An armed Russian Su-30SM gets much close to a UN Il-76 over Deir Ez Zor, Syria.

The video in this post was reportedly filmed during a mission over Deir Ez Zor, Syria.

It shows an armed Russian Air Force Su-30SM jet, escorting an Il-76 involved in an air-drop from high altitude, getting much close to the cargo bay of the airlifter after the pallets are dropped.

We don’t know when the footage was shot. However, it must have been filmed during one of the +250 UN agency World Food Program’s airdrops of humanitarian aid to Syrians: indeed, starting from Feb. 24, 2016 to September 2017, WFP has conducted air-drops in the Deir Ez Zor area, using an Il-76, to deliver vital food and humanitarian suppliesto trapped families in the besieged city in northeastern Syria.

Flying from Amman, Jordan, a white-colored Il-76 with UN markings (RA-76780) flew to the airdrop area escorted by Russian Air Force aircraft deployed to Hmeymim airbase, including the Su-35S, and the Su-30SM shown in the video.

The UN aircraft could be tracked online using ADS-B on Flightradar24.com during these missions.

UN/WFP IL-76 RA-7680 from Amman for airdrops to Deir Ezzor almost daily, sometimes twice a day since Apr 10 pic.twitter.com/4UKs2ubEOe

— Samir (@obretix) May 27, 2016

The Su-30SM is a multirole derivative of the Su-27 Flanker. It’s a special variant of the thrust-vectoring Su-30MKI and MKM produced by the Irkut Corporation for the Russian Air Force. It’s a 4+ Generation twin-engine, two seat supermaneuverable multi-role aircraft equipped with improved avionics, the Bars-R radar and a wide-angle HUD (Head Up Display).

H/T Vladimir Konovalov and Trevor Siders for the heads-up

A special version of the Il-76MD-90A (Il-476) airlifter, developed for special forces support was tracked online during flight test recently.

A really interesting aircraft was spotted conducting flight testing over the Black Sea on Sept. 26, 2017: the Il-76MD-90A “78650”, the first “Candid” modified to carry out special operations.

According to the Russian media outlet “Izvestia” the example “78650” is a flying testbed for a heavily modified Il-76MD-90A variant equipped with “unique on-board radio-electronic systems that would allow the aircraft to stealthily deliver paratroopers and special forces behind the enemy lines, remaining invisible and invulnerable to the enemy.”

How the aircraft can evade radars and remain invisible is unclear, anyway, the experimental Candid can be distinguished from the baseline IL-76MD-90A by the presence of an opto-electronic station mounted on the lower nose section of the aircraft and for the “President-C” system used designed to protect aircraft from MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems) and IR (heat-seeking) missiles by laser and radiofrequency/electronic jamming of the missile guidance.

The aircraft is also equipped with advanced avionics, modernized communication suite and flight navigation system as well as a new collision warning system for low-level flying.

The example “78650,” used to test the new Special OPS variant of the Candid strategic cargo, is the same aircraft involved in the flight-test and certification program for the Il-76MD-90A airlifter (first flight on Sept. 22, 2012). According to “Izvestia,” the aircraft returned to the Aviastar manufacturing facility in Ulyanovsk, where new equipment was installed, in 2014.

With the modified Il-76, Moscow aims to field all-weather, day and night aircraft capable to airdrop special forces or cargo well inside the enemy territory or to land on unprepared airstrips behind the enemy lines. More or less what the U.S. special operations aircraft (such as the MC-130s or the C-17 Globemaster IIIs) have been doing for some decades.

#RUAF Il-76 78650 from Ramenskoye test flight centre is conducting a sortie on Black Sea pic.twitter.com/qpJpYxr0wU

— Air Force Freak (@AlRFORCEFREAK) September 26, 2017

Needless to say we don’t know what type of sensor the Il-76 “78650” was testing over the Black Sea on Sept. 26; nevertheless, it is at least interesting that the activity of this highly modified aircraft filled with equipment required to undertake clandestine missions can be tracked online (by means of the usual Mode-S/ADS-B transponder) using Flightradar24.com.

Top image created by editing a Flightradar24 screenshot with a chart published by Izvestia.

A Ukrainian Flanker crashed during a display at Sknyliv airfield, in Ukraine. The accident killed 77 people and injured 543.

The deadliest air show accident in history occurred on Jul. 27, 2002, at Sknyliv airfield near Lviv, Ukraine, when a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flanker crashed during its display routine.

The two pilots, Volodymyr Toponar and Yuriy Yegorov, ejected safely but as a consequence of the crash 77 people died and 545 were injured, 100 of whom were hospitalised.

Several videos show the incident from different viewpoints.

The Flanker can be seen performing a sort of split-S at low altitude, descend rapidly towards the apron and taxiway. The aircraft’s left wing clipped a tree, struck the asphalt and dragged four rows of barbed wire that mowed down onlookers. The jet then hit some stationary aircraft, including an Il-76MD transport aircraft before beginning to explode and cartwheel into the crowd.

Following the disaster, the pilots stated that the airbase map they had received differed from the actual layout they found at Sknyliv airfield, where they had been also denied an extra rehearsal flight before the show. Although the root cause of the crash was found into the pilots violating the plan and performing “difficult maneuvers they had not done before”, other factors, including a small flying zone and inappropriate zoning by the show organizers who had allowed spectators to gather so close to the flight line were blamed for the tragedy.

On Jun. 24 2005, a military court sentenced pilot Volodymyr Toponar (who has always claimed the crash was due to technical problems and a faulty flight plan) and co-pilot Yuriy Yegorov to 14 and 8 years in prison, respectively. Yegorov was released in 2008.

Here’s a video of the crash and aftermath. Beware, it’s graphic content.

 

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Two Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flankers and one accompanying Il-76 have been among the highlights of the Malta International Airshow. And here some really cool shots of such interesting aircraft.

Malta hosted the traditional airshow over the last weekend.

Even though bad weather conditions forced the organization to cancel the aerial display over Smart City on Sunday Sept. 25, the arrival of the participants as well as the Saturday’s show provided an opportunity to take some cool shots of the most interesting aircraft that visited Malta airport in Luqa for the event.

Surely, the most awaited guests of this year’s edition of the Malta International Airshow were the two Su-27 Flanker jets of the Ukrainian Air Force.

Indeed, a Su-27 and a Su-27UB (58 BLUE and 71 BLUE), supported by an Il-76 Candid landed at the Maltese airport on Sept. 22: the Ukrainian trio arrived in style, performing a low passage over the runway before coming to landing.

By the way, this once again proves that Ukrainian pilots do love low-level flying…

On Friday Sept. 23, some photographers were given the opportunity to get some shots of the aircraft at night. Our contributor Estelle Calleja was among them and took the stunning shots you can find in this post.

The two-seater Su-27UB took part in the late afternoon flying segment over Smart City with a solo display that included release of flares. This was the first time the airshow took place over the area.

Both aircraft left Malta on Monday Sept. 26. The two Flankers performed a formation takeoff for runway 05, followed by a right hand turn and a low pass to bid farewell to Malta after an attendance that will be long remembered.

Stay tuned for a new article about all the other highlights of the air show that we will publish in the next few days!

Image credit: Estelle Calleja

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Salva

An Ilyushin Il-76 buzzing some people at an airbase in Ukraine.

A few months ago we published a video showing Ukrainian Air Force Su-25 Frogfoot bombers flying at treetop altitude over Melitopol airbase, in southeastern Ukraine.

The Frogfoot jets could be seen buzzing the tower and flying low over parked Il-76 cargo planes. Well, here’s a new video showing the opposite: a Candid making a low pass over parked Su-25s.

As already commented when we posted the Su-25 footage, although the Ukrainian pilots may have to fly at very low-level (where they can be particularly vulnerable to MANPADS as those in the hands of pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine) such low passes seems to be a bit too risky….

H/T @RuAviaPhotog via @CombatAir

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