Quote from: LTU_btc on Today at 08:30:16 PM

Quote from: paxmao on January 14, 2024, 10:32:02 PM

It seems that Ukraine has downed an IL-22 and a A-50 EWC. These are seriously high value targets in the range of hundreds of millions. Ruzzia has only 30 of these.

Something out there is hunting Ruzzian planes and it seems to be hungry.

There were only 8 A-50 planes in service, but it doesn't means that all these planes is ready to fly. And loss of such plane isn't just about money, it would take years to build such plane from scratch and I'm not sure that current Russia is capable to do it.
Il-22 worked as command post, they managed to land it. But when you see how much damage from shrapnel it good, I doubt it's possible to repair it:
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1746872033185563018
Some Russian channels raised version of friendly fire, but I doubt about it. These planes almost from start of invasion were flying same route daily in Azov see triangle between Crimea, Berdyansk and Rostov, it's difficult to believe in such version. Now is question what Ukraine used to reach it, after all, distance to Berdyansk from front line is quite significant.

Hi, sorry yes it it is 12 IL from some sources IL is above 300M to make new, and the A-50 are effectively super-limited. It is not the first time that they are able to hit Berdyansk, but airborne targets in flight it relatively new.

Zelensky is speaking of a "weapon supplied by allies" that has helped on this task. I wonder what systems are there capable of the task other than the patriot. The PAC-2 has 160 km of range. A meteor shot from an F-16 has 200 KM, but there are no planes able to use it yet in Ukraine... in theory.