The Sukhoi Su-30SM jet fighter of Russian Navy performs its demonstration flight at MAKS-2015 airshow near Zhukovsky, Moscow Region, Russia
: aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A Russian Su-30 crashed during training on Saturday in Kaliningrad, killing its crew.
According to 112, both pilots didn’t have time to eject as the fighter’s nose was pointed down.
Officials told state media that the crash probably happened due to a “technical malfunction.”
A Russian warplane crashed in Kaliningrad on Saturday, killing its crew during a training exercise, military officials told state media.
“On August 12, a Su-30 aircraft crashed in an uninhabited area while flying a training sortie in the Kaliningrad Region,” the Western Military District told state agency TASS.
“The fighter crew died,” the district added. “According to preliminary information, the crash was caused by a technical malfunction.”
The Su-30, a Soviet-era fighter, is typically run by a two-man flight crew. It’s been heavily used by the Russian military to carry out long-range attacks on ground targets in Ukraine via air-to-surface missiles.
Russian Telegram news channel 112 reported on Saturday that the plane crashed in the Chernyakhovsky district in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave bordering Poland and Lithuania.
Both pilots had no time to eject, per 112.
The aircraft’s nose was pointed downward, after which there was a bang in the air, and the plane banked and fell from the sky, 112 reported. The Su-30 contained no ammunition, and no civilians were harmed, the channel further reported.
It also posted a video that showed the ground-level view of a jet fighter flying over a crowd of onlookers before the aircraft inverts and seemingly attempts a loop. The clip cuts off before any crash is shown. Insider was unable to independently confirm when and where this footage was taken.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s air force has repeatedly suffered mishaps away from the frontlines, at times costing the Kremlin valuable equipment or inflicting civilian casualties.
In April, a Su-34 accidentally bombed a civilian district in Belgorod, injuring two civilians. And in October, another Su-34 crashed into an apartment in the port city of Yeysk, killing 13 people and hospitalizing another 19, officials said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.