A Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter jet (NATO codename Flanker-C) was shot down on Tuesday during a routine training mission in the Tver region northwest in what has since been confirmed as a case of friendly fire.
The accident was originally reported by the Russian Defence Blog, which wrote on Wednesday that after being hit, both pilots of the aircraft ejected safely and were recovered by a Mi-8 search and rescue helicopter and were said to be in stable condition.
While there was no word on the incident from the Russian Air Force, shortly thereafter an unnamed source of the regional emergency services confirmed that “the preliminary cause of the accident is a missile accidentally hitting the Su-30 during exercises” after the missile was fired by another aircraft.
Unnamed sources also told Defence Blog that a Su-35 fighter (NATO codename Flanker-E) fired the missile.
Su-30 is a multirole 4th generation fighter jet for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface missions in service with the Russian Air Force since 1996. The latest Mk2 version has a unit cost of around $42 million.
Title image: The Su-30 was on a routine training mission when it crashed Tuesday. (source: Sergei Bobylev/TASS)
