There’s an American EF-111 Raven in the graphic shown by Russia to prove a Ukrainian Su-25 flew close to the MH17

July 21, 2014 Aviation, Military Aviation, Russia, Troubled Areas, War in Ukraine
David Cenciotti

Based on the graphic shown by the Russian Ministry of Defense, it was a U.S. EF-111 Raven to fly close to the MH17 just before it was shot down.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 was detected by one of Russia’s radars in the area climbing towards the MH17 on the day the civilian plane with 298 people on board was shot down.

“The SU-25 fighter jet can gain an altitude of 10km, according to its specification. […] It’s equipped with air-to-air R-60 missiles that can hit a target at a distance up to 12km, up to 5km for sure.”

Interestingly, the Russian MoD said the Su-25 (mistakenly defined as a “fighter jet” whereas it is an attack plane) operated well above its ceiling of 23,000 feet. Even more interesting the Wiki page of the Su-25 was edited (by a Russian IP address) to update its specifications…

Anyway, even though we reported the speculations about the alleged Ukrainian military activity in the surroundings of the MH17 flight, we can’t but notice that the graphic used by the Russian MoD has another major flaw: it depicts (on the left) the Boeing 777 as a Boeing 707, and the Su-25 (on the right) with the shape of an EF-111 Raven, a famous, retired, U.S. electronic warfare plane!

SOLID SHIELD '87

Top image credit: Russian MoD via RT.com; bottom: Wiki

 

 

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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11 Comments

    • Really worthwhile comment from you that contributes a lot. You actually call others “drunk” but write a comment like that!

      • that means it is even more irrelevant? An attack plane might have flown near the B777, that could have carried air to air missiles? Come on.

    • Click on the revision history on the top of the page. There you’ll see that it’s been changed back. It has been edited several times back and forth by russian IP addresses and others. His statement holds true.

  4. *Facepalm*
    This document by the Russian MoD is pathetic not only because they used wrong planes silhouettes (this tells the level of approximation of this work) , but mostly because they are trying to find excuses to “justify” the disaster…sounds like “there was a Su-25, flying that high, a missile was fired at it but unfortunately hit the 777 so don’t blame us “…when it’s simply “separatists accidentally shot down a civilian liner with a missile”

  5. Good old Russian propaganda. They must think the international community is as clueless as those separatists manning the SAM’s

    • Good old american propaganda. They must think the international community is as clueless as those idiots in US who saw WMDs when there were none.

      BTW where is the evidence by US anyways? Faked ‘tapes’? Ukranian BUKs? Do you have an answer, or is the Kool-Aid really strong?

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