“He maketh wars to cease in all the world. He breaketh the bow and snappeth the spear in sunder and burneth the chariots in the fire.”

– Matthew 16:21-28

In 2014, Russian ground forces invaded and quickly occupied wide swaths of Ukrainian territory which included, among other things, the entire Crimean peninsula. The Ukrainians, looking to resist Russian aggression, called upon its meager forces, both on the ground and in the air, to turn back the invaders, or at least give them a bloody nose and perhaps a moment’s pause. As attempts were made to seek help from the West and mediation by the UN Security Council, two aircraft in the Ukrainian inventory would answer the call in the name of freedom: both were produced by Suhkoi.

The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. This variable-sweep wing, twin-engined side-by-side two-seater carried the USSR’s first integrated digital navigation/attack system. It remains in service with former Soviet air forces and various air forces to which it was exported.

The aircraft was officially sanctioned on August 24th, 1965, under the internal codename T-6. The first prototype, T-6-1 was completed in May 1967 and flew on July 2nd with V.S. Ilyushin at the controls. The initial flights were performed without the four lift engines, which were installed in October 1967. At the same time, R-27s were replaced with Lyulka AL-21Fs. STOL tests confirmed the data from S-58VD that short-field performance was achieved at the cost of significant loss of flight distance as the lift engines occupied space normally reserved for fuel, loss of under-fuselage hardpoints, and instability during transition from STOL to conventional flight. So the six-engine approach was abandoned.

The Sukhoi Su-25 (NATO reporting name: “Frogfoot”) is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by the Sukhoi Design Bureau. It was designed to provide close air support for the Soviet Ground Forces. The first prototype made its maiden flight on 22 February 1975. After testing, the aircraft went into series production in 1978 at Tbilisi in the Soviet Republic of Georgia. Russian air and ground forces nicknamed it “Grach” (“Rook”).

Early variants included the Su-25UB two-seat trainer, the Su-25BM for target-towing, and the Su-25K for export customers. Some aircraft are being upgraded to version Su-25SM as of 2012. The Su-25T and the Su-25TM (also known as Su-39) were further developments, not produced in numbers. The Su-25, along with the Su-34, were the only armored fixed-wing aircraft in production in 2007. Su-25 is in service with Russia, other CIS states, and export customers.

Look for both defenders of the sovereign state of Ukraine (CA722402 and HA6103) to fly again in the name of freedom this September.