Yuri Kobzar21:10, 02/23/24
From the front line to the scene of the incident is more than 200 km, which excludes almost all types of weapons that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have.
Russia lost another A-50 airborne early warning aircraft . But unlike the previous such episode, this time the downing occurred much further from the front line, which excludes the possibility of using the Patriot air defense system, writes the military-analytical portal Defense Express .
Journalists note that the distance from the front line to the place where the plane crashed (the village of Trudovaya Armenia, Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation) is more than 200 km.
“Even the so-called “wandering Patriot”, according to the known performance characteristics, could not reach it. For the known range of the GEM-T is up to 160 km. And to this distance we must also add a logical retreat from the front edge, at least to the artillery range. And thus the main question and objectively unanswered is exactly how the Russian plane was obtained,” experts note.
As Defense Express notes, the first weapon that comes to mind in view of such a range is the old Soviet S-200 air defense system. Or rather, its version of the S-200M “Vega-M”, which has a nominal range of 240 km.
Analysts say that “the fate of these air defense systems within the Armed Forces of Ukraine is generally known,” hinting that they were removed from service back in 2013. But during a full-scale war, the use of these missile systems to attack ground targets was documented, so at least theoretically, the A-50 could be shot down from the S-200 complex.
Destruction of another A-50: what is known
As UNIAN wrote, in the evening of February 23, numerous messages appeared on the Internet that another A-50 reconnaissance aircraft, of which there are only a few in Russia, was shot down over the Sea of Azov. The first such incident occurred a little over a month ago – in January.
In confirmation, footage was published of the moment the missile hit the plane and footage of a large-scale fire on the ground.
Subsequently, the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed the fact of the destruction of the Russian aircraft. Armed Forces Commander Nikolai Oleshchuk “congratulated” the invaders “Happy Defender of the Fatherland Day,” specifying that the plane had the call sign “Bayan.”
(C)UNIAN 2024
Well done, Wunderwaffe!
Or long range Patriots (or something else) were delivered……………..secretly.
Or a new kind of drone, sneaking through under the radar and popping up at the last minute! Be afraid, RuSSian pilots, be very afraid! 😎
“they were removed from service back in 2013”
Ok, but had they actually been scrapped? We just read here a Forbes report about Ukrainian technicians reviving mothballed Su-24 bombers, which had been stored much longer than that. It certainly isn’t impossible that S-200 missiles could have been made operational again, too. Personally, I suspect it had been a more stealthy weapon, evading the A-50’s radar until the last moment, though. 🤔
Btw, in Tom Clancy’s “Red Storm Rising”, he describes an attack on a Nato EWACS, by Russian fighters and EWS-planes. In that case, the plane escaped destruction, but radar surveillance broke down, opening a big loophole for attackers.
I’ll guess we’ll never know what brought the plane down. Ukraine are not going to give anything away, and the orcs would sooner admit it was friendly fire, rather than give any credit to Ukraine.
Right, Foccuser, it’s much more reasonble to keep the RuSSians in the dark. And more fun, too! 😄
Imagine them paranoidly preparing against all kinds of largely immaginary threats now! Huge waste of time and efforts.