Ukrainian drone strike ignites fire, blasts at Russian airbase

The Ukrainians attacked another airport in Russia. This time it was the Marinovka base in the Vologda Oblast, closer to Kazakhstan than to Ukraine. Here's what was stationed there.

Formally, the Marinovka base was home to Su-24MR aircraft, but due to the war, other machines were stationed there. Satellite images from August 19, 2024, indicated that there were 14 tactical bombers Su-34 and 15 Su-35 on the base.

Similar to previous attacks, the Ukrainians used several dozen drones. It is worth noting that the Russians boasted about shooting down as many as 28 drones, but apparently, this was not enough. The remaining drones that got through caused a fire at the airport and triggered secondary explosions, most likely due to the detonation of ammunition depots.

The extent of the Russian losses remains unknown, but the evacuation of 30 aircraft in a short period is difficult. Moreover, evacuating aircraft undergoing repairs is impossible, so most likely as was the case during the attack on the Morozovsk airport, photos of lost machines will eventually appear.

The tactical bomber Su-34 and the multirole aircraft Su-35 are derived from the Su-27 air superiority aircraft designed during the USSR era. Both machines are larger and heavier, but the Su-34 is mainly designed for attacking ground targets, whereas the Su-35 is a fighter aircraft also capable of attacking ground targets.

The Su-34 can carry up to approximately 15 tons of armament on 12 pylons, and the arsenal includes, among others: S-8 unguided rocket pods, Kh-25 missiles, crucial in recent months for the Russians, glide bombs from the FAB family weighing up to 3,300 lbs or 6,600 lbs, and Raduga Kh-59 missiles with a range of over 124 miles. Additionally, the aircraft features a unique side-by-side seating arrangement for the pilots, which, according to the Russians, aids communication.

The pilots also sit in a sort of titanium "bathtub" intended to provide protection from shell fragments from systems like Gepard or fragments from guided air-to-air or surface-to-air missiles.

Meanwhile, the Su-35 has a slightly lower armament capacity of approximately 9 tons and features the N035 Irbis-E radar, capable of detecting targets with a radar cross-section (RCS) of 32 ft² from a distance of over 186 miles. It is also capable of tracking 30 targets and locking onto eight simultaneously. However, the radar uses older PESA technology, not the newer AESA technology found in newer aircraft like the F-16, F-35, or Rafale.

These are formidable machines, but fortunately, Russia has fewer of them, and local production is struggling to replace the losses. The Russians have lost at least 32 Su-34/M and 7 Su-35 aircraft during the war in Ukraine. Based on these data and the known number of aircraft in 2022, Russia has around 100 Su-34s and a similar number of Su-35s, with perhaps half or fewer operational, considering Russian logistics.