The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense shared a video on March 6 showing a Russian
Su-34 fighter-bomber shot down. The Su-34 jet struck at Ukrainian military
infrastructure and civilian residents in Kharkiv and Chernihiv, the defense ministry said.
While limited details are available regarding the incident, unconfirmed reports state that it
has been taken down by an FIM-92 Stinger. Viewers may note that a decent number of
Stingers have made their way into Ukraine from several counties and it is probably the most
potent MANPAD or Man-Portable Air-Defense system available to the Ukrainian forces.
From the footage, it seems that the aircraft was flying low and tried to evade the
missile using flares but was unsuccessful. In this video Defense Updates analyzes how
a Russian frontline strike aircraft like Su-34 is being shot down by MANPAD such as Stinger?
We will first check the profile of the Su-34 & Stinger and then decipher two key reasons
for the surprising incident. Let's get started.
The Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name: Fullback) is a Soviet-origin Russian
twin-engine, twin-seat, all-weather supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber or strike aircraft.
It first flew in 1990, intended for the Soviet Air Forces,
and it entered service in 2014 with the Russian Air Force.
Based on the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker air superiority fighter, the Su-34
has an armored cockpit for side-by-side seating of its two-person crew.
The Su-34 is designed primarily for tactical deployment
against ground and naval targets that includes bombing/attack/interdiction
roles against small and mobile targets on solo and group missions in the daytime and at night.
Importantly, it can conduct missions under adverse weather conditions
as well as in a hostile environment with the ability to counter-fire and
deploy electronic warfare (EW) counter-measures. It can reach speeds of Mach 1.8, has a range of
4,500 km or 2,800 mi, and a service ceiling of 17,000 m or 56,000 ft.
The FIM-92 Stinger is a MANPAD that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile
(SAM). It has been adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles
and helicopters (Air to Air Stinger).
Developed in the United States, it entered service in 1981
and is used by the militaries of the United States and 29 other countries. It is principally
manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems and is produced under license
by EADS in Germany and by ROKETSAN in Turkey, with 70,000 missiles produced.
Over the years, the system has been updated to take out evolving threats.
It has a targeting range of up to 4.8 km or 3 miles and can engage low altitude enemy threats
at up to 3.8 km or 2.35 miles.
The Stinger is launched by a small ejection motor that pushes it a safe distance from the operator
before engaging the main two-stage solid-fuel sustainer,
which accelerates it to a maximum speed of Mach 2.54.
It has a 1.02 kg or2.25 lb warhead.
Let us now understand the 2 reasons for the shoot-down.
In ideal conditions, an aircraft like Su-34 is not supposed to fly at low altitudes.
Russian forces appear to have held back the precision-guided armaments that Russian attack
aircraft such as the SU-34 were designed to carry and can be deployed from high altitudes.
The reason for doing so seems to be due to the fact that the Russian Air Force is
lacking the required quantity of precision-guided munition or PGMs and are dependent on dumb bombs.
Hitting a target with dumb bombs which have no guidance
requires coming in low and this exposes the aircraft to threats such as the Stinger.
Stinger has passive sensors and doesn't emit any radiation.
It can't be detected by Radar Warning Receivers and a Missile Approach Warning system is required
which is present in the Su-34 and hence the pilot was able to able to deploy the flares.
But flares are not the best counter and a DIRCM would have probably made a difference.
Directional Infrared Counter Measures (DIRCM) are a class of anti-missile systems produced
to protect aircraft from infrared homing missiles, primarily MANPADS and similar simple systems.
Infrared countermeasures like flares or hot block systems produce random flashes of IR light that
are semi- or omnidirectional. This results in the missile seeker receiving relatively little
IR energy due to the inverse square law. DIRCM systems instead aim their IR output directly
at the missile using some source of tracking information and a trainable emitter. This allows
a relatively small device to overwhelm the missile seeker by focusing all of its output on it.
A Russian example is the 101KS-O which is present in Su-57 but not in Su-34.
War is ruthless and chinks in the armor will invariably get exposed.
This is what is happening with the Russian Air force.
It is well known that massive corruption has eaten into funds meant for the military
and this could be the reason for low Precision-Guided Munition inventory.
It is also evident that Russian aircraft have few technological incapabilities
that can make them vulnerable in the battlespace.
Lack of DIRCM is just one of them,
recently 3 nations have rejected the Su-35 - a major reason was the lack of AESA radar.
To know more about that, check the video on the above card.
So, it appears that the Russian Air force is not as fearsome as made out to be.