The Armed Forces Air Command of Ukraine states that it has shot down one Su-25 ground-attack jet on Wednesday.
The aircraft shot down was the latest version of the Soviet-era Sukhoi Su-25 (NATO reporting name Frogfoot) attack plane in Su-25SM configuration. The serial number of the downed aircraft is an RF-91969 “Red 10”.
Details remain very limited in nature but what is known is that a pilot of a Russian Su-25 ground-attack jet has died.
The Su-25SM is an upgraded version of the bases Su-25 plane. It has a new head-up display and improved fire control systems. This increased accuracy of guided munitions. Around 80 aircraft were upgraded to the Su-25SM configuration.
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Su-25SM weapon suite has been expanded with the addition of the Vympel R-73 highly agile air-to-air missile (albeit without helmet mounted cueing and only the traditional longitudinal seeker mode) and the S-13T 130 mm rockets (carried in five-round B-13 pods) with blast-fragmentation and armour-piercing warheads. Further, the Kh-25ML and Kh-29L Weapon Employment Profiles have been significantly improved, permitting some complex missile launch scenarios to be executed, such as: firing two consecutive missiles on two different targets in a single attack pass. The GSh-30-2 autocannon (250-round magazine) has received three new reduced rate-of-fire modes: 750, 375 and 188 rounds per minute. The Su-25SM was also given new BD3-25 under-wing pylons.
This has already become the fifth confirmed case of the loss of this type of aircraft during the war in Ukraine.