First Russian Su-35S Flanker-E Confirmed Destroyed In Ukraine

[Dial H For Hero]

https://theaviationist.com/2022/04/03/first-russian-su-35s-flanker-e-confirmed-destroyed-in-ukraine/



Images of the wreckage of an aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) have started to circulate online in the afternoon (European time) on Apr. 3, 2022. The jet went down near Izium, in eastern Ukraine, some 120 kilometers to the southeast of Kharkiv.

Single seater, without canards, equipped with the L-265M10P/R ECM wingtip pods and featuring heat shields on the stabilizers: the aircraft was quickly identified as an Su-35S Flanker-E multirole 4++ generation supermaneuverable jet. The first to be lost since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

The pilot of the Flanker derivative survived the ejection and was captured by the Ukrainian forces:

According to the Ukrainian sources, the Su-35S was shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses, although this can’t be verified at the moment. A video showing the aircraft, in flames, coming down, has emerged.

(Excerpt)

[WarGamer]

1. Doesn't look right.

The video shows a jet coming straight down at 200-300mph and impacting the ground with a big explosion.

In this pic looks like a moderately hard landing followed by a fire

[The Magistrate]

3. I Agree, Sir

[sanatanadharma]

4. I think it came down in a flat spin at a slower speed.

Slower, flat impact, fuel explosion, fire but no nose-dive, as I see it.

[WarGamer]

5. Using an SU-35s to strike ground targets is like using a hammer...

to tune a piano.

[Igel]

7. So if true, it says their forces are strapped.

Otherwise why be foolish?

Then we need evidence, confirmation.

Unless it was the Putin who ordered it, in which case "foolish" is to be assumed as a real possibility.

[WarGamer]

8. I can't understand the tactics taken by the Russians.

The SU35-s is a gymnast of the sky. Jane's and other firms rank it as superior to any F-16 and IIRC even to the F35.

It's amazing. It's the plane that pulls the "Cobra Maneuver" by rotating it's engines to allow it to fly forward but stand up on it's tail... it's a freak of the skies and the fact that they'd be using it to hit a SAM site just confirms that their air power is depleted and/or they're taking absurd risks with high dollar equipment... IIRC Russia has less than 100 SU-35s in the fleet.

[artemisia1]

16. "Jane's" and other references are going to have to reevaluate their estimations of Russian

equipment. The SU36-S may have some superiorities in terms of absolute airspeed -- something which in the age of stealth and advanced avionics is no longer the same advantage it once was -- but it is likely sh*te compared to modern American fighters with upgraded avionics and flown by actual professionals.

[uponit7771]

10. +1, the SU-25s are all being shot down and Yak130s aren't in action. They don't have any close

... in air support because of MPADs.

War has NO DOUBT changed

[WarGamer]

11. the only "safe place" for the Russian air force is 40,000 feet.

And I don't see the Ukrainians flying CAP looking for dogfights.

[WarGamer]

13. Isn't it ironic?

21st Century warfare is now all about super skilled high tech infantry with drones and man portable AA and AT weapons.

Tanks, irrelevant. AV's?? outdated. Attack aircraft, vulnerable.

You need highly skilled "door knockers" to root out the enemy.

Russians could have learned a lot from the US Marines in Iraq.

[uponit7771]

17. Yep Ukr I no doubt fighting WW2.5

[Igel]

6. I can't tell its distance or horizontal velocity.

"Straight down" is possible, but unlikely. Rather assumes it had 0 mph airspeed when it was struck.

After that it's maybe terminal velocity or, if it's nose is pointed down, greater than that.

I can't tell. Need at least one other video, pref. at 90 degrees from this one.

[WarGamer]

9. Even if it's terminal velocity the crash site wouldn't look like that.

That plane went down soft and burned. You can see the landing gear still the upright position, and the tires are burning lol...

Plus there's no skid marks, it's like it hit the ground softly and just stuck to the ground.

[Igel]

15. Agreed. But then I have no adequate analysis.

If it fell straight down, it was at terminal velocity. It's not a Harrier.

If it fits the story that the pic suggests, then it had no vx. Sorry, no subscripts that I feel like trying to html into existence.

What? It was a high-tech Russian plane that was captured and destroyed as it sat there? That, by itself, would be newsworthy.

It beggars explanation.

[Calista241]

2. That's $100m down the drain. I bet Putin is pissed, and it's glorious.

[dsp3000]

18. I think this aircraft is comparable to a US F-18

Pretty insane that they are being shot down, but great!!!

[uponit7771]

12. "This Su-35S was possibly on a SEAD mission"

[WarGamer]

14. IIR that means fly around until a SAM site flashes you with radar then a special missile

tracks the radar signal back to the source.

Guess the Russian pilot forgot to fire the weapon, lol...