“Who did this?” the Ukrainian air force quipped.
Ukraine just put two key Russian military aircraft out of commission. It will now be more difficult for Russia to direct operations against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Air Force shot down a Russian A-50M/U intelligence gathering plane – somewhat similar to US Air Force E-3 Sentry (AWACS) aircraft. And it severely damaged an Il-22M11 command and control aircraft which was able to land but is beyond repair.
It’s official. Russian and Ukrainian sources have confirmed that Ukrainian air-defenses on Sunday hit, over southern Ukraine and the Sea of Azov, two of Russia’s rarest and most valuable support planes: a Beriev A-50 radar early-warning plane and an Ilyushin Il-22 airborne command post. “Who did this?” the Ukrainian air force quipped. The answer, it seems, is the air arm’s 90-mile-range Patriot PAC-2 air-defense missiles. The jet-propelled A-50—one of nine A-50M/Us in service—fell into the Sea of Azov in flames, likely killing everyone on board: potentially 15 people including high-ranking officers and highly-trained radar specialists. The propeller-driven Il-22, with up to 10 people aboard, managed to land in Anapa on the Russian side of the Sea of Azov’s southern coast. “Urgently requesting ambulance and fire crew,” the crew radioed as they wrestled their shrapnel-holed plane toward the air base. Photos of the damaged Il-22, snapped after it landed, illustrate the extent of the damage—a mangled tail fin and fuselage—and also reveal the plane’s exact variant. It’s an Il-22M11, and it might be a total write-off. This version of the 1950s-vintage Ilyushin turboprop is rare. The Russian air force has maybe 12 Il-22Ms after mutinous Wagner Group mercenaries shot down one of the planes over western Russia back in June. While the Russians could modify an old Ilyushin airframe into a replacement Il-22M, they probably can’t do so quickly—or cheaply. An A-50 or Il-22M might cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Russia had only about ten of the A-50 planes. One was blown up by Belarusian partisans 11 months ago south of Minsk. And now one is sleeping with the fishes in the Sea of Azov.
Here are pictures of the Il-22M11 which was able to make an emergency landing at Anapa in Russia.
Just to rub it in to Putin, here's a graphic from Ukraine's military announcing its hits on the two Russian planes.
ЗНИЩЕНО = destroyed Повітряні Сили = Air Force
The two planes together would cost Russia over half a billion dollars to replace. 😁😎
