Lex Anteinternet: Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part 3. Spring Storms. The Su-27/MQ-9 Incident.

Lex Anteinternet: Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part 3. Spring Storms.:   March 16, 2023

Russo Ukrainian War

A Russian Su-27 caused an American drone to crash in the Black Sea yesterday. The two aircraft may have collided.

Russia, which tends to be as dense as a box of rocks about the capabilities of Western equipment, lied and said the drone just suddenly veered off and fell in the sea, apparently wholly unaware that the drone photographed the SU-27 and we'd have the film footage.

D'uh.

Russia is trying to recover the drone presently.

An interesting aspect of this is the release of jet fuel by the Su-27 near the drone.  It may be just me, but I'd fear that the drone's engine would ignite the fuel and send the Su-27 up in a big ball of flame, but apparently not.

The F15 is back in production and so is the Mig 31.

The F15 is the F15EX variant, a brand new version of the old F15, which first went into production in 1976.  The planes history dates back to tests that go as far back as 1972.

The enormous Mig 31 first went into production in 1981 and has a history that goes back to 1975.

Why are they back? 

Missiles.

The F15EX can carry a seven foot long missiles that can reach deep into China, should the need arise, and its external hard points can carry more missiles than the F35.

The Mig 31, which might simply be getting an overhaul rather than new editions, can carry missiles that can reach into low orbit and hit satellites.

And so the Cold War sort of returns, in a way.