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FILE - Crew members debrief ground staff after a 10-hour mission aboard a French Air Force AWACS surveillance plane that flew from the 702 Air Base in Avord, central France, to eastern Romania and back again, on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. Russian forces threatened to shoot down French pilots patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea, signals of increasingly aggressive behavior from Moscow as its invasion of Ukraine struggles to make headway, France's defense minister said Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.(AP Photo/John Leicester, File)
FILE - A crew member snaps a souvenir photo from the cockpit of a French military AWACS surveillance plane as it flies a 10-hour mission to eastern Romania for the NATO military alliance, on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. Russian forces threatened to shoot down French pilots patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea, signals of increasingly aggressive behavior from Moscow as its invasion of Ukraine struggles to make headway, France's defense minister said Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.(AP Photo/John Leicester, File)
FILE - The commander of France's AWACS squadron, a lieutenant colonel named Richard, talks to crew members aboard one of the four French surveillance planes as it flies a 10-hour mission to eastern Romania for the NATO military alliance, on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024. Russian forces threatened to shoot down French pilots patrolling in international airspace over the Black Sea, signals of increasingly aggressive behavior from Moscow as its invasion of Ukraine struggles to make headway, France's defense minister said Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.(AP Photo/John Leicester, File)
FILE - French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu waits at the Elysee Palace Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023 in Paris. Russian forces threatened to shoot down French flights patrolling last month in international airspace over the Black Sea, signals of a "particularly aggressive" posture from Moscow as its invasion of Ukraine struggles to make headway, France's defense minister said Thursday, Feb.22, 2024. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)