.s. naval asset that could undertake that recovery? >> again i won't get into the specifics of what is on this particular aircraft other than again it is an isrlatform. because of the damage, we re in a position to have to essentially crash it into the black sea. to my knowlee at this point in time the russians have not recovered that aircraft. but again, in terms of our

recovery efforts, don't have any updates to provide right now. i would refer you to nav air in terms of assets in that region. >> thank you. regarding north korea as somebody with cruise missiles, it is possible to monitor a nuclear warhead on a cruise missile. what is the situation of escalating provocation such as nuclear provocation by north korea? >> let me make sure i think so. what is the readiness of the u.s. to respond to a nuclear provocation by north korea? i think we have been very clear that we are -- were north korea

deploy a nuclear weapon it would be the end of the north korean region but we are working to deter aggression and preserve security and that will continue to be our focus. we will go to carl. >> a quick clarification. what did the fighter strike the mq9 with? feels it the wing? >> i can't tell you specifically what portion of the aircraft, but the fact that it essentially ran into the mq9. >> andeparately on ukraine, there's a report fromhe battlefield that th ukrainians are running out of munitions. is that a concern for the ntagon and what is the pentagon doing to alleviate that problem? >> since beginning of this campaign we are doing everything we can to meet ukraine's needs whether it is ammunition, air defense, armor. you have heards talk that. tomorrow's discussion will be

another opportunity to bring the international community togethe to focusn ukraine's most urgent needs t include ammunition. that will continue to be our focus and you have heard secretary austin and others say we are committed to making sure they have what they need to be successful. >> is there an assessmenthat the pentagon hasf why they are running out of ammunion? is it because they are expending it too fast? ist not making it to the battlefield in time. >> iould have to refer you to the ukrainians about their specif efforts to supply tv individual unitsment we are working closely with them and our international partners to get them what they need. and it is important to take a step back and look at the progress that has been made. while recognizing that there's a tough fight ahead into the spring and summer, our focus will be working with national armaments directors and

ukrainians to get them the ammunition they can and get it to the front lines as quickly as possible. >> you got us through the time line of the mq9 intercept. we have that the aircraft was struck at 7:03 eastern but how ng were they with the aircraft beforehand and were there any radio communications from the russians or the united states? >> on the latter part of your question, no, none that i'm aware of. and i would ask that you go back and confirm this with ucon but based on the infmation i have here it seems like approximately 30 to 40 minutes they were flying in the vicinity of this mq9 and that at 7:03 is when --

7:30e a.m. ctral is when they collided with it causing it to crash. >> t u.s. forces had to bring down the aircraft. does that main that the united states piloted it to the crash site? >> we brought it down. >> and is there any u.s. naval assets currently in the block sea? -- black sea. >> i would have to refer you to nav air for that. laura. >> can you talk more about the damage to the mq9? was it unfliable and that is why you had to bring it down? and can you say more about how often this kind of things happens that russian aircraft harass u.s. drones and aircraft? >> i don't have any statistics in terms of intercepts but as i

highlighted the fact that intercepts of aircraft are not uncommon in and of themselves, it is not a daily occurrence, the vast majority of those intercepts are what we would consider safe and professional. just wanting to see what is there, you are flying alongside it to see what is ther in this particular case, again, they collided with the aircraft, damaging the propeller and essentially putting it in a situation where it was unfly believe and uncontrollable and we took it down. >> i just want to confirm any communication with alies such as turkey about potential recovery of the drone? and is there any concern >> will be a hypothetical.

russia does not have the drone. that would be a hypothetical question. in terms working with allies and partners i don't have anything to announce butf we do i will be sure to let you know. >> i know you don't want to share lots of information. are you able to say whether the into nine was flying near ukraine or near the peninsula? i believe you sd the rusans did not rover the drone. have you seen aneffort by the russian navy to try to recover the drone? >> on your latter question i am not going to get into that. in terms of where it was flying, it was well clear of any territory in ukraine. it was in the international

airspace over international water. >> during secretary austen's visit to egypt, h helped that she held meetings with officials even though all press was banned. in a similar situation they refused to proceed. the biden they want to keep -- when presented with a choice of autocrats and those who stand with democracy, can you explain why he decided to proceed with the trips? >> our relatnship with egypt is an important, strategic partnership. the secretary communicated a reason to meet with counterparts. when it came to the press conference of that portion, having looked further into it, the egyptians lived up to what they had agreed upon. some of the lessons learned out of that wasn terms of making

sure that were on the sam sheet when it came to understanding press access. we will continue to wo that. >> they also agreed beforehand there would be a ban on journalists? >> we did not agree to a ban on journalists. we agreed to an official photographer that would come into sessions. a portion that was open tthe press was subsequently not held so therefore there was not an opportunity to cover that. sometimes these meetings are very small, sometimes there is not the opportunity for media t come in. it is something that we have noted and we will continue to work closely with governments to ensure there is press access. >> regarding the bget, the last few yrs of services have pursued to invest strate and congress hasn't necessarily

bought into that. this year the air force is looking to retire more than 30 aircraft, doubled the amount last year. congress, last year it didn't give that full amount. is there a sense things have changed on the hill, that there is a willingness to improve eater divesents or this becoming a cat and mouse game of shoot with a higher number knowing you are going to get less, to try to get tohere you want to be? >> when it comes to the air force budgetpecifically, we will refer you to them to talk specifics. i don't want to answer for ngress. having observed this process i think like anything there is a continuing dialogue in terms of what the servis -- the serce is required to meet the requirements and working closely with congress and the department of defense to identify what those offsets might be to ensure we can modernize throughout all the services. in a lot of ways, that

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democracy. here is a look at what is coming up wednesday on the c-span network. on c-span,hite house budget director ttifies on president biden'sroposed 2024 budget before a senate commiee. and a subcommitte on defense department personnel progrs and challenges facing the miliry. on c-span 2, t senate returns to vote on president biden's executive nomination including mayor eric garcetti, to u.s. ambassador to india. these will stream live on c-span now and on c-span.org. c-span campaign 2024 coverage your front row seat to the presidential election. watch coverage of the candidates on the campaign trail with announcements, meet and greets,

speeches and events. to make up your own mind. on the c-span network. c-span now, our mobile video app , or on c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. senar elizabeth warn blamed laws enacted by thtrump administration for the collapse of silicon valley bank, attributing it to the rollback of financial regulations established in the dodd frank act. she talked about legislation she has introduced to restore previous regulations to avoid the future bank failures. sen warren: mr. president, on friday, we experienced the second largest bank failure in our nations histy and make no mistake, it was the