How the Ukrainian Armed Forces bombed Russian army convoys with 500-kg bombs on Su-24M, and what remains a secret
Some interesting details about the use of front-line bombers against racists
In the first few weeks and months of the full-scale invasion, there was a window of opportunity that allowed the Ukrainian Defense Forces to use Su-24M frontline bombers to strike the Russian occupiers with unguided aerial bombs.
During Russia’s first strikes on February 24, 2022, the lion’s share of our bombers were saved. But after that, a number of these planes and pilots were lost either during combat missions or during missile attacks by the Rashists. This is stated in the publication of ArmyInform.
It is said that for bombing attacks on the columns of the Russian army, a load of 4 bombs of 500 kilograms each could be used, dropped at an altitude of 100-150 meters above the target, at a speed of approximately 900-1000 km/h. In order to complicate the work of Russian air defense, our pilots built routes to the target using natural obstacles dictated by the terrain.
As the confrontation at the front became more “positional” and the Russians improved their air defense system, they had to abandon bombing attacks and instead began using Su-24Ms to “work” on the Russians with guided and unguided missiles.
Until 2014, the maximum flight altitude for Su-24Ms was set at 200 meters, but after the start of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, our pilots began to practice flying at much lower altitudes.
It is also interesting that by February 2022, there was already a practice when the crews of Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft practiced combat missions on Su-24M bombers, and vice versa. In turn, in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, the Russian Federation’s air force provided the necessary “change of shifts” during intensive combat missions, the number of which could reach four per day.
One of the first combat missions that our Su-24Ms flew was a bombing of a Nazi convoy that was heading for Chernobyl and Gostomel. In addition, our frontline bombers were used to hit Russian army convoys heading for Kryvyi Rih during the battles in Sumy region and near Izyum in the spring of 2022.
It is noteworthy that perhaps the most interesting chapter in the combat biography of our Su-24Ms remains a secret – how these aircraft were converted to SCALP-EG and Storm Shadow, and how our pilots trained to use such missiles. In addition, the question of whether our Su-24Ms are used as delivery vehicles for the same JDAM-ER remains a “white spot”.
