The pilots landed a burning Su-24 hit by a rocket in Bakhmut

General Popov offered to reward the crew: “The pilots did a great job, they showed courage”

Footage of a Russian Su-24 bomber hit by a missile from a man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) near Artemovsk (Bakhmut) appeared on the Web. The pilots managed to land the car with serious damage, with a burning engine, without releasing mechanization, dropping a drag parachute. This is the same aircraft of the PMC Wagner, on which Yevgeny Prigozhin had previously flown on a combat mission.

To assess the actions of the MK crew, he asked a person whom he himself flew on the same plane, the ex-head of the Federal Directorate for Aerospace Search and Rescue, Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Major General Vladimir Popov.

– What makes our twin-engine aircraft good, – the expert argues, – is that when an attack occurs, especially from MANPADS, then, as a rule, only one engine fails. The second one works, which is very important in order to try to get the pilots out of the attack in any case, leaving for their own territory. And here the pilots also showed great skill. They brought the car home, put it in, although it seems that there was a failure of the hydraulic system for the release of wing mechanization. But you see, the Su-24 is a reliable aircraft, although it has been flying for many years. There were a lot of complaints about him at the time. But in a combat situation, as experience shows, this machine is able not only to perform combat work well, but also to save the lives of pilots.

– So the pilots worked masterfully.

– Certainly! They are great fellows! The crew of the plane – and these are two people: the pilot on the left, the navigator on the right – showed great courage. They were very efficient and saved the car. I think they deserve an award.

– And how could they shoot down this plane? Did he fly too low? Why was it taken from a man-portable air defense system?

– It is not necessary to fly low for this. They could go at medium altitudes. When carrying out an attack on ground targets, whether we like it or not, we come into the zone of destruction of enemy assets. Of course, we try to protect ourselves from blows: we put interference, turn on the identification system, which gives us the opportunity to see from which side you will be attacked, set up heat traps … But this does not always work. It happens that an enemy in the zone of visual visibility can launch a missile from a MANPADS. Radio interference is not important to such an adversary.

Or maybe the pilots have run out of heat traps that they shoot. When they end, nothing can be done here except to maneuver, moving away from the blow. And this is the last thing.

In any case, what is being done to protect the pilot is not a panacea for all ills. And we know it. But this is precisely the reasonable risk that the pilots take on when performing combat missions. To do this, you need to know the car well to be able to do a lot. And what the crew of this Su-24 did once again proves the courage and great skill of our pilots.