The first two Russian Sukhoi Su-27s destroyed in the war in Ukraine / One, a victim of an anti-aircraft battery in Crimea / The technologically outdated aircraft was lucky in this conflict

The first two Russian Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft were destroyed in the Russian-Ukrainian war, one of the aircraft being shot down by an anti-aircraft battery in Crimea, reports Forbes.

The aircraft involved in the conflict, Su-27P (standard model, without ground attack capabilities) and Su-27SM (upgraded version, appeared after 2004) versions, are operated by the 38th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which is based in Belbek, in near Sevastopol. It is their aircraft that caused a US MQ-9 Reaper drone to crash into the Black Sea in March 2023.

Although very agile and dangerous in close combat, the plane lacks the advanced technology to prevail in non-visual combat with modern models such as the F-35 or Eurofighter.

The Sukhoi Su-27 fighter-interceptor and air superiority aircraft is still used by both sides in the conflict. In Crimea, the 38th Regiment had about 24 units. In the first 25 months of full-scale war it did not lose a single one, although the base is only 240 km from the front line. Russia, however, lost much more advanced models, such as the Su-35 or Su-34. Experts believe that the Su-27s managed to survive the first two years of the war because they were not used close to the front line.

The situation changed this week after a massive attack with 40 Storm Shadow and Neptune missiles initiated by the Ukrainians. At the Belbek base, one Su-27 was destroyed and two other units were damaged, according to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies.

Then another Su-27 was accidentally shot down by an anti-aircraft battery, probably confused by the massive barrage of cruise missiles coming from Ukraine. A video clip of the aircraft crashing has circulated online on social media. Apparently, the pilot managed to eject.

“The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine should give medals to Russian anti-aircraft system operators,” wrote Jakub Janovsky, an analyst at the open-source organization Oryx, which monitors vehicles destroyed in the conflict.

Russia still has around 40 Su-27 aircraft. The aircraft had its maiden flight in 1977 and is the basis for many other models launched later by Russia, among which we mention: Su-35, Su-30 or Su-33. Even the Su-57, a model with a small radar footprint, has elements borrowed from the Su-27.