The Ukrainian anti-aircraft ambush in which Russia has lost 3 Su-34 fighter-bombers

@DefAviation ES 12·23·2023 · 21:44 0

Russia's military aviation has just suffered one of its biggest blows since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.

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Ukraine announces the downing of three Russian Su-34s

Lieutenant General Mykola Oleschuk, commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, announced yesterday morning the downing of three Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers in southern Ukraine. This same Friday, Russian sources showed images of a Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopter coming to rescue one of the downed pilots.

One of Russia's most modern attack aircraft

The Sukhoi Su-34 is one of the most modern attack aircraft of the Russian Air Force. It made its first flight in 1990 and entered service in 2009. Russia is its only operator. By the middle of this year, 157 units had been manufactured, including seven prototypes. It is a large aircraft (it measures 23.34 meters in length and 14.7 meters in wingspan) for what is usual among combat aircraft of its class. It has two crew members sitting next to each other, another unusual feature in this type of aircraft (except for the American F-111 and A-6, tandem seats are common).

The Su-34 can reach a speed of Mach 1.8 (1,900 km/h) and has a range of 1,100 km. In its 12 mounts under the wings and under its fuselage it can carry up to 14 tons of weapons, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, anti-radar missiles, anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles and conventional bombs. as guided by laser or satellite.

The false security of Russian airmen in southern Ukraine

According to German OSINT expert @Tendar, the three Su- 34 Russians shot down "were likely part of an air group attacking the Ukrainian detachment in Krynky, Kherson. Russians have been using improved FAB-500 missiles which they fired more than 50km from the impact points and out of range of short and medium-ranged air defense assets of the Ukrainian army." This would have given Russian aviation a false sense of security.

In this situation, the Russians have adopted attack routines that have been fatal:"For months now, Russia has been carrying out a pattern of aerial bombardments to stop UKR assaults on the left bank of the Dnipro River", points out the Spanish OSINT expert @TuiteroMartin, a reference source to be aware of the war in Ukraine. Basically, the Su-34s enter that area, drop their gliding bombs about 60 km from the target and return. With the use of these bombs, Russia tried to compensate for its artillery inferiority in the attempts to nullify the Ukrainian beachheads on the left bank of the Dnipro River, points out the Spanish expert.

Yesterday Tendar published this map (click on the image to see it enlarged) showing the corridor that Russian planes used to drop their bombs in southern Ukraine. The orange area shows the strip in which the Su-34s may have been shot down. On the left we also see the site of the downing of a Russian Su-24M attack aircraft, shot down a few weeks ago near Snake Island.

An ambush with MIM-104 Patriot long-range missiles

"For weeks now Russian reports have recognized that something new and at much greater distances, 60-70 km, illuminates their bombers when they execute the attack pattern on the UKR beachheads but in the absence of an alternative Russia has bet on luck," says @TuiteroMartin. Unfortunately for the Russian Air Force, a few days ago, Germany announced the shipment to Ukraine of a second battery of MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles. Its PAC-2 version has a range of 160 km.

"I speculate that once the 3 Russian fighter planes were in the killzone, the Patriot system turned on, targeted the enemy planes and then fired its missiles. This is common practise for all missile-based air defense assets. The missiles travel with the speed of Mach 4 and reached their targets within 1-2 mins which is virtually impossible for the Russian planes to counter or to lose altitude." says Tendar.

The German expert adds: "Yet, the level of planning and coordination is extremely difficult. Even with a excellent weapon system such as MIM-104 Patriot system, you cannot take this for granted. Even small errors could cause failure in this undertaking or even threaten the own survival of the air defense system. The window of success is short and dangerous. But just like in Bryansk they succeeded."

The precedent of the Bryansk ambush in May

Citing Bryansk, Tendar refers to what happened in May: the Ukrainian ambush in which five Russian aircraft were shot down in just 5 minutes thanks to Patriot missiles supplied by the US. Then Russia lost one Su-34 fighter-bomber, one Su-35 fighter and three Mi-8 helicopters.

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Photos: Russian Ministry of Defense / Luftwaffe / U.S. Army.