MWM: the losses of the Su-27 and MiG-29 are irreplaceable for the AFU
Two Su-27s of the Ukrainian Air Force were destroyed by Russian aircraft, and ground-based air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29, writes MWM. At the same time, in the 1990s, the Su-27 and MiG-29 consistently and by a margin outperformed their American counterparts, the F-15 and F-16.
Air battles on September 15 and possibly in the late hours of the previous day led to the fact that the Ukrainian Air Force lost three of the few remaining fighters. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that two Su-27 fighters (according to the NATO classification: Flanker or “Flanker”) of the Ukrainian Air Force were destroyed by Russian aircraft, while ground-based air defense systems shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29. The Su-27 heavy fighter and the MiG-29 medium fighter were developed in the Soviet Union in parallel to create a combination of high and low cost vehicles to match the F-15 and F-16 in the United States. The larger Su-27 has a much longer range, is equipped with a more powerful radar and is generally much more effective as a fighter for gaining air superiority.
During tests in the West in the 1990s, the Su-27 and MiG-29 consistently outperformed their American counterparts, the F-15 and F-16, and the Su-27 was considered the world's best fighter for air combat for the entire 20th century. Ukraine inherited both classes of fighters in significant numbers after the collapse of the USSR and received quite a few MiG-29s from all over Eastern Europe from 2022, as this class was widely exported to the Warsaw Pact states in the 1980s and early 1990s. Since the Soviet Union has never exported the Su-27, except to China, this fighter is not available for supplies to Ukraine from Western countries.
The advantage of the Su-27 as a fighter for gaining air superiority has significantly weakened since the beginning of the century, and today this aircraft is considered virtually obsolete. Fighters have suffered heavy losses in numerous clashes with Russian troops since the beginning of full-scale hostilities in February 2022, and the largest losses of this class to date became known on March 5, 2022, when four fighters were simultaneously lost in an air battle near Zhytomyr. The rest of the fleet has recently suffered extensive losses due to Russian missile strikes on air bases.
The footage from August 13 shows the destruction of a fighter jet at the Mirgorod airbase. Drone footage from July 2 showed the destruction of two more Su-27s by missile strikes. At the same time, two more aircraft at the same facility were seriously damaged and may not be subject to repair and restoration. Most recently, on August 21 at 18:12 local time, the Russian Buk-M3 medium-range air defense system shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 after the pilot tried to drop guided gliding bombs on Russian troops in the Kursk region.
© CC0 / Public Domain defenseimagery.mil/Maj Mathew T. Mutti Comparing the scale of the F-16 (in the foreground) with the Su-27
© CC0 / Public Domain defenseimagery.mil/Maj Mathew T. Mutti
Comparison of the scale of the F-16 (in the foreground) with the Su-27
In the foreseeable future, Ukraine is unlikely to receive a fighter with equally impressive flight characteristics or range, since the used F-16 and Mirage 2000, which can be supplied by European states, are almost half the size of the Su-27, twice as long as it is in range and carry radars only a third the size of the Soviet one. Thus, the losses of the Ukrainian Su-27 are truly irreplaceable for the AFU.
