On Aug. 11 and 12, the Russian Air Force celebrated its 100th anniversary with an airshow at Zhukovsky, Moscow.
During the three-day air show, President Vladimir Putin said the Russian Air Force will be re-equipped with more than 600 new combat planes and 1,000 helicopters by 2020, since the modernization of the service is among the key priority for the government.
According to the Interfax news agency, military prosecutors will investigate flight records and safety measures carried out at military airfields after the video of a low level flying Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer went viral and it was shown on Russian national television.
Filmed from a car dashboard, the footage showed the Russian Air Forcetwin-engined two-seater attack plane zooming low over a highway between Volgograd and Kalach-on-the-Don, Russia.
According to the AFP news agency, famous Russian test pilot Anatoly Kvochur said that the maneuver was “normal training”.
“The more pilots we have like this, the better,” he added.
The Su-24 was designed to perform ultra low level strike missions. So, it was surely doing what it does better.
Still, it’s not safe to fly that low on a highway in peacetime, during a training mission. Among the other things, a fast moving plane buzzing the cars could divert drivers attention.
Anyway, here below you’ll find the full version of the video.
On Sept. 6, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that a Russian Air Force MiG-29 Fulcrum fighter crashed 27 kilometers from Chita, in Siberia.
The body of the pilots was found by a rescue team whereas a commission was detached to the scene to investigate the cause of crash.
Although no further details about the crash have been released, as a consequence of the mishap, all Mig-29s have been temporarily grounded: a heck of a safety measure, considered that the 270 Fulcrum jet fighters fly with the Russian Air Force and 40 serve in the Navy.
Fleetwide groundings are usually imposed after preliminary analysis of the incident highlighted failures, malfunctions that could lead to similar mishaps. Russian officials have been quite fast.
Filmed on Aug. 9, 2012, the following video shows an extreme low pass of a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 combat plane over a road between Volgograd and Kalach-on-the-Don, Russia.
The Su-24 Fencer is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union and serving, among the others, with the Syrian,Iranian and Libyan Air Force. It’s twin-engined two-seater plane with a variable geometry wing, designed to perform ultra low level strike missions.
Therefore, the one depicted in the video, was simply doing what it does better…..
