Russia's first supersonic heavyweight
The iconic Tupolev Tu-22M entered service in 1972 and, like any Soviet high-speed aircraft, is a bit of a monstrosity with wings and more thrust than it can handle. The system is still working, and as of yesterday – except for some ground incidents and a Ukrainian drone on a parked plane – it has never fallen from the sky quite so disastrously.
Now it is, and at the top you can see it's going vertically in the wrong direction. Ukraine claims They shot the plane out of the sky and shared the alleged photos below of the AA command center of the action: “For the first time, anti-aircraft missile units of the (Ukrainian) Air Force, in cooperation with the Main Directorate of Ukrainian Intelligence, Destruction of a Tu-22M3 aircraft Long-range strategic bomber – Kh-22 cruise missile carrier, used by Russian terrorists to attack peaceful Ukrainian cities.“
However, the plane fell over the Stavropol region in southwestern Russia, about 550 kilometers (!) from the Ukrainian front line, and this makes a Ukrainian interception possible. Very unlikely. Russian news agency TASS reported that one pilot died and the three others were taken to hospital.
More photos after the break.
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