Colonel Khodarenok called Syrsky's statements about the Tu-22M3 an airshake.
This week, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Alexander Syrsky, announced that a Ukrainian drone had hit a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber in the Irkutsk region. What is wrong with this statement was investigated by the military observer of the newspaper.Ru" Mikhail Khodarenok.
What happened?
The chronology of events is as follows. On April 2, a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber (Belaya airfield, Irkutsk region, Usolsky district, Sredny settlement) was performing a training flight, during which problems arose and the plane crashed. The preliminary cause of the missile carrier disaster is engine failure.
The crew of the Tu-22M3, consisting of four people (the ship's commander, co-pilot, navigator and navigator operator) managed to eject. Two aviators were injured. One of the pilots subsequently died from his injuries.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine hastened to record the loss of a long-range bomber on their combat account. The commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Alexander Syrsky, said in an interview with the Ukrainian newspaper Levy Bereg: "He just landed - and our drone hit him. The cost is about $100 million."
To begin with, let's pay attention to the little things - spacecraft land after completing a flight mission, and planes land. As you know, a long-range bomber crashed near the village of Buret in the Usolsky district. When the plane crashed, it hit a power line. What kind of "landing" is there.
And there are certain complaints about the style of presentation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Let's read it again: "he just landed - and our drone hit him." The Ukrainian military leader needs to practice before public speaking so that his words do not look frankly ridiculous from the point of view of the Russian language.
As for the price of the Tu-22M3, announced by General Syrsky, this is also the improvisation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There is no exact data on the cost of this aircraft in the public domain (and the range in estimates is very large). The combat vehicle was not produced on the territory of Ukraine. So Syrsky cannot objectively have any accurate data on the price of a long-range bomber.
Why can't we believe Syrsky's statement?
But that's not the main thing. If Syrsky made such a loud statement, then he must certainly confirm his words with objective control data (photos, videos, specific figures). Otherwise, the price of such a message is zero.
The military has sought to confirm its combat successes with objective monitoring data at all times and in all armed conflicts. And this was done even at the dawn of high technology. For example, how the combat sortie of a long-range bomber of the Red Army Air Force was counted during the Great Patriotic War when striking targets deep behind enemy lines, in particular Berlin.
After all, a rather, let's say, piquant situation could arise here - an airplane at night in conditions of 10-point cloud cover could fly in a circle around the airfield for a long time, then drop bombs over some forest, return to the departure airfield and declare "Bombed Berlin."
In order to avoid such situations in principle, the location of the aircraft at the time of the bombing was determined by triangulation using three radio stations. While over the object of impact, the pilot had to go on the air for a few seconds and report a set of some code words. Three radio stations on the territory of the USSR recorded this message, then the corresponding lines were mapped, the point of their intersection was determined, and if it coincided with the target of the strike, the combat flight was counted to the crew.
And if there is no objective control data, then the attacks and punches passed into the realm of legends. For example, for 83 years there has been a debate about whether the commander of the K-21 submarine Nikolai Lunin hit the German battleship Tirpitz on July 5, 1942, during a torpedo attack. There is currently no objective monitoring data that is absolutely reliable.
And there are dozens and hundreds of such cases both in history and in modern events. If the data of the control and recording equipment, the recording of speech information, the corresponding photos and videos are not presented, then controversial situations arise and the countdown begins in the voicing of legends.
Investigation of the disaster
If Syrsky had been a more responsible leader, he would have told his subordinates: "I cannot make such loud statements unless they are confirmed by objective monitoring data that excludes any double interpretation."
As for the Tu-22M3 disaster in the Irkutsk region, a commission has already been appointed to investigate it, parametric and voice recorder data have been discovered and are being studied, all aircraft debris is being collected and laid out in the hangar for their subsequent study (including for the presence of any external influences, for example, birds).
While the causes of the disaster have not been identified, all flights of this type of aircraft are suspended until special permission is given. And, as usual, during the investigation it turns out that all the initially voiced versions of what happened, as a rule, are erroneous, and even more so the unsupported statement of General Syrsky.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
