The Middle Eastern cauldron has been made all the more infernal by the involvement of the Russian air force. If you've been following the news, you may have seen a strange war bird vaguely resembling the American A-10 Warthog. That's not a rental from Obama used to kill terrorists; it's a Russian ground attack aircraft from four decades ago.
The venerable Sukhoi SU-25 Frogfoot used to be plastered on the walls of every West German air force base before the Berlin Wall fell. It might not look as sharp as the F-22 Raptor, but this could be the best air-to-ground platform in the world.
Much like the Warthog, which the US Air Force leadership is fighting to scrap, the SU-25 is an armored beast with a cockpit that withstands bullets and several redundant systems. If one fails, there's another one that does the same job.
The Russians have recently upgraded several old aircraft to the SM standard, which includes a reinforced glass cockpit, GLONASS satellite navigation system and modern avionics that allow the use of precision-guided munitions.
Not that the Syrian rebels have any serious firepower, but the SU-25 is equipped with a 30mm anti-tank machine gun. Several rocket pods can be installed on the wings. The cool think about this strike aircraft is that when everything is taken off, it can go over Mach 1 (1,195 km/h) while the A-10 stops at around 740 km/h or 400 knots.
It's a safe bet to assume that the Su-25 will bear the brunt of Russian combat sorties in Syria although top-of-the-line Sukhoi Su-30SM Flanker-H fighters and Su-34 Fullback bombers will also see action. Once the rebel forces are weakened, we could also see the Mi-24 and Mi-8 attack helicopters in action.
At least 12 Su-25 Frogfoot attack planes have been seen parked on the secondary runway at the al-Assad airbase near Latakia, the same airfield hosting the four Russian Air Force Su-30SM models. Reports suggest all were deployed to Syria under cover of large-scale military exercises between September 11 and the 20th.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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