Russian drone shot down by Belarusian jet in historic first
During a massive missile attack supported by Russian drones on Ukraine, an unexpected incident occurred. One of the Russian drones was shot down by a Belarusian airplane. Here, we present the details of this event and the machines involved.
According to the Belarusian Hajun group on Telegram, which monitors military activity in Belarus, on August 29, the first-ever military object was shot down by Belarusian military aviation in a historic event.
The target turned out to be a Russian Shahed-136 drone, which likely got lost, possibly due to the influence of Ukrainian electronic warfare systems. The drone was eventually shot down by a Belarusian airplane near Yelsk in the Gomel region after about 20 minutes of tracking.
Shahed-136: The most frequently used drone by Russians
The Shahed-136 is the most popular drone model used by the Russian armed forces. It features a delta wing structure with a wingspan of 8 feet and two vertical stabilizers at the ends of the wings. Its overall length is 11 feet. Furthermore, commercial components available on the market are used for its production. There have even been cases of parts from Poland being used in Shaheds.
The drone weighs 441 pounds, 110 of which are allocated to the warhead. The remaining mass includes a fuel tank for the Chinese Boxer engine, which has 68 horsepower and is a copy of the German LIMBACH L550 E engine, popular among model-makers. The onboard fuel supply is estimated to cover up to 1,553 miles.
The Shahed-136's guidance technology is quite primitive and allows only flight along a pre-planned route. This limits it to targeting stationary targets, and the accuracy of these drones is low. For this reason, Shaheds are not suitable for attacking military targets and, in practice, serve mainly to intimidate civilians in cities or as support for other means of attack, such as cruise missiles.
With proper attack synchronization, the mass use of cheap Shahed drones can pose a significant problem for the target's air defense, as the risk of, for example, Kh-101 cruise missiles penetrating increases. The air defense might not have enough time to shoot down all the objects.
Belarusian military aviation — post-Soviet museum
The core of Belarusian aviation consists of several dozen Soviet-era MiG-29 and Su-25 airplanes, accompanied by a few much newer Su-30 airplanes and Yak-130 trainers. The Shahed was likely shot down by a MiG-29, Su-30, or Yak-130.
The MiG-29 airplane was designed in the 1970s and entered service in 1983. The main purpose of designing the MiG-29 was to create a competitor for the American F-16.
The MiG-29 is a twin-engine design, much smaller and lighter than Su-27 airplanes, as evidenced by its weight of 24,251 pounds and a payload of only 8,818 pounds carried on seven pylons. The armament mainly includes short-range R-73 air-to-air missiles, outdated medium-range R-27 missiles, aerial bombs weighing up to 1,102 pounds, and rocket launchers.
Belarusian military aviation — a few new additions from Russia
A much more dangerous opponent is the recently acquired Su-30 from Russia, an evolution of the Su-27 air superiority fighter. Compared to the original model, the new construction is now fully multi-role, capable of performing both fighter and ground attack missions.
For this reason, the Su-30 is a much heavier design, weighing 39,683 pounds and capable of carrying up to 17,637 pounds of armament on 12 pylons. The arsenal includes many types of the latest Russian guided air-to-air missiles, such as R-77, various types of air-to-ground missiles, and guided FAB bombs with UMPK modules, which have caused horror in Ukraine.
The last machine that might have participated in shooting down the Shahed is the Yak-130 airplane. It is a training design created by the Russian company Yakovlev and introduced into service in 2010.
Interestingly, the airplane was initially developed in collaboration with Italians, but ultimately two similar machines were created. The Italians designed the M-346 Master, which serves in the Polish air force under the name "Bielik," and the Russians created the Yak-130.
In addition to pilot training, the airplane can also be used for bombing targets with light bombs or for patrolling airspace. In this latter case, it is much cheaper than using a larger machine, and for checking what is happening or shooting down a drone with a cannon or R-73 missiles, the Yak-130 is perfectly sufficient.
