this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2024
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“Crashes”
Some Russian media sources are claiming that it was destroyed by an Iskander strike and the pilot killed in the same or a similar hit. May or may not have been on the ground at a targeted airfield and Ukraine didn't want their first loss to be some guy dying on the ground and his plane getting knocked out without even getting in the air.
That said at this point it's just rumors.
On the ground? Because I can't imagine a jet getting smacked out of the sky by a ballistic missile
Why not? Jets are commonly shot down with missiles. It's rather hard to kill them spraying them with machine-gun fire. You can do it of course but a missile is the more reliable solution which is why jets made for dog-fights usually carry multiples.
Anyways the rumors seemed to indicate on the ground but with the things that have happened lately I think it seems more plausible that Ukraine shot it down with a patriot given a Ukrainian parliament member has stated as much and given after the head of the air force there threatened her he was sacked probably less for threatening her and more as a way to sacrifice someone for the screw-up and to try and tamp the whole thing down.
Which is needless to say even funnier.
Because Iskander is not an air-to-air (which jets carry) or even ground-to-air (like the aforementioned patriot). It's a ballistic missile. Ground to ground. Very different targeting systems and the rocket itself