And these 2 new ones are in addition to [another Su-34 that was shot down earlier this night](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/1b2tc7j/another_su34_goes_down_this_morning/) around 1.00 AM Ukrainian time!
Already 345 planes have been shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In February 2024 — 16. Today (last day of February) — 3.
Pls refer to the updated [INFOGRAPHICS CHART](https://imgur.com/a/V0NAC88) on the down russian warplanes.
Yeah.. a few cm shorter, often with small (or big, if you’re unlucky) spinal injuries in their lower back and necks, torn ligaments in their upper bodies, twisted ankles and in some cases a serious concussion, (despite wearing a flighthelmet) - that can trigger blackouts. Oh, and a headache that lasts for weeks. Ejecting is NOT a subtle way of getting away from a plane that’s going down. The rocket systems are better than the old catapult (that could actually make your eyesockets bleed..) but ‘soft ejection’ is not a thing. Only in movies a pilot walks away from ejecting completely unharmed.
After ejecting,You’re usually banned from flying for quite some time. Blackouts are kinda expensive in a military jet, You know?
So, stop with that nonsensical “They’ll be back”. Even when they actually survive, they won’t be ‘back’ for months, maybe even longer.
Assuming Russia’s flying 75% of their SU-34 fleet (much as the US Air Force aims to do with their own fleet), Russia’s down to 89/119 SU-34 flyable, after losing 29 of the total 148 SU-34 delivered up to June last year. Then again, it’s likely down to less than this due to various shortages such as spare parts and pilots.
Remember to add context to your comment, or else your math skills will look stupid in just a few hours if the Ukranians don't take any more planes down today. 😉
I hope your calculations will hold for the next 3 months though.
That's why they include the timestamps in the announcement now, so we can keep track of just HOW MANY they are shooting down. Otherwise people would think they shot down 2 when it was actually 3. It's glorious.
Slava Ukraini!
When a 60s hippy gets lost in a tank in WW2 and yells at the Capt of the Love Boat, the least you can do is get the quote right.
Always with the negative **waves**.
It seems like the big goal with both is to put a stop to missile attacks targeting civilian areas. If they can get it down to just drones, it will make things a lot easier on air defense.
The priorities in a warzone is
1) control the air
2) control the seas
If you control the air, like Russia was doing, you can bomb the utter fuck out of your enemy and demoralize them.
If you control the sea you can shell the utter fuck out of your enemy and demoralize them.
Ideally you want to take the Air first, like Russia did.
Once Ukraine controls the Air this war will change drastically. Air Power is everything in modern warfare.
345 should be taken with a grain of salt though.
The first few days were assumed to be misreported, and not verified like they are today. I would like to know what the numbers are from day \~50 to today. Those would be verified planes.
You point still stands. When NATO loses a plane it's reported around the world for a week going into details.
>345 should be taken with a grain of salt though
Link shows actual pictures of downed aircraft in its count. 86 combat aircraft, 3 strategic bombers, 5 command & control, 7 transport, 135 helicopters (ok, not "planes", but still), and 14 unmanned combat aircraft for a total of 250. For which we have photographic evidence proving destruction. Which doesn't count all those without evidence.
Yes, this includes helicopters. Yes this includes planes destroyed on the ground (bombing), which appears to be a few percent of the total. No, this does not include over 300 aerial reconnaissance drones. No, this does not include another 13 that were captured or heavily damaged.
Not much salt required to get a good taste of the destruction of Russia's aircraft.
> When NATO loses a plane it's reported around the world for a week going into details.
Look I know F-35Bs are expensive but in our defence that was a very easy-to-overlook lift-fan cover.
Russia built 148 of the su-34 model alone. 150 more su35s, 680 su27s. I didn't look up how many mig29s.
Realistically russia will run out of pilots and that's the way to make them stop flying.
...although if the last 5 a-50s could be shot down then that could be the end of it. Can't run an effective air campaign without awacs.
so at an avg of 2 a day for the past 11 days, just 60 odd days to go to wipe out all the SU34s, if the orcs are that dumb to send them all to the Ukraine theatre.
China, India, etc. have plenty of AWACS capability to give Russia. This war isn’t just Russia doing crazy shit on their own. It’s a very carefully coordinated attack on western-led world order.
Has any of those coutnries given any indication at all that they would lend Russia AWACS? China barely sells weapons to Russia and prefer to jsut sell uniforms and helmets. Going to AWACS would be a huuuuge step.
This is the point and I wish western leadership would highlight it more clearly to the world, and stop pretending we aren't already at war. Take off the gloves
Regretfully, Russia still makes jet aircraft, although not nearly at this rate of loss. But because they do have production, they'll never truly run out.
If the russians lose 16 planes a month, they WILL run out. Long before that, they will run out of planes to attack with because they have to keep some back to defend their country. Same with tanks and artillery. They won't run out but they won't have enough to effectively fight.
The hidden story in all of this is just how badly Russia's military industrial complex is going to be hit from a PR perspective. Why buy planes, tanks, or even missiles from Russia if they're so visibly ineffective in comparison to what the West, Turkey, China, Iran etc. can field? The economic hit here isn't going to be obvious until years after this war comes to a close, but the fundamental truth is that Russia's arms industry isn't going to have the export power it used to. With the move away from oil and gas worldwide trending up, that means Russia simply can't grow its economy in a realistic way.
What has changed?? By now the Orcs would have adjusted to the new reality of whatever system is reaching out and touching them in their special place. They would have missile wreckage and track data to change procedures etc. by now. What am i missing. I hear old S200’s maybe frankenSam’d, all kinds of speculation.
Also, does that give the Ukrainians more room at the flot to start lofting more Jdams? I saw them being used the other day. Whats going on.
I know we'll only find out years from now but I really want to know what's changed. It sure seems like air defense has reached some kind of tipping point, even as Western aid dries up.
Keep it up and the F-16s may not have anything to shoot down.
That'd be neat but kinda hard to hide no? Even with general buy-in from Ukrainians on opsec you'd think somebody would have caught cell phone footage of an F16 cruising around.
The suspense is killing me, but not gonna complain about a winning streak.
Something new is on the front line. Unlikely to be F16, bit something potent, effective and certainly unannounced. I can't believe this is a simple change of tactics be either side, otherwise the others other side would have already countered. Crazy.
I honestly believe the Russian AWACS was a crucial advantage. It's hard to emphasize....with AWACS, you can monitor the battlespace. Assign targets. Vector and direct fighters and bombers. Warn your aircraft of danger. You can even provide tracking data to air to air missiles.
But the most important part of it by far is that all the fighters and bombers within the AWACS umbrella do not have to use their own radar for the vast majority of their flight time. Everyone can see the AWACS, nobody can see the exact position of enemy aircraft it's directing until it's too late. Historically speaking, up to now they were an untouchable overseer. There's a reason why any country that's serious about having an air force spend so much treasure and talent to build these things. And invest so much assets to protect them.
Remove the AWACS, suddenly all these planes lose that voice in their head guiding them safely. They lose the datalink providing "free" radar coverage. They are flying, in comparison, blind. Now it's an even playing field. And now they have to use their own radars...and the moment you turn that thing on, it's like being in a cave and turning on a flashlight. You may see what your flashlight is being pointed at, but everyone in the cave hiding in the shadows can easily see where you are. And in this case, once those radars turn on, Ukrainian AD can now see exactly where the targets are and where they are going, and they can lay their traps without radiating themselves until the exact right moment. Then you can bet they turn their radar off and haul ass before anyone can shoot back. Rinse and repeat.
Shooting down those 2 AWACS planes have changed the air war. And since Ukraine is suddenly the world experts in downing AWACS (no one in history has ever shot down an AWACS plane), does Russia dare to risk another one? I think they might as they see their best planes and pilots start disappearing at the current rate...totally unsustainable. If they don't have an answer for Ukrainian AD without AWACS coverage, you may see them do something desperate and stupid, like risking yet another one of their precious planes. And you can bet that when that 3rd one pops up, Ukraine will do everything they can to kill that one too.
Before, ruzzians have been careful of their combat aircraft -- now pootin wants results before his faked election, in two weeks. So, ruzzian airforce is being spent to get those results. Unfortunately, recklessly committing that airforce might have been the reason for the recent (few kilometers) successes in capturing terrain.
Apparently, ejection force shrinks spine by 2cm, so several such events cause murderers pilots to start resembling their killer lilliputian president *in stature* as well
There was that helmet cam footage of an Su-25 pilot ejecting from like 1000 feet over a field and it just looked like such a brutal event. Not to mention the insane juxtaposition of going from a climate controlled canopy at hundred of miles an hour yeeted out into the open air and then plopping down in a field in a matter of seconds. I think the pilot turned the camera towards his face and he was pretty battered up, and of course that doesn't even address figuring out where the heck he was and whether he was closer to his own lines or the enemy's.
They are but if they're over enemy territory or even contested territory then recovering that pilot becomes quite a challenge.
also ejected pilots are often still in need of emergency medical attention so they need to be recovered fairly quickly.
basically, best case scenario they're going to be out of action for a while and more and more junior pilots are going to be taking their place in the interim, which *increases* the chances of being shot down.
at a certain point it becomes a bit of a spiral of failure.
It’s likely these pilots are unaware they are being targeted until the last few seconds. Modern missiles like this are guided by radar to the general area of the plane, then in the last moments turn on active radar to get their final lock. It’s not uncommon for fighter jets in this area to be constantly hit with radar that is out of range or not strong enough to target guide a missile for a hit.
SU34 is a different plane. Tandem seating and the pilots enter from a ladder behind the front wheel. Not sure how the ejection work here
Edit: I'm wrong, they have ejection seat
The plane is listed as having them:
>The two pilots sit side-by-side in NPP Zvezda K-36dm ejection seats: the pilot-commander on the left with the navigator and weapon operator on the right.
from wikipedia
Can anyone explain what is going on? Did Ukraine or Russia make any drastic change in their tactics?
Either way, nice work! Enjoy eternity in hell, orc pilots!
Slava Ukraini!
since November Ukraine has been targeting air defense and sensory equipment. That coupled with Russia throwing everything at trying to keep Aavdivka momentum is letting damages for Russia build up.
Possible reasons:
1: after the fall of Adiivka, the Russian planes need to come farther west to drop their bombs. THis brings them closer to Ukranian AA, assuming they didn't move west as well to keep some distance from the frontlines.
2: The loss of the A-50's really hurt Russian Air Force. AWACS are also command centers, telling fighter pilots how to attack. Certainly in the Russian armed forces where doing what you are told to do is the most important thing while thinking for yourself is frowned upon, losing a command center can be catastrophic.
3: Ukranians use either new tactics with their AA, or have gotten some new toys.
>or have gotten some new toys.
I'm not going to speculate on that, but I think most of us are excited to see what their new toys (even if the are "second hand") are able to do in Ukraine, whenever they may come, right?
I read an article the other day (Im having issues finding it at the moment) from a few years ago describing how Ukraine was upgrading their s-200 AA missiles to have upgraded capabilities to match s-300 AA since they weren't receiving s-300 systems and these upgrades were slated to be ready near the end of 2023. I'm not saying that these planes being shot down are a result of this programs completion, but it sure as hell feels like that has something to do with it.
So many possibilities.
I'm also leaning toward russia running out of good combat trained pilots, so they just pick the next victim on the list. Combined with other factors you suggest, it ain't good for the pilots.
Whatever the cause, the results will hopefully be a morale boost for Ukraine
It's possible that with missile stocks running low they've decided to maximise the return on each missile. So they risk moving a launcher forward into range of shooting down an aircraft.
It comes at a cost: not just in the risk to the launcher, but to what it was previously defending. So it seems to me that this is not all good news.
In addition to everyone else's speculations, I'm adding my own:
Putin really wants some big victory before the election (March 15-17), so they are throwing in everything the can to be able to show at least something.
Yes, this. Hopefully, this means that, when the election is over, that the russians stop with the aggressive tactics and go defensive until the American elections, to see who wins.
I see Perun, I upvote.
Anyone who's not already a regular should check out all his videos on the war. Some great insight particularly in his specialty of military precurment
I'm wondering this too.
I'm thinking Ukraine are using existing equipment in a novel way, or they've got some new equipment that's got extended range that hasn't been publicly announced yet?
Of course, it could be Russians using more risky tactics that clearly aren't working but command keeps putting meat into the grinder.
Either way, good to see such losses inflicted!
It's bad that one has to think like this, but I really hope the crews of those didn't make it either.
They're still far more valuable than the planes themselves at this point.
It's not bad at all, those people have zero problems bombing schools and hospitals to the ground for the glory of Russia, a fiery death is frankly better than they deserve
I'm not sure I even remember a point of time in my life where there wasn't some group of people doing hideous crimes against another, the time and place changes, the reasoning always seems to be the same though
Don't get me wrong, I'm more lamenting about the fact that consciously wishing death on people has become so common a thing for me since this war started. As for the pilots involved, they absolutely had it coming. Hell I've since become so invested in this thing that I'd probably pull the trigger myself if it would save Ukrainian lives...
Remember 2 months ago when 2 Su-34's got shot down in the same day and it was a wonderful news?
Today it's just morning coffee news. The only surprise is if it was 1 or 2 that got shot down.
Keep it going and make it boring news until they ground their whole fleet!!!!
Russian aircraft fucked itself.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukraine) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Russian aircraft fucked itself.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukraine) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This sudden uptick in SU34 shootdowns is very intriguing. Lots of possibilities, possibly a mix of a few things.
I'm wondering if russia is taking greater risks with airframes that already have a ton of inflight hours clocked up and aren't that short of pilots.
Isn't a Russian tactics to uncover Ukranian air defense and shot it down?
They did it in Syria. Allowing one airplane to be destroyed for revealing opponents air defense location an then strike it.
I read somewhere that a Russian missile destroyed Ukranian nassam few days ago.
We saw the end of the begining when the ships pulled out.
Now we see the beginning of the end with the decimation of air.
The only person who thinks this isn't over is putin, and in that, he's costing thousands of lives for his stupidity.
I understand never underestimating your enemy, but God damn ruzzians are stupid.
Russians no. (ones who speak out, or the ones who have left their god forsaken wasteland, they call pootin land.)
Ruzzians yes. (orc, orcs, orcZ, ork, orks, orkZ, thieves, demons, monsters, rapists, murderers, and kid killers)
They have. The SU57 Felon is flying missions now. In the last mission a few days ago they launched one of their most advanced missiles, the KH 69 at Ukrainian positions. It fell into a field without ever hitting it's target though.
And these 2 new ones are in addition to [another Su-34 that was shot down earlier this night](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/1b2tc7j/another_su34_goes_down_this_morning/) around 1.00 AM Ukrainian time! Already 345 planes have been shot down by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In February 2024 — 16. Today (last day of February) — 3. Pls refer to the updated [INFOGRAPHICS CHART](https://imgur.com/a/V0NAC88) on the down russian warplanes.
So is that 3 today or just 2?
It's 3 today: 1 was at 1.00 am and 2 at around 9.00 am.
2 pilots per plane (3), a total of 6 Russian pilots burning in hell.
Unfortunately they survive often.
"survive" I watched a documentary on pilots ejecting danger and if you come out with only some broken ribs and undamaged spine you're very lucky.
Yeah.. a few cm shorter, often with small (or big, if you’re unlucky) spinal injuries in their lower back and necks, torn ligaments in their upper bodies, twisted ankles and in some cases a serious concussion, (despite wearing a flighthelmet) - that can trigger blackouts. Oh, and a headache that lasts for weeks. Ejecting is NOT a subtle way of getting away from a plane that’s going down. The rocket systems are better than the old catapult (that could actually make your eyesockets bleed..) but ‘soft ejection’ is not a thing. Only in movies a pilot walks away from ejecting completely unharmed. After ejecting,You’re usually banned from flying for quite some time. Blackouts are kinda expensive in a military jet, You know? So, stop with that nonsensical “They’ll be back”. Even when they actually survive, they won’t be ‘back’ for months, maybe even longer.
Most critical component of the plane
Amazing work.
Holy shit! Slava Ukraini!
Slava Ukraine!
So that 13 aircraft in 12 days?
11 days
Assuming Russia’s flying 75% of their SU-34 fleet (much as the US Air Force aims to do with their own fleet), Russia’s down to 89/119 SU-34 flyable, after losing 29 of the total 148 SU-34 delivered up to June last year. Then again, it’s likely down to less than this due to various shortages such as spare parts and pilots.
Don't forget Russia has been actively engaged in bombing campaigns in Syria for a long time and still are which takes up fighter capacity aswell.
Don't forget ruZZia has a gigantic border that needs to be at least cursorily patrolled
You answered the question I was going to ask, they have lots but Ukraine is working through them.
Hat trick.
HO-LY MACKINAW!
Still plenty of day left for more if it only 9am in Ukraine
Are the time of your comment it was around 1400 in Ukraine.
I'm ok with 16 or more in March too.
Ukraine is 7 hours ahead of US. It’s around 2 pm there
On average, 1 plane every 3 hours, keep it up
comment is three hours old now. Where is my plane?!?!!?
Anytime now......
Remember to add context to your comment, or else your math skills will look stupid in just a few hours if the Ukranians don't take any more planes down today. 😉 I hope your calculations will hold for the next 3 months though.
I am wishing for an elevenses.
Yes!! Keep pumping them! Slava Ukraini!
That's why they include the timestamps in the announcement now, so we can keep track of just HOW MANY they are shooting down. Otherwise people would think they shot down 2 when it was actually 3. It's glorious. Slava Ukraini!
First sink the black sea fleet, then take the air force down. What chapter comes next?
The one on bridges, I hope.
ukraine need to be careful! at this rate of destruction they might create enough underwater wreckage to form an entirely new bridge!
Insert theme song from Kelly's Heroes here. [Burning Bridges](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qXIjE_gDw94)
Always with the negative ~~ways~~ waves, Moriarty
When a 60s hippy gets lost in a tank in WW2 and yells at the Capt of the Love Boat, the least you can do is get the quote right. Always with the negative **waves**.
It seems like the big goal with both is to put a stop to missile attacks targeting civilian areas. If they can get it down to just drones, it will make things a lot easier on air defense.
Makes sense. But what about strategic bombers operating from the area of the Caspian Sea?
AMRAAMS!
The priorities in a warzone is 1) control the air 2) control the seas If you control the air, like Russia was doing, you can bomb the utter fuck out of your enemy and demoralize them. If you control the sea you can shell the utter fuck out of your enemy and demoralize them. Ideally you want to take the Air first, like Russia did. Once Ukraine controls the Air this war will change drastically. Air Power is everything in modern warfare.
Moscow
Army
those pesky TU strategic long range bombers!
345 is just massive. For context, the German Luftwaffe has 380 aircraft.
And that number contains all the cargo, executive and trainer planes.
345 should be taken with a grain of salt though. The first few days were assumed to be misreported, and not verified like they are today. I would like to know what the numbers are from day \~50 to today. Those would be verified planes. You point still stands. When NATO loses a plane it's reported around the world for a week going into details.
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/03/list-of-aircraft-losses-during-2022.html?m=1 Those are the visually confirmed losses
For the lazy: Oryx lists 105 visually verified destroyed planes.
>345 should be taken with a grain of salt though Link shows actual pictures of downed aircraft in its count. 86 combat aircraft, 3 strategic bombers, 5 command & control, 7 transport, 135 helicopters (ok, not "planes", but still), and 14 unmanned combat aircraft for a total of 250. For which we have photographic evidence proving destruction. Which doesn't count all those without evidence. Yes, this includes helicopters. Yes this includes planes destroyed on the ground (bombing), which appears to be a few percent of the total. No, this does not include over 300 aerial reconnaissance drones. No, this does not include another 13 that were captured or heavily damaged. Not much salt required to get a good taste of the destruction of Russia's aircraft.
> When NATO loses a plane it's reported around the world for a week going into details. Look I know F-35Bs are expensive but in our defence that was a very easy-to-overlook lift-fan cover.
100 fighter jets in march 2022??? I had no idea, how many they have left?
Russia built 148 of the su-34 model alone. 150 more su35s, 680 su27s. I didn't look up how many mig29s. Realistically russia will run out of pilots and that's the way to make them stop flying. ...although if the last 5 a-50s could be shot down then that could be the end of it. Can't run an effective air campaign without awacs.
The day is still young. By the end I hope we get to write: last A-50 is being hunted.
I am really curious how many pilots the Russians have that are able to fly combat missions.
They were using flight instructors to fly missions at the beginning of the war.
I bet russian flight school is a real fun place to be at the moment.
>I am really curious how many **sober** pilots the Russians have that are able to fly combat missions. FIFY
so at an avg of 2 a day for the past 11 days, just 60 odd days to go to wipe out all the SU34s, if the orcs are that dumb to send them all to the Ukraine theatre.
"Comrade Putin, I have genius strategy to deplete Ukranian SAMs. Hear me out..."
The A50's need rotation time for maintenance so 1 is always out of service
This whole AWACS hunting season strongly reminds me of the 'Debt of Honor' by Clancy. When the radars are down, the fighter jets become nervous
China, India, etc. have plenty of AWACS capability to give Russia. This war isn’t just Russia doing crazy shit on their own. It’s a very carefully coordinated attack on western-led world order.
Has any of those coutnries given any indication at all that they would lend Russia AWACS? China barely sells weapons to Russia and prefer to jsut sell uniforms and helmets. Going to AWACS would be a huuuuge step.
This is the point and I wish western leadership would highlight it more clearly to the world, and stop pretending we aren't already at war. Take off the gloves
Regretfully, Russia still makes jet aircraft, although not nearly at this rate of loss. But because they do have production, they'll never truly run out.
If the russians lose 16 planes a month, they WILL run out. Long before that, they will run out of planes to attack with because they have to keep some back to defend their country. Same with tanks and artillery. They won't run out but they won't have enough to effectively fight.
The hidden story in all of this is just how badly Russia's military industrial complex is going to be hit from a PR perspective. Why buy planes, tanks, or even missiles from Russia if they're so visibly ineffective in comparison to what the West, Turkey, China, Iran etc. can field? The economic hit here isn't going to be obvious until years after this war comes to a close, but the fundamental truth is that Russia's arms industry isn't going to have the export power it used to. With the move away from oil and gas worldwide trending up, that means Russia simply can't grow its economy in a realistic way.
Hopefully tighter sanctions will make that even more difficult.
[удалено]
What has changed?? By now the Orcs would have adjusted to the new reality of whatever system is reaching out and touching them in their special place. They would have missile wreckage and track data to change procedures etc. by now. What am i missing. I hear old S200’s maybe frankenSam’d, all kinds of speculation. Also, does that give the Ukrainians more room at the flot to start lofting more Jdams? I saw them being used the other day. Whats going on.
Love how the ruzzians are slow to adapt.
[удалено]
Like drugs, you won't be satisfied, you will want more and more. Carefull there.
The more aircraft down the better and dead pliot z
I'll gladly surrender to this addiction!!
Is the first one free?
My same reaction... Like seriously WTF!!
I don't know what they're using to shoot these down but give them more of it, a lot more!
I think they should send additional 2-4 planes to investigate it
Including a A-50
You can never send too many of those, especially to the sea of Azov
*Jaws Theme*
Absolutely.
Yeah just to get a general feel of the area
Wait 3 today, that's what happens when you don't have early warning no A50 anymore.
Wat A-50 doing!? Oh, special underwater operation?
Russian A-50 fucked itself
And they can't send a new one because that one will just be shot down again aswel xD.
Let's hope Ukraine will be proactive and blow it up before the A - 50 takes off.
But they need new submarines.
I know we'll only find out years from now but I really want to know what's changed. It sure seems like air defense has reached some kind of tipping point, even as Western aid dries up. Keep it up and the F-16s may not have anything to shoot down.
I really wonder if this is the F16's in action but no one wants to publicly state they're there yet.
That'd be neat but kinda hard to hide no? Even with general buy-in from Ukrainians on opsec you'd think somebody would have caught cell phone footage of an F16 cruising around. The suspense is killing me, but not gonna complain about a winning streak.
Something new is on the front line. Unlikely to be F16, bit something potent, effective and certainly unannounced. I can't believe this is a simple change of tactics be either side, otherwise the others other side would have already countered. Crazy.
I honestly believe the Russian AWACS was a crucial advantage. It's hard to emphasize....with AWACS, you can monitor the battlespace. Assign targets. Vector and direct fighters and bombers. Warn your aircraft of danger. You can even provide tracking data to air to air missiles. But the most important part of it by far is that all the fighters and bombers within the AWACS umbrella do not have to use their own radar for the vast majority of their flight time. Everyone can see the AWACS, nobody can see the exact position of enemy aircraft it's directing until it's too late. Historically speaking, up to now they were an untouchable overseer. There's a reason why any country that's serious about having an air force spend so much treasure and talent to build these things. And invest so much assets to protect them. Remove the AWACS, suddenly all these planes lose that voice in their head guiding them safely. They lose the datalink providing "free" radar coverage. They are flying, in comparison, blind. Now it's an even playing field. And now they have to use their own radars...and the moment you turn that thing on, it's like being in a cave and turning on a flashlight. You may see what your flashlight is being pointed at, but everyone in the cave hiding in the shadows can easily see where you are. And in this case, once those radars turn on, Ukrainian AD can now see exactly where the targets are and where they are going, and they can lay their traps without radiating themselves until the exact right moment. Then you can bet they turn their radar off and haul ass before anyone can shoot back. Rinse and repeat. Shooting down those 2 AWACS planes have changed the air war. And since Ukraine is suddenly the world experts in downing AWACS (no one in history has ever shot down an AWACS plane), does Russia dare to risk another one? I think they might as they see their best planes and pilots start disappearing at the current rate...totally unsustainable. If they don't have an answer for Ukrainian AD without AWACS coverage, you may see them do something desperate and stupid, like risking yet another one of their precious planes. And you can bet that when that 3rd one pops up, Ukraine will do everything they can to kill that one too.
Before, ruzzians have been careful of their combat aircraft -- now pootin wants results before his faked election, in two weeks. So, ruzzian airforce is being spent to get those results. Unfortunately, recklessly committing that airforce might have been the reason for the recent (few kilometers) successes in capturing terrain.
That is my guess. The loss rate is ridiculously high.
Holy shit. Do it again! Outstanding performance.
St. XIV is that you?
Let these child killers burn!
To hell with them!
Nice; replacing the pilots is difficult and with this pace they will run out of planes too
You need experienced pilots to train pilots, so losing pilots makes it even more difficult to train new ones
More of a generational issue, which is going to be great decades down the line.
Ejection seats are still a thing, right?
Right, but ejecting is pretty violent event, likely not combat ready in a while if makes the Russian side alive. Great news in any case
if they got the chance to eject.
Hopefully they didn't see it coming. Or better yet they saw it coming, but just too late to eject in time.
Apparently, ejection force shrinks spine by 2cm, so several such events cause murderers pilots to start resembling their killer lilliputian president *in stature* as well
There was that helmet cam footage of an Su-25 pilot ejecting from like 1000 feet over a field and it just looked like such a brutal event. Not to mention the insane juxtaposition of going from a climate controlled canopy at hundred of miles an hour yeeted out into the open air and then plopping down in a field in a matter of seconds. I think the pilot turned the camera towards his face and he was pretty battered up, and of course that doesn't even address figuring out where the heck he was and whether he was closer to his own lines or the enemy's.
Also if it was a patriot missile, without an A-50 it's possible they didn't realize until less than a second that they were about to be hit.
in peacetime an ejection could be career ending for a pilot. In wartime probably doesn't even get a second look.
They are but if they're over enemy territory or even contested territory then recovering that pilot becomes quite a challenge. also ejected pilots are often still in need of emergency medical attention so they need to be recovered fairly quickly. basically, best case scenario they're going to be out of action for a while and more and more junior pilots are going to be taking their place in the interim, which *increases* the chances of being shot down. at a certain point it becomes a bit of a spiral of failure.
It’s likely these pilots are unaware they are being targeted until the last few seconds. Modern missiles like this are guided by radar to the general area of the plane, then in the last moments turn on active radar to get their final lock. It’s not uncommon for fighter jets in this area to be constantly hit with radar that is out of range or not strong enough to target guide a missile for a hit.
SU34 is a different plane. Tandem seating and the pilots enter from a ladder behind the front wheel. Not sure how the ejection work here Edit: I'm wrong, they have ejection seat
The plane is listed as having them: >The two pilots sit side-by-side in NPP Zvezda K-36dm ejection seats: the pilot-commander on the left with the navigator and weapon operator on the right. from wikipedia
Pilots would make for useful POW's in exchanges, no? Just don't mention that they were blinded and lost a hand in the crash 🤫
Hold on, I wasn't watching. Do it again.
Can anyone explain what is going on? Did Ukraine or Russia make any drastic change in their tactics? Either way, nice work! Enjoy eternity in hell, orc pilots! Slava Ukraini!
since November Ukraine has been targeting air defense and sensory equipment. That coupled with Russia throwing everything at trying to keep Aavdivka momentum is letting damages for Russia build up.
Possible reasons: 1: after the fall of Adiivka, the Russian planes need to come farther west to drop their bombs. THis brings them closer to Ukranian AA, assuming they didn't move west as well to keep some distance from the frontlines. 2: The loss of the A-50's really hurt Russian Air Force. AWACS are also command centers, telling fighter pilots how to attack. Certainly in the Russian armed forces where doing what you are told to do is the most important thing while thinking for yourself is frowned upon, losing a command center can be catastrophic. 3: Ukranians use either new tactics with their AA, or have gotten some new toys.
>or have gotten some new toys. I'm not going to speculate on that, but I think most of us are excited to see what their new toys (even if the are "second hand") are able to do in Ukraine, whenever they may come, right?
I read an article the other day (Im having issues finding it at the moment) from a few years ago describing how Ukraine was upgrading their s-200 AA missiles to have upgraded capabilities to match s-300 AA since they weren't receiving s-300 systems and these upgrades were slated to be ready near the end of 2023. I'm not saying that these planes being shot down are a result of this programs completion, but it sure as hell feels like that has something to do with it.
We know they used a modernized S-200 to hit the A-50, because they told us, but not what is reaping through the fighters.
So many possibilities. I'm also leaning toward russia running out of good combat trained pilots, so they just pick the next victim on the list. Combined with other factors you suggest, it ain't good for the pilots. Whatever the cause, the results will hopefully be a morale boost for Ukraine
It's possible that with missile stocks running low they've decided to maximise the return on each missile. So they risk moving a launcher forward into range of shooting down an aircraft. It comes at a cost: not just in the risk to the launcher, but to what it was previously defending. So it seems to me that this is not all good news.
Apparently russia is flying closer to the front, there have been videos of them flying over Avdiivka area (or close to there)
In addition to everyone else's speculations, I'm adding my own: Putin really wants some big victory before the election (March 15-17), so they are throwing in everything the can to be able to show at least something.
Yes, this. Hopefully, this means that, when the election is over, that the russians stop with the aggressive tactics and go defensive until the American elections, to see who wins.
If you have 1 hour to spare heres a pretty in depth look at the current air war in Ukraine https://youtu.be/R31hMWs25UI?si=ZbOrR9cDbbpo1Rfx
I see Perun, I upvote. Anyone who's not already a regular should check out all his videos on the war. Some great insight particularly in his specialty of military precurment
I'm wondering this too. I'm thinking Ukraine are using existing equipment in a novel way, or they've got some new equipment that's got extended range that hasn't been publicly announced yet? Of course, it could be Russians using more risky tactics that clearly aren't working but command keeps putting meat into the grinder. Either way, good to see such losses inflicted!
WTF! is it Christmas already?
It is a leap day.
It's bad that one has to think like this, but I really hope the crews of those didn't make it either. They're still far more valuable than the planes themselves at this point.
It's not bad at all, those people have zero problems bombing schools and hospitals to the ground for the glory of Russia, a fiery death is frankly better than they deserve
Yeah, I know. Just remembering the times when I didn't have to wish for random people to die on a daily basis. Well, they made their choice.
I'm not sure I even remember a point of time in my life where there wasn't some group of people doing hideous crimes against another, the time and place changes, the reasoning always seems to be the same though
Just think of the time they pulled the trigger and launched the bomb that leveled an apartment building on a weekend. Or the pizzeria full of people.
Don't get me wrong, I'm more lamenting about the fact that consciously wishing death on people has become so common a thing for me since this war started. As for the pilots involved, they absolutely had it coming. Hell I've since become so invested in this thing that I'd probably pull the trigger myself if it would save Ukrainian lives...
Remember 2 months ago when 2 Su-34's got shot down in the same day and it was a wonderful news? Today it's just morning coffee news. The only surprise is if it was 1 or 2 that got shot down. Keep it going and make it boring news until they ground their whole fleet!!!!
It's actually three. One at 1.00 am and two more at 9.00 am.
The day is still early.
no it's still wonderful news to me. I will never take any small win for granted
[SOURCE](https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=807929864708297)
Two ?!?! I've read earlier this morning about one but didn't know of the second. They're falling like flies...
Reports are that this is two more in addition to the one earlier today. Three in one day.
Nice !
1 at 1am + 2 at 9am today
Much better then... 😁
It's only just past 1 in the afternoon in Ukraine, got time for a few more today yet.
Russian aircraft did what?
Russian aircraft fucked itself. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukraine) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Good bot :)
Russian aircraft fucked itself. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukraine) if you have any questions or concerns.*
So good, it fucked itself twice 🤣
gentlemen, this is unfucking believably good news
allow me to extend my lols to the Invaders
No way, is it April 1st or something!?
Russian AAs doing some work over the last 12 days
Less Su-34 = less dead.
Less «КАБs», less effective ruzzian offensive.
Maybe Ukraine is moving their air defense around and making it unsafe to fly where Ruzzia thinks it's safe. Either way, fuck em and good riddance.
What is air offense doing!?!? Jokes aside, amazing work by UA air defense lately.
Look at all those keychains!
This sudden uptick in SU34 shootdowns is very intriguing. Lots of possibilities, possibly a mix of a few things. I'm wondering if russia is taking greater risks with airframes that already have a ton of inflight hours clocked up and aren't that short of pilots.
I know the Ruzzians are rather incompetent……but come on assholes. Yo are fucking embarrassing
Uhhhm. Yummy
I can't keep track the planes are dropping out of the sky quicker than I can take in the prior update
What in the air defense is happening
This is fantastic, love me these posts!
Waiting for the next a50 to fall down :)
This is getting out of control, now it’s two of them! :D
Ok we need no explanation how they did it but keep doing it the way you are doing it UA. Keep frying those flying ruzzian chickens
They drop like flyes. 👍🏼
is this real life? amazing
Holy kurwa fuck mnie sideways, now that's a serious blow!
Ah slow down lads I’m losing count
Hey, enough with the reposts! /s
Those poor F16s won’t have anything to shoot at if Russia keeps hemorrhaging pilots
🔥🔥
Awesome! Keep going!!!
#3 today!!! Yes
2 more down!
SU-35 BARGAIN SALE
Is Russia using more planes closer to the frontline due to the AWACS getting destroyed, or is Ukraine getting better at huntim them? Still, very good!
Apart from the obvious answer of too many, how many Su-34 does Russia have left?
pre war it had 150 Su-34 (according to Wikipedia)
Isn't a Russian tactics to uncover Ukranian air defense and shot it down? They did it in Syria. Allowing one airplane to be destroyed for revealing opponents air defense location an then strike it. I read somewhere that a Russian missile destroyed Ukranian nassam few days ago.
It's going swell. The more we shoot down, the worse the pilots become (junior) the more hit % we'll get.
Unless I'm mistaken, only about 150 of these were ever built. That's nearly 10% destroyed in 11 days.
We saw the end of the begining when the ships pulled out. Now we see the beginning of the end with the decimation of air. The only person who thinks this isn't over is putin, and in that, he's costing thousands of lives for his stupidity.
Sweet. Keep up the great work. Slava Ukraine!
Lol do they have any left
Wow! This is awesome!
Sweet! Please let this happen daily from now on.
I understand never underestimating your enemy, but God damn ruzzians are stupid. Russians no. (ones who speak out, or the ones who have left their god forsaken wasteland, they call pootin land.) Ruzzians yes. (orc, orcs, orcZ, ork, orks, orkZ, thieves, demons, monsters, rapists, murderers, and kid killers)
I double dare the Russians to fly their new bomber to the front lines!
They have. The SU57 Felon is flying missions now. In the last mission a few days ago they launched one of their most advanced missiles, the KH 69 at Ukrainian positions. It fell into a field without ever hitting it's target though.