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| Ukrainian Su-27 Flanker Fighter Jets and Russian Fighter Jets Dogfights In over Sky Donbas |
International Military - Two fighter jets belonging to Ukraine and Russia engaged in dramatic dogfights over the Donbas recently. The Kiev plane was identified as a Su-27 Flanker, while the Moscow plane was not identified.
The aerial battle took place Friday (19/8/2022) and a video of the incident was posted on Twitter by Matthew Luxmoore, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal in Ukraine. Ukraine has been complaining about its inadequate air power, but it has nevertheless put up a fierce fight against the invasion of Russia's advanced fighter jets.
The video of the aerial duel also shows a rare sight in which modern Russian fighter jets fire an air-to-air (AAM) missile. Ukrainian fighter jets also perform similar actions. "This is an incredible sight in a part of Ukraine that is used to relentless rocket and artillery fire and little action in the skies," Luxmoore said.
A literal dogfight in the skies over Donbas tonight. Ukrainian SU-27 shooting flares toward a guided missile fired by a Russian fighter jet, not caught in this footage. The few residents remaining in Pokrovsk rushed out to gape at the spectacle and applaud. pic.twitter.com/GmJnO7HghR
— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) August 18, 2022
According to him, the amazing sight took place in the town of Pokrovsk, Donbas, Eastern Ukraine. A literal dogfight in the skies over Donbas tonight. Ukrainian Su-27 firing flares at missiles fired by Russian fighter jets, not captured in this footage.
The few remaining residents of Pokrovsk rushed out to gawk at the spectacle and applaud," Luxmoore wrote in the caption on his video post. The journalist's video did not provide final details of the aerial battle results.
A Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet is seen launching two AAMs at the beginning of the video, a gap of about 1 second when a small dark smudge is seen around it. Then, the two fast-moving white dots that were later seen streaking away from the plane began to separate and follow a different and curvy route.
According to The War Zone's assessment, most likely in the direction of the desired target. The EurAsian Times contacted leading aviation analyst Prashant Prabhakar, who said he was more skeptical about the air battle. "Dogfights, the term used to describe close air combat between fighter jets has been a major component of air warfare at least until the early 90s. The modern terminology for the same is aerial combat maneuvers (ACM)," he said.
"However important, such maneuvers are hardly routine in modern air combat, much less seen by civilians on the ground. From what is reported, the Ukrainian Air Force's Su-27 Flanker fighter is said to deploy infrared flares to deceive the air-to-air missile infrared-guided or AAM fired by Russian fighter jets, which is again unclear," he added.
"While it looks interesting, I'm still more interested in the clearer video of the 'air fight' for a better conclusion. Dogfights in the 21st century? Sounds too good to be true? Maybe it is or maybe it isn't." In Pokrovs, about 70 percent of the population had been evacuated in the early weeks of the Russian invasion.
Due to its proximity to the battle front lines, this region suffered heavy damage. The Ukrainian Air Force, which is dominated by MiG-29, Su-27, Su-24 and Su-25 fighter jets, has asked the United States to provide better and more advanced fighters such as the F-16. However, Washington has not complied with the request so far for fear of triggering an outright war between the United States and Russia.