Thu, Jun 13, 2024
Airfield Hit Deep Behind Russian Lines
The Ukraine Defense Intelligence Agency (GUR) announced on Sunday that it had destroyed one of Russia’s most advanced Su-57 fighter jets in a drone attack on the Akhtubinsk airfield about 589 km (365 mi) inside Russia.
The agency displayed before and after satellite images of the field that it says show the aircraft damaged after the strike.
The popular pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Fighterbomber claimed that shrapnel from a multiple drone strike on Saturday damaged the jet. Forbes, in a Sunday interview, cited Ukrainian intelligence spokesman Andrjy Yusov as saying there is also preliminary evidence a second Su-57 was damaged. If confirmed, this would be the first successful strike by Ukraine on a Su-57 and if lost, the first one destroyed during combat action.
The Su-57 is a fifth-generation, supersonic twin-engine stealth fighter considered to be Russia’s answer to the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor. The GUR also posted the Su-57 can carry KH-59 and KH-69 cruise missiles which can be launched as standoff weapons from Russian airspace to strike targets inside Ukraine.
The significance of the strike is twofold. First, it is unclear exactly how many Su-57s are currently deployed by Russia. According to the 2024 World Air Forces Directory, there are currently 14 Su-57s in active service and another 75 on order. If two of them are in fact damaged and one possibly destroyed, Russian air superiority is placed at risk.
Second, according to criticism leveled by Fighterbomber, the strike underscores what is perceived to be a weakness in Russian leadership – slow decision-making and a disregard for protecting its air power assets. This is because Russian air units typically park aircraft in plain view on ramps with no shelter, and the only time aircraft are moved is during active operations. This makes them potentially more vulnerable to the type of strikes that were just experienced. In contrast, Ukrainian aircraft are flown frequently and randomly from multiple fields, making them less vulnerable to drone strikes.
More News
High Speed Taxiway A long radius taxiway designed and provided with lighting or marking to define the path of aircraft, traveling at high speed (up to 60 knots), from the runway ce>[...]
“If we have a continual small subset of controllers that don’t show up to work… they’re the problem children... We need more controllers, but we need the b>[...]
From 2022 (YouTube Edition): Before They’re All Gone... Humankind has been messing about in airplanes for almost 120-years. In that time, thousands of aircraft representing i>[...]
Aero Linx: National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA) NAAA provides networking, educational, government relations, public relations, recruiting and informational services to>[...]
Also: Pilot Age Cap, Skylar AI Flight Assistant, NS-36 Mission, ALPA v Shutdown The federal government has officially gone into lockdown mode. The FAA will be laying off around a f>[...]
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (10.12.25): High Speed Taxiway
See All