The Russian Air Force (VKS) lost one of its modern Su 35 multi-role fighters in combat over Ukraine for the first time this week. As a video from Butusow-Plus clearly shows (see below), the Sukhoi Su 35S Flanker-E crashed around 120 kilometers from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov near the embattled town of Izjum.
Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko (who also published Telegram photos of the wreckage on his account) confirmed that the most modern derivative of the Flanker family was shot down by Ukrainian forces, allegedly – which cannot be verified at the moment – with a 9K37M1 Buk-M1 surface-to-air missile. The VKS units have established temporary regional air superiority since February 24, but not any kind of permanent air supremacy. They recently flew around 300 missions per 24 hours, most of them at night. As a Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot describes hereafter a month, the Ukrainians are still flying regular missions from different bases, repeatedly luring Russian pilots into traps set by their ground-based air defenses. This was also successful in this case, although the Russian aircraft was apparently explicitly configured for a SEAD mission (suppression of enemy air defenses). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msJtIGwyp0Y&t=362s This is shown by the remains of a Kh-31P series anti-radar guided missile (perhaps a Kh-31PK or PM) under the wing. These can also be seen in Russian Ministry of Defense video clips (still below), along with R-77-1 radar air-to-air guided missiles and IR-guided R-73/74s. The published images from Ukraine show that the Su-35S in question was apparently not fully hit, but came down flat damaged by the warhead, largely intact, before being consumed by fire. The pilot survived the ejection and was captured by the Ukrainian armed forces.
SU 35 Easily recognizable
The wreck is therefore easily recognizable as Su 35S (originally Su-35BM, translated as “Great Modernization”), as it is a single-seat Flanker variant without canard slats, which is equipped with containers for electronic countermeasure systems instead of the missile rails on the wingtips of the basic Su-27. These are KNIRTI Sorbistiya or Khibiny jammers (L-265M10P/R). The decoy device registers the enemy’s incoming radar waves and reflects back-phase-shifted signals. These out-of-phase signals influence the amplitude of the signal and a false target position is displayed.
Conclusion:
If you see the Su-35S on your radar display screen, the position displayed would be incorrect. It would appear closer or further away than it actually is. This capability is an important BVR (over-the-horizon radar) combat element of this latest operational Sukhoi (Su-57 is still in squad testing).
SU 35 Inflow from 2014
The first order from the Russian Ministry of Defence was signed (as so often at the MAKC Airshow) in August 2009, and the production of the first 48 Su-35S was financed from the 2013 armaments program. The first of these were handed over to the Russian Air Force ready for operation on February 12, 2014. The first three aircraft from the 2014 program were then handed over on 10 October 2014, five more in November and a further four in December 2014. The Su-35S made its operational debut in Syria on 20 August 2019. Today, the VKS has a total of 103 Su-35S aircraft in service with the 790th Fighter Aviation Regiment in Khotilovo, the 159th Guards Regiment in Besovets, the 23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment in Komsomolsk-Dzemgi (a base next to the KnAAZ production plant on the Amur in the Far East) and the 22nd Fighter Aviation Regiment in Uglovoe. In view of the fact that the VKS gathered resources from all over Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, it is not possible to say which unit this particular Su 35 came from
According to credible reports based on geo-referenced information, the Russian air force has lost 19 to 25 aircraft during the fighting in Ukraine so far. However, the Ukrainian side claims more than 100 downed aircraft.
