Precision Floating Bombs! Ukrainian Su-27s Blow Up Bridges, Successfully Isolating Russian Troops in Belgorod

Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighters, modified to drop precision floating bombs made in the United States and France, are blowing up bridges in western Russia. A video montage posted online on Thursday (March 27) shows bombs being dropped on at least two bridges in Gragovka and Nadezhdovka, while Ukrainian surveillance drones watch, Forbes reports.

Modified to carry Hammer floating bombs from France and similar Joint Direct Attack Munitions and small-diameter bombs from the United States, the Su-27s are equipped for the task. But flying close enough to western Russia to target its bridges is dangerous even for the fast and maneuverable Su-27s.

Fortunately, their pilots have help. While the Su-27s lack self-defense systems, such as radar jammers, the jets now fly alongside former European Lockheed Martin F-16s and former French Mirage 2000s, which have very capable jammers and can extend their electronic defenses to nearby aircraft, including the Su-27s. “We are flying to cover our other combat brothers, the MiG-29s [and] Su-27s,“ one Ukrainian F-16 pilot said in a recent official interview.

The sophisticated strike planning, in which different types of aircraft support each other, appears to be working. Days or even weeks into the bridge-bombing campaign, the Ukrainians have yet to lose a single aircraft.

Which is fortunate for the Su-27. Ukraine began the war in February 2022 with no more than 57 serviceable Su-27s—and has lost at least 16 of them, including six that were damaged or destroyed last summer in a Russian missile attack while parked at the Myrhorod air base, 100 miles from Ukraine’s northern border with Russia.

Ukraine does not manufacture the Su-27, and none of its allies have any spares of the type. Every Su-27 lost with a destroyed bridge is a Su-27 with a destroyed bridge that Kiev cannot replace.