Ukrainian armed forces shared images of a crashed Russian fighter, later identified as the Sukhoi Su-35 “Flanker-E.”
The Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft crashed in the country’s eastern Kharkiv region, reportedly near the town of Izium. It has not been revealed why it crashed, though it appears it came down intact and caught fire.
“It’s not even a Su-35 plane is on fire, it’s the whole Russian empire,” the Ukrainian Air Force Command wrote in a Facebook post.
Adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko said that the pilot managed to eject safely and has been captured.
The single-seat canard-less aircraft was reportedly identified through its wingtip-mounted electronic countermeasures systems, which other VKS Su-27/30 versions lack.
This is the twenty-fifth reported loss of the 4++ generation Su-35 aircraft in seven months of conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
There are 103 Su-35 Flanker-Es in the Russian Aerospace Forces, featuring Irbis-E passive electronically scanned array radar, Infra-Red Search and Track, and the Khibiny radar jamming system.
One of the two aircraft reportedly deployed in the conflict has been captured armed with Zvezda Missile Corporation Kh-31PM missiles along with R-77 and R-73 air-to-air missiles.
Ukrainian forces claim to have shot down nearly 250 Russian fighter aircraft since the war began on February 24.
© 2022, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Be the first to comment