"Continuously and tight": the drones of the Russian Federation are cited by "Iskander" missiles on planes of Ukraine - Forbes

According to the media, on Friday, November 22, or a little earlier, the Russian reconnaissance UAV flew over the air base at about 80 km from the front line. He followed the shelter in which the Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter could be located, and in a few minutes the Spider's ballistic missile exploded just over him, probably destroying the plane. In the summer of 2024, in just three days, at least three fighter jets were destroyed and caused serious damage to Ukraine's air forces.

In this attack also played a big role in the drone of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. According to Forbes, on July 1, the scout found six Su-27 fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force, which in the daytime found themselves open at the Air Base Mirgorod in the Poltava region (160 km from the border with Russia). The Iskander rocket struck two of them. The next day, July 2, a similar attack took place.

The Russian drone circled over the Ukrainian air base in Poltava and also 160 km from the border. After a few hours of observation, Iskander flew there and damaged the MI-24 Military Helicopter of Ukraine. Almost immediately, on July 3, Russia struck the Dolgintseve near Kryvyi Rih, 72 km from the front line. The attack scheme is the same: first the Russians found whole with the help of a reconnaissance drone, and then launched up to three "sparks".

Video of UAV, published by the Russians, indicates the destruction of two aircraft: the moularus of the Su-25, which does not fly, and quite working Mig-29. Analysts suggest that the Su-25 was only a bait, since it has exactly the same appearance as another muulat, attacked by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in Dolgintsev in November 2023. At the same time, two MiG-29 and a real Su-25 could be destroyed.

Thus, according to media estimates, at least two Su-27, four MiG-29, one Su-25 and possibly Mi-24 have been disappeared from the autumn of 2023 due to rocket attacks on Ukrainian aerodromes. The analyst of the Royal Institute of Joint Defense Research in London Jack Wtling, considers the main reason for such losses "continuous and dense observation" of Russia with the help of UAVs, which transmit coordinates of targets for "Iskander".

It is a significant loss for the Air Force of Ukraine trying to find additional planes for their units that have suffered during the full-scale war. Soviet MiG-29 and Su-25 to get nowhere, because the closest allies of Ukraine have already transferred from their reserves everything they could. None of the Union countries owns the Su-27. The only source is the old aircraft in Ukraine itself, but it is unknown how many of them can be put into working status after storage decades.

About 85 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters are slowly transferred from Europe to Ukraine, as well as about a dozen Dassault Miraage 2000 from France. Almost a hundred donated aircraft will eventually be the nucleus of the restored Ukrainian Air Force, although it may take a year or more so that they all come to the country. And if Ukraine does not exacerbate anti -missile defense, then these remedies can suffer in the same way as miga and SU, the authors of the article believe.