Breaking news
Russian separatists has shot down Su-25 fighter with 9K35 Strela 10 SA-13 air defense missile system.
| 2014
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Defence & Security News - Ukraine |
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| Friday, July 18, 2014 11:59 AM | |||
| Russian separatists has shot down Su-25 fighter with 9K35 Strela 10 SA-13 air defense missile system | |||
According
Reuters, Ukrainian separatists killed 23 Ukrainian soldiers and wounded
nearly 100 in a missile attack on Friday, July 11, 2014. A picture released
on Reuters website shows Pro-Russian separatist fighters with 9K35
Strela 10 (NATO code SA-13 Gopher) short-range surface-to-air
defense missile system. |
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 Pro-Russian separatist fighters with armoured missile launcher SA-13 Gopher at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, July 10, 2014 |
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Armed
with Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), the separatists have
been taking down Ukrainian military aircraft since the beginning of June.
On June 13, separatists shot down a Ukrainian transport plane that had
been carrying 40 paratroopers and nine crew members. Russian separatists claimed responsibility for shooting down two additional Ukrainian Su-25 fighters on Wednesday. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported that one of the jets was hit by a portable surface-to-air missile. The insurgents said that the plane was shot down using the Strela-10 (SA-13 Gopher) mobile short-range anti-aircraft missile system that has been in production since 1979 and is utilized by both the Ukrainian and Russian armies, RIA Novosti reported. The SA-13 GOPHER or 9K35 Strela-10 is a short-range, low altitude SAM system. The maximum speed of the missile is near Mach 2, engagement range is from 500 to 5,000 m (0.3–3 miles) and engagement altitude is between 10 and 3500 m (33-11,500 ft). Thursday, July 17, 2014, a Boeing 777 bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was shot down Thursday afternoon at cruising altitude about 35 miles from the border. According to Interfax, the airliner was shot down from an altitude of 10 km, likely by Russia-backed separatist rebels in Donetsk province. The SA-13 Gopher has a maximum range of 5,000 m. Currently, we have no information that Russian separatists could have stolen SA-17 or SA-11 air defense missile systems from the Ukrainian army arsenal. The Ukrainian army does operate BUK SA-11 and SA-17. According to the Associated Press, the Ukrainian president has confirmed that the country’s armed forces took no action against “any airborne targets.” In late June 2014, according a deleted tweet from Donetsk Republic (dnrpress) confirming that Russian separatist indeed have a BUK-M1. |
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