The Su-34 was found in Ukraine.
The Russian air force was supposed to be changed by the Su-34. The twin-engine, twin-seat supersonic fighter-bomber is a highly-evolved variant of the Su-27 air-superiority fighter.
The Su-34s are carrying dumb bombs. The lack of precision-guided munitions and Russian doctrine that conceives of aircraft essentially as flying artillery forces the $50 million warplanes to fly low through the thickest Ukrainian air-defenses in order to have any chance of delivering their bombs.
Air force commanders must be shocked by the number of Su-34s falling from the sky. Their newest planes are the same as their older ones.
The Russian air force ordered 32 Su-34s. In 2012 there was a second batches of 92. The Russians had around 122 Su-34s in their army. The air force could operate 200 Su-34s by the year 2030.
The plan has been for the Su-34 to replace the 1970s-vintage Su 24. Nowhere was that more obvious than in Syria. The Su-34s were deployed to Syria by the Kremlin after a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian Su-24.
The Su-34 is very impressive. The type adds a two-person cockpit with side-by-side seating and borrows the airframe of the Su-27. The Su-34 can hit targets as far away as 600 miles away and carry 12 tons of bombs and missiles.
The jet has a 30-millimeter cannon, a multi-mode radar, and a Khibiny electronic-countermeasures suite. The Su-34 is similar to the Boeing F-15E in that it is compatible with missiles and bombs.
There is a critical difference. The Russians stopped buying guided weapons years ago due to their high cost, and the Americans still train with them and use them in combat almost to the exclusion of unguided weapons.
The Su-34 is one of the few tactical warplanes in Russian service that can carry guided munitions.
In videos the Kremlin has released depicting the fighter-bombers in combat in Ukraine, as well as in the type of loss rate. The destruction of four Su-34s was confirmed by independent analysts. The Ukrainians are said to have captured a pilot.
If four Su-34 losses are visible in photos and videos from the front lines, you can assume additional losses have occurred but aren't well documented. The subsonic Su-25 close-air-support jet, which flies even lower and slower than the Su-34, is the only fixed-wing jet that has suffered worse in the current war.
Ukrainian officials said troops fired a shoulder-launched missile at Su-34. The officials in Kyiv attributed another Su-34 shoot-down to air-defense units. It's not clear whether they meant man-portable missiles or air-defense vehicles.
Su-34s seem to be falling prey to short-range missiles that are either TV- or IR-guided. Strelas and American Stingers are missiles that range from a few miles out to a few miles up.
A warplane employing precision missiles or bombs, perhaps fired by drones or spotters on the ground, could hit the targets from tens of miles away and three or four miles up, putting them beyond range of the most numerous short-range air-defenses.
The latest Su-34M variant has a dedicated interface for the new UKR-RT sensor that, in theory, should help the type deliver guided bombs through bad weather and cloud cover.
The dumb bombs that the Su-24 carried are being dropped by the Sukhois. To achieve any degree of accuracy, crews must see the ground. Ukrainian missileers can quickly draw a bead on them if they get below the clouds.
The Su-34s are in harm's way because of the limitations of technology. The rules and expectations that guide an army's conduct of a war are a slave to doctrine.
Russian doctrine doesn't allow the air force to pursue its own campaign. Russian doctrine says aircraft are extensions of the ground force. They are inflexible vehicles for the delivery of massive firepower. The Russians don't favor precision.
As long as that is true, the crews will continue to face extreme danger. The Su-34 is a new warplane that has crews at the mercy of old weapons.
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