Russian officials announced that they had recovered two black boxes from a Tu-22M3 bomber that crashed in southern Russia, a bomber that Ukraine claims it shot down.
"Both black boxes, including the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, were recovered at the crash site. The devices have been transferred to a military research facility for decoding," TASS reported on April 22, citing a Russian government official, referring to the Tu-22M3 bomber that crashed in Stavropol province over the weekend.
The cockpit black box records every noise in the cockpit, even the engine noise and the sound of the pilot turning switches on and off. The flight data black box continuously records the parameters of the aircraft during operation, including airspeed, altitude, direction of flight and whether the nose is pointing up, down or level.
Russian officials said rescuers were continuing to search for the fourth crew member.
A Russian Tu-22M3 bomber crashed in Stavropol province on April 19. Photo: Ukrinform
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on April 19 that a Tu-22M3 strategic bomber crashed in the southern Stavropol region after completing a combat mission and returning to base. The crew ejected and escaped. One person was killed, two were hospitalized, and one is missing.
Initial investigations indicate the plane crashed "due to a technical fault". Video footage of the incident shows the plane spinning several times, the engine on fire and the fuselage almost parallel to the ground as it crashed.
However, Ukrainian officials later announced that their air defenses, in coordination with the Main Directorate of Defense Intelligence (GUR), shot down the Tu-22M3 using an S-200 system. GUR claimed that it had tracked the flight path of the Tu-22M3 for about a week before giving the order to fire. The Ukrainian unit ambushed and opened fire at a distance of 308 km, after the Russian bomber launched a missile into Ukraine. The Tu-22M3 was damaged by the attack, flew a short distance and crashed in Stavropol.
Although the British Ministry of Defense also confirmed over the weekend that the Tu-22M3 was shot down by the Ukrainian S-200, this statement is facing much skepticism from observers.
Vijainder K. Thakur, a military analyst and former Indian Air Force pilot, said that if the Tu-22M3 was shot down by anti-aircraft weapons, it would have lost control and nose dived at high speed, not turned around as the video recorded by witnesses showed.
"The plane must have slowed down before it crashed to create a spin. The crew could have exited the plane when it was at a very high altitude. They only did so when they realized there was no hope of controlling the situation. The engine failure and fire could be the most reasonable explanation for the crew's decision," Thakur commented.
The Tu-22M3 is the most widely used long-range bomber in Russia's inventory, capable of firing Kh-22/32 hypersonic missiles, Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, and several types of bombs. This missile model mainly fires Kh-22/32 missiles on the Ukrainian battlefield, causing many difficulties for enemy air defenses.
Thanh Danh (According to TASS, Eurasian Times )
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