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!

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

About David Cenciotti

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.

Victorinox says:

July 21, 2014 at 9:56 PM

So where were the 2 Flankers that your “authoritative source” said were escorting the airliner?

Or was that all BS to get a tasty headline?
ossie says:

July 22, 2014 at 11:53 AM

Sadly, this site got to new lows, more, and more like a tabloid.
Service ceiling for SU-25 is 7000-10000, absolute ceiling even higher.
http://uos.ua/produktsiya/aviakosmicheskaya-tehnika/84-cy-25
And that’s an official _Ukrainian_ source.
Does the author know Russian, or just heard the crappy translation?
Ron Fox says:

July 22, 2014 at 2:11 PM

YOU DON’T EXPECT TO GET ANY FACTUAL EVIDENCE OUT OF EASTERN EUROPE, DO YOU? GIVE THE OWNER OF THE AVIATIONIST RESPECT, AS HE HAS BETTER CONNECTIONS AND KNOWLEDGE THAN ALL OF US, PUT TOGETHER!!!
Ales Ogrinc says:

July 22, 2014 at 10:10 PM

While you mentione all the data to be wrong, than there are 2 options, they faked this completly or its some older recording. Eather of the choises is russian fingerprint work.

At the end of the video they show aparently faked or atleast BUK that they claim its on ukraine teritory out from the rebel hold position. Well there are few guys on twitter that made pictures and proved them wrong, simple normal people that live near there, every detail is pictures and fits 100%, its real, its in rebel hold teritory and the only thing is its not sure wich was real date it was recorded but it proved rebels DO own this kinda weapons.
Steeple.people says:

July 23, 2014 at 12:25 PM

Oh yeah? Wiki was edited AFTER Boeing shot down. BEFORE Su-25 attitude was 10.000 and was edited to 7.000. Yes, this is Putin’s hand indeed. He was editing Wiki by himself, surely.