"Mig-31 Downs Ukrainian Su-24" Topic

Apparently, a patroling Russian Mig-31 interceptor downed a Ukrainian Su-24 at the beginning of November (Nov. 1st?), or the very end of October (Oct. 30th?).

Not much in the way of details is provided here, but from conjecture by me, I suspect the Su-24 may have been involved in supporting the recent counter-offensive against Russian forces in the SE front of Ukraine.

According to the article, Russia is using Mig-31s and Su-35s to patrol from afar (my presumption on the distance, but I suspect a safe one) on a round the clock basis, and yet provide for a CAP over the eastern portion of Ukraine, due to their long-range, look-down, shoot-down radars, and their long-range AAMs. With those long search and AAM ranges, it will be pretty easy for Russia to have their jets conduct these patrols in the relative safety of Russian airspace fairly far away from the porous border region, keeping them well away from engagement by any Ukrainian SAMs and other AA weaponry.

According to the article, the Mig-31 is capable of engaging enemy aircraft from up to 200 miles away with their AAMs, though they are much more effective from 80 miles or so away. It also states that as many as 6 long-range AAMs are being fired by Russian aircraft on a daily basis. If that is indeed true, then it appears the Ukrainians are flying a lot more aerial sorties than we in the West may be aware of in support of their troops.

Comparatively, Ukrainian jets are limited to engaging enemy aircraft from only 50 miles away, since their AAMs only have a medium-range capability, so they are very mismatched with their opponent's aircraft.

link

The article also goes on to state that Ukraine has lost 12 jets (4 x Mig-29s, 6 x Su-25s, 1 x Su-24, and 1 x Su-27), while Russia has lost one Mig-31 to some sort of operational accident, or other issue in Crimea – supposedly written off.

Of course, sadly, this doesn't list other Russian jets which are known to have been shot down over Ukraine by various SAMs during the conflict.

I'd love to see a list of those, if anyone has anything to share on that subject.

While long, I thought the following pdf from the RUSI on "The Russian Air War and Ukrainian Requirements for Air Defence" was pretty interesting. I don't think it has the exact losses quantified, but it does talk about overall trends and objectives:

PDF link

The Russians have been flying lots of sorties well back in their territory since the initial high losses. It hasn't been headline news, because the effects haven't been dramatic, but the information has been available.

The MiG-31 can achieve extremely long nominal ranges because it can launch from very high altitude at Mach 2+, giving the missile enormous kinematic advantages. That's not to say that there are no drawbacks.

Oct. 27th is also mentioned as a Russian announcement date from another source.

I ran across another video of the situation in Ukraine, 10 weeks into the war (so approximately early May, since the war started in earnest on Feb. 23, 2022), and it mentions the following:

Approximately 24 Russian fighters and attack jets shot down, mainly by Ukrainian SAMs.

Ukraine – at least 16 aircraft lost – 4 x Su-27s, 5 x Mig-29s, 3 x Su-24s, and 4 x Su-25s. Proportionately, losses for Ukriane are much higher, since they have so few aircraft, e.g. an estimated: 36 x Su-27s, 50+ Mig-29s, 12 x Su-24s, and 30 x Su-25s (all are estimates mentioned in the video article).

Alas, I had a bookmark to share the video too, since it had some good footage on Youtube, but can't find it right now. It was about 8:18 or so long, and popped up when I typed in the Mig-31 and Su-24 shootdown news inquiry. Hopefully, I can find it again.

Interesting articles. Thanks for posting.