Recently, the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and DIU shot down a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber for the first time during the entire war. According to the reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military pilot-instructor Roman Svitan, the aggressor country could actually lose something more valuable than the plane, namely the crew.
Ukraine continues to successfully eliminate Russian pilots
The military expert draws attention to the fact that the Ukrainians managed to kill two birds with one stone, because Russia lost not only a bomber, but also at least one crew member who died as a result of the attack.
As Roman Svitan notes, crew training and take-off for certain mechanisms takes about 8 years.
That is, it is refueled with more than 50 tons of kerosene — one railway tank "enters" this plane so that it can fly for a certain time, — explains the reserve colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to him, the bomber itself is very heavy. Its weight reaches 100-120 tons.
Accordingly, training and control flights become very expensive. Therefore, every pilot is worth his weight in gold. Sometimes the training of the crew is more expensive than the cost of the plane itself.
Roman Svitan
Reserve colonel of the Armed Forces, military pilot-instructor
The shooting down of a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber. How was it?
On April 19, AFU and DIU managed to destroy an enemy target when it was trying to attack Ukraine with missiles.
According to Ukrainian intelligence officers, the Tu-22MZ was shot down at a distance of about 300 kilometers from Ukraine by the same means that were previously used to shoot down the Russian A-50 long-range radar detection and control aircraft.
In addition, it is emphasized that after a successful attack, the bomber was able to fly to the Stavropol region, where it fell and crashed.
The Air Force draws attention to the fact that the Tu-22M3 is a carrier of Kh-22 cruise missiles, which the Russian army uses to strike peaceful Ukrainian cities.
