A RUSSIAN fighter jet burst into flames and crashed in the latest humiliation for Vladimir Putin’s tinpot military forces.
The MiG-31 Foxhound’s engine caught fire before plunging into a lake in the Murmansk region of Russia.
Footage shows jet streaking fire and flying overhead as horrifying crowds watch on.
The warplane stays in the air as the jet of flame trails behind it, before it begins to plunge and disappears behind a nearby hill.
MiG-31s are two-seater relics of the Soviet Union – but remain a major part of the Russian Air Force.
The supersonic planes can be armed with the most advanced hypersonic “Dagger” missiles along with an arsenal of other cannons, bombs and rockets.
Russian state media reports one of the plane’s two jet engines exploded during a training exercise.
The pilot then lost control before the plane splashed down into a nearby lake.
Both crewmen in the two-seater aircraft are reported to have successfully ejected.
“During the execution of a planned flight, one of the engines of the MiG-31 caught fire, after which it fell,” a source told Tass.
“According to preliminary data, the plane crashed into the lake,
“The pilots probably ejected. Eyewitnesses say they saw two paratroopers in the crash area.”
The crash occurred six miles from the city of Monchegorsk near the island of Rizh-Guba – some 200 miles from the border with Finland.
In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said: “On April 26, while performing a planned training flight in the Murmansk region, a MiG-31 fighter crashed.
And there has been a flurry of crashes and military accidents completely away from the war in Ukraine.
Blunders have included an Su-34 fighter jet crashing into an apartment block killing 13 people in October, and a cargo plane crashing into powerlines killing four crewmen in June .
And meanwhile Vlad’s prized aircraft carrier caught fire in December – with some experts suggesting it could never go to sea again without sinking to the bottom.
Russia invaded Ukraine last February – a conflict which has devolved into a grinding, brutal war.
© 2023, 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