In the war with Ukraine, Russia is actively using aviation, including Su-34 front-line bombers, promoted by propaganda. Often Ukrainian soldiers “cut their wings” to such “birds”. For example, such a UAF fighter was shot down near the temporarily occupied Yenakiyevo.
Russian propaganda describes this aircraft as a unique weapon, but in reality this is not entirely true. Channel 24 has collected for you the main characteristics of the Su-34 bombers
Su-34 capabilities
Although Russia calls the front-line bomber “the latest development”, it was created during the Soviet era and made its first flight in 1990. Su-34 is a modification of the more famous Su-27. However, during the times of instability and the collapse of the USSR, it was not possible to establish mass production of these aircraft.
Only in 2014, Russia launched mass production, investing in it the so-called petrodollars – the proceeds from the sale of oil.
The main characteristics of the Su-34:
- crew – 2 people;
- combat loading – 12.5 tons;
- length – 23.3 meters;
- wingspan – 14.7 meters;
- height – 6 meters;
- chassis base – 6.63 meters;
- chassis track – 4.4 meters;
- empty aircraft weight – 22.5 tons;
- normal takeoff weight – 38.24 tons;
- maximum weight – 45 tons;
- maximum speed at high altitude – 1900 kilometers per hour;
- the maximum speed near the ground is 1,400 kilometers per hour;
- flight range – 4,000 km;
- combat radius – 1100 kilometers.
The Su-34 is equipped with a 30 mm GSh-301 cannon and has 12 hardpoints. Combat load – 8000 kilograms of various weapons on an external sling.
The bomber is equipped with a powerful radar system that can distinguish tracked armored vehicles at a distance of up to 75 kilometers.
The approximate cost of one such aircraft is $36 million.
Combat use of the Su-34
Russia first used these bombers in 2008 during the invasion of Georgia. They were also used in Syria. At this time, propaganda tried to create an image of the power of this aircraft. The main task of the Su-34 is to deliver high-precision strikes against the enemy in the rear, at operational-tactical depth, in conditions of intense air defense and countermeasures.
However, the propaganda task was complicated by the fact that in Syria, the Su-34s demonstrated something that is not entirely accurate when they were used for bombing. Then the planes were stuffed with cluster munitions, not precision-guided weapons.
During the invasion of Ukraine, these aircraft also do not often see high-precision weapons. For example, with the help of the Su-34 in early March last year, the Russians dropped high-explosive bombs weighing 500 kilograms. By the way, it was on this plane that the unfortunate pilot Krasnoyartsev bombed the city, who was caught and transferred to Russia as part of an exchange six months later.
During the invasion of Ukraine, Russia lost at least 20 such aircraft. They are vulnerable to air defense – at low altitude they can be shot down by portable anti-aircraft missile systems, and at altitude they are accessible to air defense systems, for example, the Soviet S-300. Russia lost most of these aircraft in the Kharkov region. One was shot down in Chernigov and the Kyiv region and several more in the Donetsk region. Another Su-34 fell on a residential building in Yeysk last October.
On March 3, 2023, anti-aircraft gunners of the Nikopol anti-aircraft missile regiment of the Vostok air command in the area of the temporarily occupied Yenakiyevo in the Donetsk region successfully clipped the wings of another Su-34. One pilot was killed and another was seriously injured.
