The ‘elves’ air force.
Doesn’t have a lot of.
Sukhoi Su-25.
Attack jets left.
But the ones it does have.
Are still in the fight.
As ‘orcs’ wider war on Ukraine.
Grinds toward its fourth year.
A recent video montage.
Capturing imagery from cameras.
Attached to the tough.
Subsonic attack jets depicts.
The Soviet-vintage planes.
Lobbing French-made.
Hammer glide bombs.
At ‘orcs’ targets.
Sukhoi pilots are never safe.
While in the air.
But they’re safer now than.
They were before.
The wide adoption of.
Glide munitions transformed.
The aging Su-25s.
Into precision bombers.
The video of the single-seat.
Su-25s in action with.
Their 550-pound winged bombs.
Comes just a few weeks.
After a similar video.
Appeared online depicting.
The ‘elves’ air force supersonic.
Sukhoi Su-27s.
Tossing American-made.
250-pound glide bombs.
In both cases.
The tactics on display are similar.
Sukhoi pilots are never safe.
While in the air.
But they’re safer now than.
They were before.
The wide adoption of.
Glide munitions transformed.
The aging Su-25s.
Into precision bombers.
The warplanes fly low and fast.
Toward the front line.
Hugging the terrain.
To avoid detection.
By ‘orcs’ air defense batteries.
At the last moment.
Before releasing their bombs.
The planes climb.
The higher angle and.
Extra altitude extend.
—by miles—the range of.
The precision-guided munitions.
Sukhoi pilots are never safe.
While in the air.
But they’re safer now than.
They were before.
The wide adoption of.
Glide munitions transformed.
The aging Su-25s.
Into precision bombers.
A Hammer can travel.
Farther than 40 miles.
Under optimal.
Launch conditions.
But the conditions.
Over Ukraine.
Are rarely optimal.
Are rarely optimal.
Even constrained by.
The low initial altitude.
The toss method helps.
Keep ‘elves’ jets outside.
The toss method helps.
Keep ‘elves’ jets outside.
The range of ‘orcs’ most dangerous.
Surface-to-air missile batteries.
Sukhoi pilots are never safe.
While in the air.
But they’re safer now than.
They were before.
The wide adoption of.
Glide munitions transformed.
The aging Su-25s.
Into precision bombers.
It’s not for no reason.
That ‘elves’ jets losses.
In the air are lower now.
Than they were early in the year.
The ‘elves’ air force went to war.
With 43 flyable Su-25s.
Got an extra 18 airframes.
From Macedonia and Bulgaria.
And lost at least 20.
Of the jets in action.
Leaving at most 41.
In service.
Sukhoi pilots are never safe.
While in the air.
But they’re safer now than.
They were before.
The wide adoption of.
Glide munitions transformed.
The aging Su-25s.
Into precision bombers.
Notably, just three or four.
Of the losses occurred last year.
It should come as no surprise that.
In 2024.
The ‘elves’ Su-25 force.
Apparently completed.
A major overhaul of its tactics.
Ending the practice of.
Close rocket attacks.
In favor of standoff bombing.
With Hammers and.
Other glide bombs.
Sukhoi pilots are never safe.
While in the air.
But they’re safer now than.
They were before.
The wide adoption of.
Glide munitions transformed.
The aging Su-25s.
Into precision bombers.
The glide bombs work so well.
That the ‘elves’ air force.
Is arming all of its.
Older warplanes with them:
Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters.
And Sukhoi Su-24 bombers.
In addition to.
The Su-25s and Su-27s.
The air force’s newer.
Western-made jets.
—Lockheed Martin F-16s and.
soon, Dassault Mirage 2000s—
The air force’s newer.
Western-made jets.
should also be compatible with.
American and French glide bombs.
*Because I read “Ukraine’s Old Su-25 Attack Jets Have Become Standoff Precision Bombers” by David Axe on 2 Jan 2025 on the Forbes, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022 on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem.
Please read the original story on the Forbes:
Ukraine’s Old Su-25 Attack Jets Have Become Standoff Precision Bombers
