Three Russian Su-34s Fall for Ukrainain “Tactical Trick,” Shot By Patriot Missiles

Three Russian Su-34 jets were lured into a trap and while on a bombing mission and shot down by missiles from a “Patriot” battery over Southern Ukraine in perhaps the worst day for Russian Aviation since the war began.

The Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk, confirmed that Ukrainian air defenders shot down three SU-34 fighter-bombers yesterday over southern Ukraine.

Pro-Russian Telegram channel “Russian Weapons” corroborated the Ukrainian claim. “Unfortunately, information has been confirmed that the enemy intercepted three  Su-34 of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the Kherson operational direction during the execution of missions to carry out a targeted strike with FAB-500M-62 aerial bombs.”

The Su-34s are believed to have been shot at soon after they released their bombs at a height of around 12 kms over a decoy target when they were on their return trajectory and within range of the missiles of the Patriot Systems.

The Ukrainians played a “tactical trick” by deploying the M903 Patriot launchers on the right bank of the Dnieper river, on the return path of the Su-34 fighters. Their  radar was not put into active mode until the target had been detected either by another radar stationed 10s of kilometers away or by an AWACS flying over Romania.

“Immediately after receiving target designation, the MPQ-53/65A illumination radar was activated with instant lock-on for precise auto-tracking of the three Su-34s simultaneously with their final illumination by the semi-active radar seeker of MIM-104C/E anti-aircraft missiles,” the pro-Russian social media channel said.

The Su-34 pilots did not have time to descend from an altitude of 13 km and leave the tracking zone of the MPQ-53 radar allowing the Patriot system missiles to find their mark.

Moreover, it is known that when equipping the Su-34 with a bomb suspension configuration, the aircraft are rarely equipped with an additional anti-radar Kh-31PD missile, which could have cautioned the Patriot crew and perhaps deterred them from launching the missile.

The reports says that the Khibiny  system of the Su-34 were unable to provide adequate radio countermeasures to the radar, which raises a number of questions about the effectiveness of their software and hardware architecture.