Drones neutralized Su-27 at the Kushchyovskaya military air base in Russia
20 May, 2024 Kushchyovskaya military air base in Russia on May 11, 2024. Photo credits: Sputnik Planet A Su-27 fighter jet was damaged as a result of a drone attack on the Russian Kushchyovskaya air base.
Analysts of the publication Astra reported on this with reference to sources. According to their data, the Russians failed to shoot down at least three drones. The attack caused a fire, damaging the fighter jet and the airfield.
Satellite imagery confirms new damage to the airfield after the attack by drone strikes.
- Kushchyovskaya military air base in Russia on May 11, 2024. Photo credits: Sputnik Planet
- Kushchyovskaya military air base in Russia on May 18, 2024. Photo credits: Sputnik Planet
- Kushchyovskaya military air base in Russia on May 19, 2024.
Photo credits: Sputnik Planet (blue - aircraft parking place, red - impact site)
- Kushchyovskaya military air base in Russia on May 19, 2024. Photo credits: Sputnik Planet (blue - aircraft parking place, red - impact site)
The images also show that after the strike, the Russian Aerospace Forces again moved most of the aircraft to other airfields. This is the second drone attack on the Kushchyovskaya military air base in the last three weeks.
Previously, several aircraft were hit there. The previous explosions at the Kushchyovskaya military air base and at the Slavyansk oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai of Russia occurred on the night of April 27. On May 3, British intelligence noted that the Ukrainian attack on the Russian Kushchyovskaya military air base probably led to the withdrawal of approximately 40 aircraft of different types from the area and dispersed to multiple airfields further from the frontline.
Su-27 of the Russian Aerospace Forces during the interception of the American RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic. April 14, 2016. Photo credits: Russian media
"The impact of this is unlikely to be immediately obvious or dramatic.
However, Ukraine has already demonstrated the ability to strike much further into Russia than these dispersal locations. Forcing such dispersal measures means that length of sorties will have to increase to maintain the same permanency over the battlefield. This will in turn require more fuel, increasing cost, while also placing more strain on the aircrew," the report says.
The UK added that Russian fighter jets from the Kushchevskaya airfield and a number of other air bases usually flew 100 to 150 sorties a day.
As previously reported, during a large-scale combined strike from May 14 to 15 in the temporarily occupied Crimea, two Russian MiG-31 interceptors were destroyed.