A second Russian jet has crashed while trying to land on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov after a combat mission over Syria. A similar accident occurred less than a month ago.
According to
on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said a Sukhoi-33 fighter jet crashed in the Mediterranean Sea while attempting to land on the carrier. The pilot ejected safely.
After performing a combat mission over Syria a Sukhoi-33 fighter-jet overran the runway while trying to land on The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier. The arresting cable's rupture was the reason," said the defense ministry.
The defense ministry said that despite the incident, the carrier's lead group continued "operating in the Mediterranean in accordance with the long voyage plan," wrote TASS.
According to
magazine, on Nov. 13 a Russian Navy Mikoyan MiG-29KR/KUBR fighter crashed in the Mediterranean during operations from the Admiral Kuznetsov. A source told Combat Aircraft that the fighter was returning from a mission flown over Syria when it crashed.
Russian Navy Aviation had hoped to evaluate its newly minted MiG-29KR/KUBR fighters and its modernized Sukhoi Su-33 with the deployment of the carrier to the eastern Mediterranean, noted Combat Aircraft.
"This latest crash is another blow to the Russians, who specifically brought the carrier to the Mediterranean so they could launch airstrikes against rebel-held areas of Aleppo," said Chris Summers of the
.
"…The battle group has travelled from the North Sea through the English Channel in the biggest such naval deployment in recent years as part of Russia's military intervention in Syria. Russia has been flying a bombing campaign in Syria for the past year in support of President Assad and has deployed a naval contingent to back up its operation."
