A US-30SM less for Russia. Moscow lost a new SU-30SM combat aircraft during a mission south-east of snake island, the only island off the continental coast in the Black Sea, if we believe the words of the Ukrainian navy on Thursday, August 14. The fighter plane crashed for reasons that remain unknown, reports The Kyiv Independent.
According to kyiv, Ukrainian intelligence services have intercepted radio communications indicating the loss of contact with the plane, and the Russian forces have launched a research and rescue operation. For the time being, only debris would have been spotted on the surface of the sea and the pilots are still missing.
The island of Snakes, located 35 km off the Odessa Oblast (Ukraine), was taken by Russian forces from the first days of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Its capture allowed Moscow to block the ports of Odessa on the Black Sea and to carry out strikes against Ukraine from the island, until the withdrawal of Russian troops a few months later.
The list of destroyed Russian SU-30s is lengthening
This loss is added to the growing list of Russian SU-30s destroyed or damaged during the war. On May 2, Ukraine said it had shot two AP-30 aircraft with air-to-air missiles from sea drones near Novorossiysk, and said they had damaged another on an aerodrome on May 9.
In early August, Ukrainian drones of the mission of the “A” special operations center managed to destroy a SU-30SM plane and damage another, according to Ukrainian intelligence services.
Developed by Russia, the SU-30SM is a multi-steep and two-seater multi-seater combat capable of carrying out air-to-air or air-to-ground attacks. It is designed to accommodate two pilots and can take up to nearly 8 tonnes of armaments. It is also equipped with a 30 mm plane cannon with 150 cartridges. With its two SATURN AL-31 engines, it can reach a maximum speed of Mach 2, or approximately 2,470 km/h. Its cost is valued between 30 and 43 million euros.
