A Ukrainian AN-30 reconaissance plane was shot down by MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense System) in east Ukraine.
On Jun. 6, a Ukrainian Air Force AN-30 (or AN-26), believed to carry out surveillance missions was hit and downed by MANPADS over Slavyansk.
The aircraft reportedly crashed near Svyatogorsk north of Slavyansk.
Footage and photos showing the downing and the evacuation of the plane by the aircrew before the aircraft crashed into the ground have already been posted on Liveleak, Youtube and various Social Media.
We recently pointed out the risk posed by MANPADS to Ukrainian Armed Forces aircraft and helicopters.
Once again, thanks to Steppen Wolf for the heads-up
Top image via @Novorussia2015
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Ouch! I guess if they want to use transport planes for recon, they should keep them above the reach of MANPADS.
Perhaps in the future, they can use their Soviet-era Tu-141 UAVs for missions like this:
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/ukraine-resurrects-soviet-era-super-drones-3403f80c51ba
It was outside the reach of MANPAD. This was at 22,000 feet. The article is wrong if it states otherwise.
In fact, this was on the Monday before the MH shootdown, so they shouldn’t have even been flying over the Ukraine.
Is it confirmed its a AN-30 ? i see several western media outlets saying it was an AN-26 carrying supplies.
‘I’ve seen reports in western media’
There’s your problem.
Majority of them couldn’t tell the difference between a Flanker and a Frogfoot.
And thats why i’m asking here ;) knowing there are experts.
Radio records have been published. Those guys were correcting artillery fire. So its AN-30. And western media just broadcast Kiev lie. Why do you think they were circling above rebel held area for hours?
You do know you’re reading an Italian aviation media right? Seems very western to me.
Targeting Russian “reenactors” in Cossack uniforms, they come by the Kamaz load with demilitarized AKs and MANPADS just for a short holiday, a very misunderstood group. You’ll notice the locals aren’t greeting them by the tens of thousands in the streets, no matter what RT claims.
Sad. Hope they survived
Two survived, 6 were lost according to info I came across
2 have parachuted. 6 others died. They were busy targetting artillery fire on the city so feel no grief about them.
Good to know.
Scary
Interesting. The next one could be a jet fighter.
Rebels already downed one Su-25. But they are really tough targets.
Mmm, I highly doubt what you report about the Su-25. If you cannot find it on the net = did not happen. Sorry, but it’s modern reality: there is a smarthphone everywhere.
“…rebels “claimed” on Russian media… but Ukrainian authorities denied….” sorry mate, but I tend to keep an objective eye (look at my comment on the B-52 article): no video proof + claim starting from the media of the opposite side + denial of the loosing side which that far openly admitted all the losses (since they actually help Ukrainian cause to show that they are under attack by something bigger than a group of peasants, I guess) = It did not happen
You post are moderated so cannot answer it directly. Ukrainian side deny any loses until they are cornered by video proofs. Main problem of Kiev if loses are large enough public opinion would force them to halt military operation. They already have problems with manpower. Huge loses woult decimate moral. Look on Volnovaha after bloody blockpost battle(despite rebels spared 30 captured wounded and just disarming them) they were forced to recall whole 51-st brigade due to unrest between soldiers(and this are West Ukrainians mostly brigade),
So they admit loses only if it was catched on cams, or if it too hard to cover due to rank of killed in battle. The same thing was in 1-st Chechen war, actually those wars are quite similar if you exclude ethic cleansings(thank God its not so ugly mess) and religion factor that was in Chechnya. Even volunteers in 1-st Chechen war it was Ukrainian ones fighting for separatists(with weapon flow through Georgia, ukrainian one too), now its Russian volunteers fighting for separatists. Huge loses devastate public opinion in civil war. So goverment conceal them as much as it can. Or one day would be forced to sign peace despite having upper hand in military.
Ukraine army already had HUGE loses of helicopters. Considering that they were already forced to use helicopters with UN marking due to low number of fly able machines(They can recall some working machines from UN missions, restore some machines from conservation and finish modernisation of at least 3 Mi-24 that i know are undergo), Ukrainian air power have huge problems. Accepting lose of jet fighter is too much if rebels lack hard proofs.
They have lost now AN-30 air spotter, devastating blow considering that they have only 2 of those in military(and one more in МЧС, there is some numbers in reserve but they are non operational). Especially with pilots death, there is low number of professional military pilots in Ukraine, and even lower number of loyal ones.