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The gentleman’s agreement among the EU's centrist parties to keep extremes at bay held as the European Parliament elected chairs and vice chairs of its committees, but rows over gender balance exposed tensions between the mainstream parties.

Summary and Key Points: The Soviet-era Minsk, a Kiev-class hybrid warship, was intended to showcase Soviet naval prowess but fell short of American aircraft carriers.

-Built with a cruiser’s firepower and a limited aircraft deck, the Minsk carried more helicopters than warplanes, notably the subpar Yak-38. Despite its shortcomings, the Minsk marked a shift in Soviet naval strategy towards aircraft carrier operations. After the USSR's collapse, the Minsk was decommissioned and sold to China, where it became a theme park.

-This transformation from a military asset to a tourist attraction underscores the carrier’s mixed legacy and the challenges faced by Soviet naval ambitions.

Minsk Aircraft Carrier: Soviet Ambitions and a Unique Naval Hybrid

The Minsk was a Soviet Navy era aircraft carrier that was the second warship of the Kiev-class carriers. To call these platforms aircraft carriers does a disservice to the aircraft carriers that most Americans are used to seeing when they think of flat tops. This was not a large, flat-decked warship that deployed dozens of warplanes and helicopters.

Instead, this was a hybrid of a cruiser and a carrier. It was the spork of an aircraft carrier: it looked like a cruiser with a platform for launching and recovering a limited number of aircraft. 

Not Being Who You Are 

The Soviet warship Minsk was built at the Black Sea Shipyard in Nikolayev, Ukraine. It was commissioned in 1978. The Soviets were intent on proving to everyone that they could build a big, bad aircraft carrier just like the Americans could. Of course, Moscow wasn’t playing to type. In some cases, that’s a good thing. It’s always helpful to expand one’s horizons by learning new things. 

Then again, however, in the midst of a Cold War, when there is a nuclear competition between two opposing Superpowers, wasting precious time and resources pretending to be something you’re not is usually a mistake.

Such as it was with the Soviet attempts to build an aircraft carrier for their navy. The Soviet, and modern-day Russian, expertise at sea boils down to submarines. Its surface fleet looks more like that of a great regional power rather than a superpower. That’s okay because historically Russia is a continental power. It is one of the largest nations in the world in terms of land area. Russia possesses a limited amount of warm water ports from which to permanently deploy its naval forces.

Nevertheless, in the last half of the Cold War, Moscow became obsessed with matching the Americans, system-for-system. In fact, this commitment to cloning the US military—when the Russians have their own unique culture, history, and way of warfare—is one of the reasons why the Soviet Union ultimately spent itself into oblivion. 

Serious Firepower for Minsk Aircraft Carrier 

The Minsk was equipped with some serious power, though (as most Soviet surface warships were). These boats had four twin SS-N-12 Sandbox surface-to-surface missile launchers, two twin SA-N-3 Shtorm surface-to-air missile launchers, and two twin SA-N-4 Gecko air defenses missile launchers. It also had a variety of guns, torpedoes, and anti-submarine launchers.

Essentially, this so-called aircraft was built to fire a massive missile farm. 

Minsk was designed to carry up to 30 aircraft. But given its smaller landing deck (compared to American flat tops), the warplanes it carried had to have a vertical-takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability. In this case, the Yak-38 warplane was the primary warplane deployed from the Minsk. And as I’ve noted elsewhere, the Yak-38 was most definitely a subpar warplane. What’s more, only 12 Yak-38s could be carried aboard the Minsk. In fact, the Minsk carried more helicopters (16) than warplanes. 

Russia’s Minsk had a crew capacity between 1,200 and 1,600 sailors. The warship had a range of 13,500 nautical miles (15,535 miles) and could cruise along the surface of the ocean at 18 knots (20 miles per hour). Not bad for such a large ship carrying such a heavy load.

A Transition for the Russians

While the Minsk (and its sister Kiev-class warships) were definitely not the cream of the crop when it came to aircraft carriers, the fact is that they represented a real shift in Soviet strategic thinking. 

There was a significant desire on the part of late-stage Soviet leaders to not just make the Red Navy into a real maritime force, but to rival the Americans in terms of aircraft carrier operations and capabilities. The fact that the Minsk and its sister ship were hybrids between a cruiser and aircraft carrier, while inefficient for effective carrier operations, indicated that the Reds were trying make the change and that this was but a transition system.

Indeed, the Soviets would go on to develop a legitimate aircraft carrier—the Admiral Kuznetsov. But that flat top may be the single worst carrier ever designed in the history of aircraft carriers. Nevertheless, the Reds were clearly committed to becoming an aircraft carrier power and the Minsk and Kiev-class was the pathway forward for them. 

That it went nowhere is less an indication of perennial inability by the Russians and more because the USSR collapsed. Following the collapse, Moscow had to focus on its core capabilities—of which the carrier was not a part. 

An Ignominious End

On June 30, 1993, the Minsk was decommissioned a couple of years after the collapse of the USSR. It was later sold to China in 1995, where the Chinese turned the old Soviet warship into a theme park called “Minsk World” in Shenzhen, China. Talk about an ignominious end for a once powerful, prized warship belonging to one of the two world’s superpowers!

Bottom line: the Minsk carrier was one of a handful of attempts by the old Soviet Union to build a big, bad carrier to rival that of the Americans. Ultimately, this boat was just bad. Sure, it had some impressive features and armaments. And, in the tighter regions where Russian maritime power could actually be reliably projected—such as the Black Sea or the Baltic Sea—this boat could hold its own. 

But its record of success during the course of its service to Russia was very limited. Once it was decommissioned and sold to a foreign power, rather than being retooled and deployed as part of that foreign power’s navy, it was converted into a theme park.

Author Experience and Expertise: Brandon J. Weichert

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

All images are Creative Commons.

From The Vault

Did a Russian-Made Missile Hit an F-35?

À trois jours de la cérémonie d'ouverture des Jeux olympiques, les rumeurs vont bon train concernant la participation d'une chanteuse d'envergure mondiale. Certains évoquent Céline Dion ou Lady Gaga tandis que d'autres parient sur Aya Nakamura.

Les très influentes commissions des Affaires économiques et monétaires (ECON) et des Budgets (BUDG) seront une nouvelle fois présidée par des eurodéputés des groupes des Socialistes et Démocrates (S&D) et des Conservateurs et Réformistes européens (CRE) respectivement.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Donald Trump said that he would hire “only the best people in the world” to serve in his administration. If only. The truth, of course, is that Trump routinely delivered effusive tributes to his cabinet officials as president, only to turn on them, often within months. He called his former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “dumb as a rock” and “totally ill prepared and ill equipped to be Secretary of State,” raising the question of why he hired him in the first place. He also branded his national security adviser, John Bolton, “washed up” and a “liar” in June 2020 after his memoir appeared. Turnover on what the Brookings Institution called his “A Team,” which did not include cabinet officials, was over 92 percent during his presidency.

Is JD Vance about to become the latest member of the Trump entourage to suffer defenestration? Reports are now circulating that Trump is having second thoughts about the thirty-nine-year-old Ohio Senator whom Trump tapped to represent the generational change in the GOP. Tim Alberta stated on X that the “Most striking thing I heard from Trump allies yesterday was the second-guessing of JD Vance—a selection, they acknowledged, that was borne of cockiness, meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout rather than persuade swing voters in a nail-biter.”

It’s become increasingly clear that Trump was unprepared for President Joe Biden’s departure from the race, which allowed Vice President Kamala Harris to win the majority of Democratic delegates on Monday. Put otherwise, Trump, who selected Vance at the recommendation of his son, Don Jr., was caught flatfooted.

Vance was supposed to rev up the GOP base for the election, but he will not help with Trump’s appeal to swing voters and suburban moms. Instead, he’s being pilloried for a number of stands, including his support for menstrual tracking by state law enforcement agencies as part of his battle against abortion rights. He has suggested that women in abusive marriages should not leave their husbands: “This is one of the great tricks that the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace. Making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear.” And, consistent with his admiration for the policies of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he is a staunch pro-natalist, dismissing women who do not have children as “childless cat ladies.”

Needless to say, none of these sentiments bother Trump in principle. But it’s the prospect of having to go up against Harris at a moment when polls indicate that fewer women will vote for him than in 2020 that may be causing him second thoughts about the Ohioan. As Politico notes, “Women currently comprise 51 percent of the voting-age population in the U.S., and they’ve been making their vote felt since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022.”

It remains unlikely, of course, that Trump would actually dump Vance. It would testify to panic in the campaign and underscore the already existing unease about Trump’s volatility and judgment. But Trump’s feelings about Vance are hardly likely to be soothed by fresh press reports about his repeated denunciations of him in 2016 for engaging in sexual assault.

Still, embarking upon a new quest for a vice president would allow Trump to go on the offensive in shaping the narrative of the race, which he’s currently lost control over. Harris, at least for now, has captured the spotlight that Trump covets. How Trump must miss running against Biden. Now that Harris has entered the race, it has actually become one.

About the Author: 

Jacob Heilbrunn is editor of The National Interest and is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. He has written on both foreign and domestic issues for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Reuters, Washington Monthly, and The Weekly Standard. He has also written for German publications such as Cicero, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Der Tagesspiegel. In 2008, his book They Knew They Were Right: the Rise of the Neocons was published by Doubleday. It was named one of the one hundred notable books of the year by The New York Times. He is the author of America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators.

Image: Consolidated News Photos / Shutterstock.com.

Carmen Crespo, eurodéputée espagnole du PPE de centre droit, a été élue par acclamation au poste de présidente de la commission de la Pêche du Parlement européen mardi (23 juillet), une nomination saluée par le secteur et les ONG environnementales.

Revisiting the nuclear deal is unlikely before November, but Washington and Iran’s new president must seek to defuse Israel-Hezbollah tensions.

Summary and Key Points: The British military has completed trials for a next-generation body-worn technology aimed at enhancing frontline troops' survivability and situational awareness. The new gear includes a laser detection system to alert soldiers if they are targeted, drone thermal detection for identifying enemy threats, and ground sensors for detecting approaching foes.

-Additional technologies tested include a helmet-mounted strobe alert system, advanced digital day/night optics for weapons, a mesh network to extend radio range, and a smart hub for integrated power and data supply.

-These advancements, developed in collaboration with the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and industry partners, aim to provide UK Armed Forces with superior operational capabilities and battlefield awareness.

Revolutionizing Soldier Gear: UK's New Body-Worn Tech Targets Modern Battlefield Challenges

The British military is planning a new body-worn kit with impressive new technologies for its soldiers.

The new gear is designed to deal with the new realities of the modern battlefield and help counter drones and laser detection, among other things.

Next Generation Body Kit

The British military just completed a set of trials to test a next-generation body-worn technology for its frontline troops. The overall goal of the technology is to increase soldiers’ survivability by enhancing their situational awareness and decisionmaking capabilities.

Some of the technologies that were tested and might become operational in the future include a laser detection system to warn a troop if an enemy has located them, a drone thermal detection system to identify enemy soldiers and weapon systems in the area, and ground sensors that can detect approaching enemies and alert allied soldiers.

“This government is clear in our commitment to advancing technology that ensures the safety and superiority of UK Armed Forces. This cutting-edge technology will bolster operational lethality and elevate battlefield awareness. I welcome the continued collaboration between government, industry, and scientists on this innovative programme,” Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry Maria Eagle said.

Other technologies include a helmed-mounted strobe alert system that identifies friend from enemy; advanced digital day/night optics for weapons; a mesh network that connects a troop’s radio with other radios in the vicinity, thus increasing range; and a smart hub that acts as the “brain” of the integrated power and data supply for all digital devices.

The testing was conducted by troops from the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment and scientists from the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).

“This technology will protect the lives of our Armed Forces by improving operational capability by giving them the advantage over the enemy,” Jon Russell, a senior principal scientist at Dstl said about the next-generation systems.

“It is great to see the Future Integrated Dismounted Soldier Vision is clearly proving how a soldier system containing multiple knowledge capabilities that are designed to combine crucial data to improve operational advantage,” Russell added.

“Our aim is to develop the most capable armed forces in the world, by merging different technologies to advance battlefield awareness,” he concluded. 

The fighting in Ukraine has shown that militaries need to evolve when facing a superior adversary. Drones, electronic warfare, and guided artillery are dominating the fighting in Ukraine. As such, soldiers need the right countermeasures and defense against these new threats.

“The trial, led by Dstl, was a showcase of future technologies and digital integration. The research has now advanced, bringing together industry to enhance capabilities with Command, Control, Communications, Computing and Information Systems,” the regimental sergeant major of the infantry trials and development unit said about the new gear.

“As the Army’s lead in dismounted close combat trials and development, we are at the forefront of improving operational advantage and look forward to supporting its future development,” he added.

The U.S. military has been working on a similar project to modernize the basic loadout of its infantrymen so that they can be more effective on the modern battlefield.

About the Author

Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.

The UK, US, and EU competition authorities specified common fair competition principles on foundation artificial intelligence (AI) models like ChatGPT but did not commit to joint action, according to a joint statement on Tuesday (23 July). 

Summary and Key Points: The Ford-class aircraft carriers, the most advanced in service today, boast several key features that set them apart from previous generations. The electromagnetic-powered aircraft launch system (EMALS) provides more accurate and smoother acceleration for a wider range of aircraft.

-The carriers are powered by two upgraded A1B nuclear reactors, offering significant energy capacity for future defense systems.

-The Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system allows for safer and more efficient aircraft recovery. Advanced Weapons Elevators (AWE) enhance the speed and safety of ordnance movement.

-Additionally, quality of life enhancements for the crew, including improved berthing compartments and better gyms, make these carriers a standout in modern naval aviation.

Ford-Class Carriers: Unmatched Power and Innovation in Modern Naval Warfare

The Ford-class is larger and offers several features that truly make it the best aircraft carrier in service anywhere today. Here are five of the stand-out features of the Ford-class aircraft carriers:

EMALS

CVN-78 was the first aircraft carrier in the world to be equipped with an electromagnetic-powered aircraft launch system (EMALS). It offers numerous advantages over the traditional steam-powered catapults of the Nimitz-class carriers, including more accurate end-speed control, with a smoother acceleration at both high and low speeds.

The system also possesses the necessary energy capacity to support an increased launch envelope and a capability of launching both current and future carrier air wing platforms – from the lightest unmanned aerial vehicles to heavy strike fighters.

Improved Nuclear Reactors

The EMALS wouldn't be possible without the carriers' two upgraded A1B nuclear reactors. In addition to powering systems like the electromagnetic catapult and multifunction radar, the increased generating capacity could be employed in the future to support new ship defenses utilizing directed-energy weapons (DEWs) and other systems.

Though the actual performance is classified, it is estimated that the thermal power output of each A1B will be around 700 MWth, some 25% more than provided by the A4W on the Nimitz-class supercarriers.

Advanced Arresting Gear

EMALS can help get the aircraft in the sky faster, while the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system provides Ford-class ships with the ability to recover both current and projected carrier-based, tailhook-equipped aircraft. As a follow-on system to the Mark-7 system of the Nimitz-class, AAG can also allow for the recovery of a broader range of aircraft and, through its greater control, reduces the fatigue-impact load on the recovered platforms. The AAG architecture also includes built-in test and diagnostic technologies.

The AAG further requires less maintenance and manpower to operate than the legacy arresting system, while it can help increase the sortie rates. It also offers lower energy consumption and a decreased gross ship weight.

Advanced Weapons Elevators

The Ford-class features new pathways that were designed to facilitate the movement of modern munitions. The Advanced Weapons Elevators (AWE) employs several advanced technologies, including electromagnetic motors and hydraulic systems, which enables fewer sailors to safely move ordnance from weapons magazines to the flight deck with unparalleled speed and agility.

Quality of Life Enhancements

The Ford-class carriers were designed to substitute technology for manpower in many activities, thereby reducing the crew size by as much as 20%. As a result of being less manpower-intensive, the carrier will have extra space for a number of quality of life enhancements that include improved berthing compartments, better gyms, and more ergonomic work spaces.

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

All images are from either Creative Commons or Shutterstock. 

La Commission a annoncé lundi (22 juillet) avoir coordonné l’envoi d’une lettre par les autorités européennes de protection des consommateurs à Meta dans laquelle elles affirment que son modèle « paiement ou consentement » pourrait enfreindre le droit européen.

On est dans une dystopie. Mais qui se déroule aujourd'hui, ou presque. À la tête des empires de la tech qui rayonnent sur les cinq continents depuis la côte californienne, Lenk Sketlish, Zimri Nommik et Ellen Bywater sont les trois personnes les plus riches du monde. L'apocalypse est toute proche ; (...) / Fiction, Littérature - 2024/07

Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers were designed to replace the aging Nimitz-class, boasting advanced technology and enhanced capabilities.

-However, these carriers, costing $13.3 billion each, may be ill-suited for modern warfare, particularly against anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems deployed by rivals like China. While the Ford-class carriers promise greater lethality and efficiency, their high cost and vulnerability to cheaper A2/AD systems raise concerns.

-As the Navy continues to invest in these carriers for a 50-year service life, there is growing apprehension that they may represent a strategic misstep, tailored for past conflicts rather than future threats.

The Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier came about because the U.S.Navy believed it needed a replacement for its enduring Nimitz-class carriers. There are currently 10 of the aging nuclear-powered Nimitz-class vessels. 

The Navy is stuck in a strategic rut. The maritime branch seems to think it is still 1996, and that U.S. carriers can travel unmolested and dominate any distant target the Navy desires. 

That is not the case. 

The advent of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems complicates the old American view of carriers as the ultimate – and easiest – form of power projection. 

The Specs on the Ford-Class

When the Navy was seeking to build a new carrier class, they wanted to catapult carrier designs and capabilities into the next half-century. American planners envisioned a carrier so advanced no other power, notably a rising near-peer power such as China, would ever challenge the might of the U.S. Navy at sea. 

Every advanced system imaginable was thrown into the construction of this boat. Thus, the Gerald R. Ford class costs the taxpayer an astonishing $13.3 billion per ship. (That number is supposed to decrease over time.) It is the most expensive warship ever made.

The Gerald R. Ford class is the largest warship ever built, too.

Built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding, the USS Gerald R. Ford has two A1B nuclear reactors and is armed with Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles, Rolling Airframe Missiles, and the Close-In Weapons System.

Its air wing comprises 75 aircraft, and the warship itself carries a combined crew of 4,539 souls (the ship crew, airwing, and staff). Interestingly, the new boats are designed to be operated by 700 fewer crew than the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. Automation is a big deal, and the airwing on this boat is also designed to operate with 400 fewer personnel.

The first vessel was ordered by the government on Sept. 10, 2008. It was scheduled for delivery eight years later, but because of all the new technologies involved, it could not be deployed on time. 

The Navy claims that the new carrier delivers 20% more lethality than existing platforms. Designers of the CVN-21 Program argue that the warship has greater interoperability across the other U.S. services, as well as with friendly navies, enhancing lethality and cost-sharing on deployments.

The advanced technologies skyrocketed the cost, and these systems also complicated the development and deployment of the boats. Expensive systems meant to make the carrier more lethal in combat and more effective when at sea have not operated as advertised. This is one reason why the USS Gerald R. Ford, the first warship of the class, was significantly delayed in its planned deployment.

Not the Right War for Aircraft Carriers 

Even if the technology onboard the great warship worked exactly as it was supposed to on day one, the cost of the warship itself is a liability. That’s because the A2/AD systems that China has deployed throughout the South China Sea and along its coastline are infinitely cheaper than what the carriers cost. 

What’s more, as a sailor who has spent his career on aircraft carriers remarked to me: No matter how awesome the new carrier class may be, no ship can repel every attack. 

In other words, no matter its own lethality, if this $13.3 billion monstrosity gets too close to those A2/AD systems, it will be destroyed or severely damaged. 

The Navy knew this going into the design and production of the Gerald R. Ford.

Yet, like trying to turn a speeding aircraft carrier on a dime, trying to get the acquisitions office for the Navy to make adjustments to their carefully laid plans was nearly impossible. The bureaucracy didn’t even try. 

The Navy intends for the Gerald R. Ford class to have a 50-year service life. So, as the Nimitz class is decommissioned over the next decade, the Navy may have just invested in a giant boondoggle that is a large, easy target for China’s A2/AD systems. 

This carrier was designed to fight yesterday's wars with tomorrow’s technologies. 

It does not represent the quantum leap that its proponents argue, although it does come with a price tag worthy of the idea. It is the equivalent of a sunk cost, both figuratively and metaphorically, as it could be destroyed by systems that are far less advanced and cheaper.

About the Author 

Brandon J. Weichert, a National Interest national security analyst, is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, the Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His next book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, is due October 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.

Image Credit: Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock. 

Myths about “military-aged men” distract from a soft-power opportunity.

Emmanuel Macron va répondre aux questions de France TV et Radio France mardi soir, juste avant le début des Jeux olympiques. L'occasion pour le président français de s'exprimer sur le résultat des législatives anticipées et d'en dire plus sur son idée de "trêve politique" pendant la compétition.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP/Renew) wurde am Dienstag (23. Juli) zur Vorsitzenden des Unterausschusses für Sicherheit und Verteidigung (SEDE) des Europaparlaments gewählt. Sie setzte sich damit erfolgreich gegen interne und externe Widerstände durch.

Après la prise de contrôle de l'Afghanistan par les talibans, les chances du pays de participer aux Jeux olympiques ont été remises en question, jusqu'à ce qu'une décision du Comité international olympique donne une chance à deux jeunes sœurs.

Après la prise de contrôle de l'Afghanistan par les talibans, les chances du pays de participer aux Jeux olympiques ont été remises en question, jusqu'à ce qu'une décision du Comité international olympique donne une chance à deux jeunes sœurs.

Summary and Key Points: Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has reportedly lost around 330 aircraft as of June, with the Su-34 Fullback being particularly affected. This Soviet-era fighter, derived from the Su-27 Flanker, officially entered service in 2014 and has been essential for Russia's air operations.

-However, Ukraine's use of advanced Western-developed weapons, including the U.S.-supplied Patriot air defense missile system, has significantly impacted the Fullback's effectiveness. Ukrainian claims of destroying nine Russian jets in May alone highlight the vulnerability of the Su-34.

-Videos circulating online support these claims, showing the destruction of Russian fighters. As the war continues, the depletion of Russia's Su-34 stockpile is expected to worsen, challenging Moscow's air capabilities.

Su-34 Fullback: Russia's Workhorse Fighter Hit Hard in Ukraine Conflict

Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has reportedly lost some 330 aircraft as of June. Moscow’s fighter airframes have proven vulnerable to Ukraine’s stockpile of advanced Western-developed weapons. 

Ukrainian officials claimed that nine Russian jets were destroyed in May alone. While these numbers cannot be independently verified, the U.S.-delivered Patriot air defense missile system has certainly aided Kyiv’s ability to take down Moscow’s top-tier fighters, including the Su-34. Nicknamed the “Fullback” by NATO, this all-weather supersonic fighter has been an essential asset for Russia for many years.

Introducing the Su-34 Fullback

The Soviet-era Su-34 fighter derived from the Su-27 Flanker during the Cold War. While the Su-34 took its maiden flight before the collapse of the USSR, evolving requirements imposed by the Russian Aerospace Forces pushed back the fighter’s official introduction to service until 2014. 

The Fullback’s several unique characteristics include a platypus nose and side-by-side cockpit. Aside from these external characteristics, the jet retains its predecessor’s basic layout, engine, construction, and wing structure. The jet is powered by a pair of Saturn AL-31FM1 engines, which give it a top speed of Mach 1.8 and a service ceiling of around 56,000 feet.  

The Fullback can lug more than 17,000 pounds of weapons across a dozen hardpoints positioned underwing and beneath the fuselage. The jet can also carry a wide range of precision-guided and unguided bombs and rockets, including KAB-500 laser-guided bombs. As detailed by Airforce Technology, the jet can also carry Vympel R-27, Vympel R-73, and NPO-R-77 missiles used primarily for defense against adversarial aircraft if detected by the rear-facing radar.

Two distinct variants of the Fullback have been produced, both of which Russia exports to foreign client states. The Su-34FN is the maritime strike fighter version of the Fullback, equipped with anti-submarine warfare systems, a Sea Snake radar, a radio sonobuoy system, and other unique attributes. Since this model is designed to elevate the fighter’s naval warfare capabilities, it is highly sought out across the globe.

How Has the Fullback Fared in Ukraine?

The Kremlin may claim that its Su-34 fighter is essentially invulnerable, but the platform’s performance in Ukraine suggests otherwise. As explained by Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat, "Our experience suggests that after Russian planes are downed and destroyed, the occupiers do not dare come closer – this is the case across the northern, southern, and eastern fronts. The closer the aircraft armed with guided bombs approach, the farther those bombs can reach into our defenses." 

Countless videos have circulated in recent months purporting to show the destruction of Russian fighters, including Fullbacks. As the war rages on with no end in sight, Moscow’s Su-34 stockpile will surely dwindle further.

About the Author: Maya Carlin 

Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. 

All images are Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock. 

La commission de l’Agriculture (AGRI) du Parlement européen a élu l’eurodéputée tchèque Veronika Vrecionová à sa présidence, mais a reporté le vote sur l’un de ses vice-présidents après un différend relatif à la parité hommes-femmes au sein de son bureau.