On the night of December 21, a representative of the Resistance Movement broke into the Lipetsk-2 military air base and set fire to two Su-30SM fighter jets.
According to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), both aircraft were disabled.
Even though the DIU indicates that one of the fighters is a Su-27, footage of the front canards shows that the red “12” aircraft is a Su-30SM RF-95838.
There is no Su-27 red “82” insist, but there is a red “82” Su-30SM (RF-81740).
The aircraft belong to the 14th and 31st Fighter Aviation Regiments.
The 14th Regiment is based at the Kursk-Vostochny air base, while the 31st is stationed in Millerovo, Rostov Oblast.
Planning for the operation at the airfield near Lipetsk took about two weeks.
The patrol routes and guard schedules were studied in detail, which allowed the military facility to be infiltrated unnoticed.
The footage shows that one of the aircraft is equipped with R-73 air-to-air missiles, probably intended to combat Ukrainian long-range drones.
The airbase is home to the 4th Flight Crew Training and Field Testing Center of the Russian Air and Space Forces.
It was established in 1953 in Tambov and moved to Lipetsk in 1960. In 1994, the 968th Experimental and Training Mixed Aviation Regiment with MiG-29, Su-24, Su-25, Su-27, Su-30, and Su-57 aircraft joined the center.
It is known that Su-34, Su-35, and MiG-31 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces are also based at the Lipetsk-2 airfield.
