Category: War
Russia took delivery on a handful of advanced Su-34M fighter bombers late last month, and one has already been shot down over Ukraine. It wasn’t Ukrainian forces who managed to down the twin-seat jet, however… It was Russia’s own air defenses.
Over the weekend, video emerged of Russian forces downing a jet operating over Eastern Ukraine, though at the time, it was unclear exactly what type of aircraft they had intercepted. The footage was uploaded to Telegram by a Russian war correspondent with a history of being sanctioned by foreign nations for spreading disinformation and propaganda on behalf of Moscow.
“Last night, the air-defense crew of the allied forces destroyed a target in the sky over Alchevsk,” Yevgeny Poddubny, a Russian war correspondent and known propagandist, wrote with the video he uploaded.
“The nature of the target is not clear. The burning ball fell to the ground for more than a minute.”
Related: That time a Russian fighter shot down one of its own in a mock dogfight
The one-minute video shared on July 17 shows a bright light emanating from above the clouds, accompanied by a thundering crash. Shortly thereafter, a fireball can be seen falling from the sky.
It wasn’t long before the wreckage of the aircraft was located, and upon inspection, it soon became apparent that it was actually one of just ten or fewer Su-34Ms in existence, with a registration number of RF-95890.
These jets, which Russian media refers to as 4++ generation fighters-bombers, were just delivered to the Russian air force late last month, fulfilling the beginning of an order placed in May of 2020.
The only nation that operates these fighter-bombers, of course, is Russia themselves.
Related: Zapad 2017: When a Russian helicopter opened fire on the press
Russia received its first Su-34Ms only weeks ago and has fewer than 10 total
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<p>In June of 2021, Russian media outlet <a href=)
Tass reported that the nation would receive eight updated Su-34M fighter bombers by the end of the year. It wasn’t until July 8 of this year that Russia inducted the first operational Su-34Ms into service.
To date, it appears Russian Aerospace Forces have received no more than ten total aircraft.
The Sukhoi Su-34, NATO reporting name Fullback, has been under development for literally decades, with the design concept first floated as a replacement for the Su-24 Fencer as far back as 1977. Like many modern Russian fighters, the Su-34 was based on the Su-27 Flanker—an air superiority fighter designed to compete with the likes of America’s 4th-generation dogfighters like the F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle. It first flew 32 years ago, in April of 1990, but didn’t enter service until as late as March of 2014.
The Su-34 may have air superiority roots, but its design was changed dramatically to better suit an attack role. It can carry up to 17,630 pounds of ordnance across 12 hardpoints located underwing and beneath the fuselage, alongside a 30mm GSh-30-1 internal cannon. A pair of Russian AL-31FM1 engines provide 30,000 pounds of thrust each under afterburner, giving the aircraft a top speed of Mach 1.8 and a service ceiling of around 56,000 feet. The Su-34M is said to improve upon these figures while integrating a synthetic aperture radar, camera pod, and UKR-RT electronic intelligence (ELINT) pod for improved situational awareness.
In some ways, the Su-34 could be compared to America’s F-15E Strike Eagle, as an air-superiority fighter turned fighter-bomber, though in practice, its design takes a different approach.
The Su-34 diverged most dramatically from its Su-27 predecessor in the nose, with a new forward fuselage designed to allow the aircraft’s two-person crew to sit side-by-side, rather than one in front of the other. The resulting design was so unique it earned the aircraft nicknames like “Hellduck” and the “Platypus.” A pair of canards sourced from the Su-30 mounted toward the rear of the cockpit further adds to the Hellduck’s unusual aesthetic.
In 2020, the Russian Aerospace Forces placed an order for 76 updated Su-34Ms at a rate of 14 aircraft per year through 2027. Each of these modernized fighter-bombers sets Moscow back about $50 million, thanks in no small part to upgraded avionics, radar, and communications systems and electronic warfare capabilities. Considering the Russian Defense budget is less than a tenth the size of America’s, losing such an expensive aircraft to friendly fire is a serious setback.
Related: How Russia’s warfare doctrine is failing in Ukraine
Russia has lost at least 35 fixed-wing aircraft over Ukraine, but likely more than 200
Conservative estimates of Russian losses of fixed-wing aircraft throughout their invasion of Ukraine are as low as 35, with sites like Oryx tallying confirmed photographic losses of identifiable platforms to determine that figure. Ukrainian officials, however, offer a significantly higher count, soon to exceed 220. While this may sound like a wide disparity, Oryx themselves highlight the fact that actual losses are almost certainly significantly higher than they report, due to their strict requirements for photographic evidence.
“This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here,” Stign Mitzer explained for Oryx.
Among the confirmed losses are at least 11 other Su-34s, though none of the previous losses were of advanced Su-34Ms. Earlier iteration Su-34s are often valued at between $35 and $40 million, making their losses similarly difficult to swallow for the increasingly cash-strapped Kremlin.
To date, Russia has failed to secure air supremacy over the embattled Eastern Ukrainian front, which may be largely attributed to Russian military doctrine placing little emphasis on air superiority. Russian forces have long based their doctrine on a potential conflict with NATO, and because Russia felt securing air dominance in such a conflict would be unlikely, they’ve shifted their approach to combat to simply attempting to control the airspace immediately around their forces and objectives and nothing more.
However, despite Russia’s setbacks, Ukraine still has a grueling fight ahead with no clear path to victory yet to materialize.
I have been told that the French also had some huge Opium Fields nearby. Which was the real reason why they fought here. Now I don’t know if this is true or not. But I do know that the French were either stupid or desperate to fight on this battlefield.
That & Ike was spot on as usual to not of joined in this fight. Grumpy
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The origins of skeet shooting
With the countless stories that would emerge from the Normandy landings, some of the most harrowing would come from the U.S. troops that stormed “Bloody Omaha” beach. Of the two primary U.S. landing beaches along the Normandy coastline, with “Utah” beach to the west of Pointe du Hoc and “Omaha” to the east, the landings at Omaha beach would result in far more carnage than the other American landing zones.
Omaha, the code name given to a five-mile stretch of the Normandy coastline, was divided into four sectors: “Charlie,” “Dog,” “Easy” and “Fox,” which were themselves further divided into sub-sectors. This beach was the designated landing zone for elements of the U.S. 5th Corps, consisting of the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions along with supporting naval personnel and combat engineers.
A map showing the sectors and German defensive positions along the five mile stretch of “Omaha” beach.
This stretch of beach features a large sandy shoreline overlooked by tall bluffs and rolling hills. the bluffs were fortified by the Germans in the years leading up to the invasion as a part of Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall,” which was intended to keep any Allied forces from landing along the conquered coastlines of Nazi-controlled Europe. The Germans built numerous concrete bunkers, machine-gun nests and other fortifications along the bluffs overlooking the beaches. On the shoreline itself, the Germans also emplaced tank traps, mines and various other wood and metal obstacles meant to prevent armor and landing craft from making their way up to the shore.
A view of Omaha beach today, showing the outlay of the bluffs and the long stretch of sand that separates them from the shoreline.
These German defensive positions along the coast were targeted by numerous Allied bombing raids in an effort to destroy them, but these raids did little damage to the fortified emplacements. In the hours before the landings, these positions were further shelled by naval artillery from a fleet of Allied vessels off shore, but this too had negligible effect on the defenses. To make matters worse, the German defenders of Omaha did not have to contend with the issue of paratroopers behind their lines as those defending Utah did. This in turn meant that the men going ashore at Omaha would be facing a focused, entrenched and well-armed enemy that was waiting for them.
U.S. troops seen wading ashore at Omaha after leaving their landing craft on June 6, 1944.
On the morning of June 6, 1944, troops boarded their landing craft and prepared to make the journey ashore, but issues cropped up almost immediately. The less-than-ideal weather produced choppy seas, resulting in seasick crew and swamped landing craft. The rough water also caused a the majority of a group of M4 Sherman Duplex Drive amphibious tanks that were meant to support the troops on the beach to instead founder and sink. To make matters worse, a combination of smoke covering the shore and an eastward tidal current pushed many of the landing craft off from their designated landing sectors.
Men wading ashore at Omaha, with a clearer picture of the scene of chaos unfolding on the beach.
As the craft approached the beach, the German positions along the coastline opened up on them with mortars, artillery and machine gun fire. Obstacles in the water and on the beach prevented many landing craft from being able to get right up to the shoreline, forcing the troops they contained to wade ashore. The men of the first wave to hit the beach were soon greeted by a hail of fire from the numerous MG34 and MG42 machine gun positions spread out amongst the bluffs. Some men were cut down still inside the landing craft, with German gunners focusing in on them as the ramps dropped.
With a high rate of fire and the ability to quickly swap hot barrels, the MG42 was murderous for the men landing at Omaha.
For the men of A Company, 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division, the German fire was murderous. Landing at the “Dog Green” sector of Omaha, within in five minutes of hitting the beach, the company was essentially wiped out, with 91 killed and 65 wounded. The intense German defensive fire caused the landings at Omaha to stall as American troops desperately tried to find whatever cover they could on the beach. Luckily for many of them, Omaha had a shelf of shingle, or tidal rock, that provided some small degree of cover. However, they would still have to make their way up the rest of the beach and then up the bluffs in order to take it.
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Ask any infantrymen in a line company about the value of a machine gun, and you might get a long, complicated answer based on years of training and practical experience. Or… you might get Private Snuffy telling you, “Machine gun good, machine-gun fire lots of bullets.” They’d both be right.
In the modern infantry, machine gunners utilize their weapons to lay down a wall of lead to pin down or destroy an enemy force. So, it may come as little surprise that the Marines appreciate these weapons so much that machine gunners get their own MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) separate from your average rifleman.
Remember the Maine. To Hell With Spain!
The Marines’ affinity for these lead-spreader makes sense, as the Corps helped shape the use of machine guns in modern conflict way back in 1898, during the Spanish-American War. After the U.S.S. Maine sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, calls of “Remember the Maine! To Hell With Spain” rang out across the country. And as luck would have it, the Marines were uniquely positioned to fight in this sort of war. Cuba, after all, is an island, and Marines excelled at ship to shore operations.
As such, the 1st Marine Battalion responded to the call and landed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on June 10th, 1898. They landed unopposed and were the first American military unit to plant the flag of the United States on Cuban soil.
Related: Suppressed machine guns: A worthwhile proposition
They did this before the Army had even left the United States. The relative peace they encountered upon their arrival didn’t last, and the Marines knew it wouldn’t. With them, they carried the new 6mm Lee Navy, a fantastic and modern rifle for the time. Alongside it, they carried the Colt-Browning Model 1895 machine gun, also in 6mm Lee Navy.
Both weapons were high-tech at the time. The rifle featured a straight-pull bolt and used a unique and rapid loading clip system. The M1895 was an early machine gun that gained the name potato digger due to the operating lever that cycled out of the bottom of the gun. The Colt-Browning was superbly modern and weighed 35 pounds, which was light compared to the 60 pound Maxim guns that were also available in this era.
At the time, the Army was still using mule pulled Gatling guns, and when compared, the M1895 might as well have been a space-age piece of technology. Its lighter and smaller nature allowed the Marines to actually carry the guns during various portions of the Battle For Guantanamo bay.
The Marine machine guns get some
The Marines carried four M1895 Colt-Browning machine guns to shore, and they became invaluable in the Battle for Camp McCalla. Camp McCalla was tactically unsound, and in hind sight it seems clear that Marine leadership fell prey to complacency. They didn’t expect a battle and didn’t bring their artillery company ashore. They didn’t dig trenches, and the camp was on open sand.
You can’t predict the Spanish inquisition, but Marine leaders should’ve predicted a Spanish attack. At daybreak, June 11th, the Spanish did just that, with guerillas attacking the camp in force.
Related: The Gatling Guns that led to Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor
The guerillas may have had the advantage, but the Marines had the machine guns. They fended them off and chased them until night fell. But the victory was to be short lived. The Spanish may have failed to take the beach in their first try, but they had a significant numerical advantage. By some accounts, Spanish forces outnumbered the Marines by more than five to one.
As wave after wave of Spanish guerillas attacked, the Marines dug in, got two additional machine guns set up, and unloaded their artillery.
They fought for 100 hours against the Spaniards and held their own despite their poor positioning and the overwhelming odds. On June 13th, a unit of 60 Cubans arrived to support the Marines, led by Lt. Col. Enrique Thomas. Soon thereafter, Thomas advised the Marine officers to attack the Cuzco Well, the only nearby source of freshwater, to force the Spanish into a retreat.
Machine Guns, Spaniards, and the Well
The Marines saddled up, and 160 of them, plus 50 Cubans, began their way to Cuzco Well on June 14th, 1898. They brought three of their four machine guns with them.
After fighting through the heat of the day, perilous terrain, and brutal undergrowth, the Marines arrived at the base of the steep hill around Cuzco Valley. Unfortunately, they arrived at almost the same time as a sizeable number of Spanish forces.
Their Cuban scouts were spotted by the enemy, and a race began to get to the top of the hill. In 2021, if the enemy has the high ground, you JDAM the high ground. In 1898, however, taking the high ground was the key to victory. The Spanish already outnumbered the Marines, so without securing the high ground, the American troops were as good as dead.
They assaulted up the hill, and the Marine’s M1895 Colt-Browning machine guns poured lead into the Spanish troops nearby. The light 6mm rounds made it easier for Marines to carry extra ammunition so they could afford to use their belt feds to their full advantage.
Related: Stinger: The DIY machine gun Marines yanked out of warplanes
Layin’ It Down
The machine guns laid down covering fire, supporting the Marine’s assault up the hill. Historically speaking, this was the first time Marines used machine guns to support an infantry assault. But in practical terms, the Marines grabbed M1895s and ran what we now consider to be a modern machine gun drill: Setting them up, shooting, then moving to continue support.
Since it weighed only 35 pounds, the Potato Digger moved easily. The machine guns acted as force multipliers for the Marines, and in fact, were a mobile assault force unto themselves.
In the end, the Marines defeated the Spanish, killing 60, wounding 150, and capturing 18 of them. On the winning side, two Cubans were killed in combat, with two Marines and two more Cubans wounded. The Marines destroyed the well and accomplished their objective.
The surviving Spanish fighters reported they had been attacked by 10,000 Americans, though the real figure was actually closer to 160. After that, Camp McCalla saw no further attacks by Spanish forces.
The Effect on Modern War
During the Battle of Guantanamo Bay, the machine gun established itself as a fight-changing weapon. Although the lessons learned in the Spanish-American war would be echoed on a massive scale in World War I a little more than a decade later, the Marines had proven that mobile machine guns were incredibly valuable, and when used properly, can inflict physical and moral damage upon an enemy.
To this day, Marine Machine gunners run gun drills where they rapidly set the machine gun in place with bipods, ammo, etc. They then take it down and do it again, over and over, much like the machine guns at Cuzco Well. To do this day, machine guns in the offensive are used to support infantry assaults and lay down suppressive fire. This allows riflemen to move quickly and swiftly to their objectives.
What occurred in 1898 still has a clear effect on the tactics of 2021.
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