Bridge-Busting Su-27s Are Trying To Isolate Russian Troops In Belgorod
An Su-27 bombs a bridge in Belgorod.
Ukrainian air force Sukhoi Su-27 fighters, modified to lob American- and French-made precision glide bombs, are blowing up bridges in western Russia. A video montage that circulated online on Thursday depicts bombs slamming into at least two bridges in Grafovka and Nadezhdovka as Ukrainian surveillance drones observe.
It's obvious what the Su-27 pilots, members of a war-hardened community of aviators flying Ukraine's dwindling force of ex-Soviet heavyweight fighters, are trying to do. They're trying to isolate the swathe of Belgorod bordering northern Ukraine, where Ukrainian troops have launched a new incursion just weeks after retreating from neighboring Kursk Oblast.
Dropping bridges over the Siverskyi Donets River and other waterways in Belgorod and Kursk could be the key to this effort.
The Kursk operation, which kicked off in August, failed in part because Ukrainian forces were unable to prevent Russian forces from crossing the Seym River on the western side of the Ukrainian-held salient. The Russians closed in from the west, eventually deploying an elite drone force that severed the main supply line into the salient, destroying hundreds of Ukrainian vehicles and ultimately forcing the Ukrainian survivors out of Kursk.
Clearly, Kyiv's troops are determined to avoid a repeat of their defeat in Kursk. It's not yet apparent how grand the Ukrainians' ambitions are in Belgorod—the current incursion may, by design, be brief and shallow. But if they do aim to occupy a meaningful portion of Belgorod, they'll need the region's rivers to work for them.
An Su-27 drops Small Diameter Bombs.
Modified to carry Hammer glide bombs from France and similar Joint Direct Attack Munitions and Small Diameter Bombs from the United States, the Su-27s are equipped for the task. But flying close enough to western Russia to target the region's bridges is dangerous even for the speedy, maneuverable Su-27s.
Fortunately, their pilots have help. While the Su-27s lack self-protection systems such as radar jammers, the jets are now flying alongside ex-European Lockheed Martin F-16s and ex-French Mirage 2000s that do have highly capable jammers—and can extend their electronic protection to nearby planes including Su-27s. 'We carry out flights to cover our other combat brothers, the [Mikoyan] MiG-29s [and] Su-27s,' one Ukrainian F-16 pilot said in a recent official interview.
The complex strike planning, with different plane types supporting each other, appears to be working. Days or even weeks into the bridge-bombing campaign, the Ukrainians haven't yet lost any jets.
Which is fortunate for the Su-27 force. Ukraine went to war in February 2022 with no more than 57 flyable Su-27s—and has lost at least 16 in action, including six that were damaged or destroyed last summer in a Russian missile attack while parked at Mirgorod air base, 100 miles from Ukraine's northern border with Russia.
Ukraine doesn't build Su-27s, and none of its allies have surplus examples of the type. Every bridge-busting Su-27 Kyiv loses is a bridge-busting Su-27 it can't replace.
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