In Ukraine, Russia has lost four of its Su-34 fighter-bombers so far Since the Su-34 entered service in 2014, 17 have been lost, most of them to accidents That’s 12 percent of the 140 Su-34s the Russians were able to purchase The last loss was
In Ukraine, Russia has lost four of its Su-34 fighter-bombers so far Since the Su-34 entered service in 2014, 17 have been lost, most of them to accidents That’s 12 percent of the 140 Su-34s the Russians were able to purchase The last loss was
December 18, 2020: At the end of 2020 the Russian Air Force received the last of 124 Su-34 light bombers. Deliveries began in 2010 but the Su-34 did not officially enter service until 2014. Four years of testing and modifying the aircraft were required to get all essential systems working. By 2014 about 60 Su-34s had been built since the first flight in 1990. Before that, in the 1980s, seven test and pre-production Su-34s had been built.
The Su-34 is based on the two-seat trainer version of the Su-27K, an aircraft carrier fighter for aircraft carriers that never got built. In the 1990s the design effort shifted to developing a more complex fighter-bomber to replace the Cold War era Su-24 light bomber. While most nations using Su-24s had retired them by 2014 that was not just because of age, but because they could not afford to operate and maintain them.