Friendly fire incident reflects Russian inadequacies
Shootdown of Su-30M2 holds up a mirror to a poor safety culture as well as a corrosive lack of transparency from military officials and government
On 22 September, according to Russian MoD reports, a Su-30M2 multirole fighter was lost with the safe ejection and survival of both crew. A day later, state news agency TASS reported that the Su-30M2 may have been accidentally shot down by another Russian aircraft.
The initial official report merely stated that a fighter aircraft had been lost but details began to leak from various specialist forums and social media channels almost immediately after its publication. Even a recording of the pilots' communications during the crash appeared online.
Based on this information, it seems that the Su-30M2 (example pictured above) had
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