Incredibly, Ukraine Is Still Finding 'New' Su-25 Attack Jets
The Su-25 fleet has suffered heavy losses
The Ukrainian air force is still adding Sukhoi Su-25 attack jets to its front-line fleet. A photo of a previously unknown Su-25 appeared online on or just before Friday.
One observer who goes by “Capt. Wild Bill Kelso,” and who closely tracks the Ukrainian air force inventory, didn’t recognize the jet—and also noted tail markings potentially indicating the Sukhoi was, until recently, one of potentially dozens of old Su-25s that may still be in storage somewhere in Ukraine.
That Ukraine continues to generate “new” Su-25s speaks to the sheer number of jets the Soviet Union left behind in Ukraine in 1991—and to the hard work of Ukrainian engineers who must refurbish and potentially upgrade old airframes, engines and avionics before a 40-year-old jet can safely fly again.
The subsonic Su-25, roughly the equivalent of the U.S. Air Force’s classic Fairchild A-10, is a Ukrainian workhorse. Early in Russia’s wider war, the type flew close air support missions directly over the front line with unguided munitions—and suffered heavy losses to Russian air defenses.
