Su-33 Flanker
A Su-33 Flanker carrier-based multirole fighter crashed during flight operations from Russia’s Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser on Decemer 3, The Aviationist reported on December 5, citing own sources.
“According to the report, the combat plane crashed at its second attempt to land on the aircraft carrier in good weather conditions (visibility +10 kilometers, Sea State 4, wind at 12 knots): it seems that it missed the wires and failed to go around falling short of the bow of the warship,” the article reads.
The report added that the pilot ejected and was picked up by a search and rescue helicopter. The blog entitled “The Aviationist” was amomg media outlets that had reported the crash of a Russian MiG-29K from Admiral Kuznetsov’s deck on November 13 before the confirmation from the Russian Defense Ministry.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the incident:
“While landing after completing a combat task in the Syrian sky, a Su-33 fighter jet skidded off the dock because of the the cable of arresting device broke. The pilot ejected and was immediately brought aboard the Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft carrier by rescuers. His life is not in danger,” Sputniknews quoted the ministry’s statement.
The Russian Defense Ministry added that the naval task force’s aviation continues its mission as planned.
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“Su-33 fighter jet skidded off the dock because of the the cable of arresting device broke” Cable broke..SU-33 lost ..can’t be so easy!!
Should they not have a backup arresting cable in case the first one fails???
There is not much room for mistakes on this carrier/ship. Why not sift some of the load to other forward airbases in Latakia or Aleppo.
Both lost planes were intact when lost , that’s the drawback of having them in Ocean. On the other hand human cost is avoided thankfully being on the water.
They are supposed to raise their operational level to higher standards instead of always being the retarded barely floating Kuznetzov. Avoiding carrier operations is not going to help.
Need to start building that new aircraft carrier now
Russian defense doctrine doesn’t place much emphasis on carriers except as mobile air supremacy bases to extend air defense over SSBN bastions and her near-abroad. The K is adequate for current needs, so overhaul her when this deployment is done and defer any replacement so that funds can be used on more important equipment for Army/Navy.Air Force modernisation program (ie Armata vehicles, Yasen class subs, PAK FA)
Hm …
US carriers can change tension setting on cable for various aircraft??…Saw this on an episode Of JAG. The Russian carrier has different tension settings for its arrestor cables?
Expect much jokes and laughter to be had about Russian competence tonight at the Pentagon. And in a way deservedly so because it takes many years of constant training and operations to reach proficiency at carrier operations. Which is not something you will get when your only carrier, uh, aircraft carrying missile cruiser, sits in port most of the time. On the plus side this deployment will provide invaluable lessonsand experience for the Russian navy on long term naval deployments and carrier operations. Make it work!
The result of a decade of neglect of the RU Navy and, I hate to say it, quite small Russian defence budgets in comparison both to the task required and the overall GDP. There needs to be a realization in Russia that modernizing the military must be a top priority. probably the spectre of USSR collapse is still haunting officials and prevents them allocating the necessary funds. And to be precise, a defence budget of ~100bn$ is required for Russia, not the peanuts currently allocated.
damn. That cable should be in 100% perfect operating condition with no chances of failure. Where are the engineers of that resting cable?
To be honest, the Admiral needs to return home for an overhaul upgrade.
I think it is understood that in part much of the use of Russian equipment in Syria has been for testing purposes. In such a situation there will be both successes and failures. I am confident lessons will be learned .
Shit happens! A;; these comments about building new carrier and other panic talk just shows how little is understood about carrier operations, Is it old? sure,it could be new and have the same problems. Landing on a carrier is inherently dangerous, its simply bound to happen. Probably had more landings in this deployment alone than in the last three years of use. Its probably on par with normal accident rate. The idea that its not functioning or that the us pentagon is in some way delighted is deranged over think! The comment about punishing the engineers who designed arrestor gear> Really its been landing planes since the eighties, 30 plus years of use! They probably died of old age a decade ago.
@ Ted,
A visit to Live Leak’s web site will provide ample evidence of the dangers and complexities of carrier based take offs and landings, regardless what flag the carrier flies.
On top of that, how many people are injured merely practicing martial arts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYXbFJrA4Ik
To be honest I’ve never been a fan of the Su-33, as it’s not really a logical platform for naval operations. It’s too big and has a large RCS, and I have to wonder if it’s heavy weight contributed to the cable snapping (in 2005 another Su-33 also snapped a cable on the Kuznetsov).
The MiG-29K seems like a much better naval platform, and has more in common with the successful F/A-18E/F and Rafale-M naval fighters. Hopefully they’ll soon withdraw the Su-33’s like they originally said they would, once enough MiG-29K’s are operational. I just hope that MiG corp can make some more reliable engines, as they don’t seem to be a dependable as Sukhoi engines.
Here you go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYXbFJrA4Ik
i’m getting incllined to joke about it, but in truth, it’s no biggie. it’s golden lessons for the future that russian military is NOT turking a blind eye on. there’s still time until upcoming decades when this will be a part of russian mobile support of their allies and yet another way to project long-distance conventional deterrence.
It is not surprising. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the navy aviation was in neglect, plus USSR didn’t really develop that part of the military. Anyways lets see what future developments bring. Its good that there were no casualties.
For what it is worth, an arresting cable on the USS Eisenhower snapped earlier this year when an EC-2 was landing, injuring 8 sailors. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it happens, and an isolated incident doesn’t tell you much about anything.