Air International 2014-12
A.Mladenov - Fencer /Military/
A handful of ‘vanilla’ Su-24s remain in service with the Russian Naval Aviation's 43rd OMShAP. Since July 2014 the 43rd has been based at Saki airfield in the Crimean Peninsula; they are expected to retire in early 2015.
This early-production Su-24M Fencer-D, distinguished by large non-removable over-wing fences is still in RuAF service. This particular example is assigned to the 98th Composite Aviation Regiment based at Monchegorsk in northern Russia near the border with Norway.
The Su-24M2 and Su-24MR Fencers will be replaced by the Su-34 Fullbacks.
Most of the Fencers-Ds and -Es still operated by the RuAF were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The last examples rolled off the line at the NAPO plant in Novosibirsk in 1993.
Russian Naval Aviation Fencers from the Baltic Fleet armed with FAB-250 dumb bombs and B-8M rocket launchers at Lipetsk Air Base in July 2014 during Aviadarts a joint exercise between Russia, Belarus and China.
A pair of R-60 missiles is the only self-defence weapon of Su-24MR.
This Su-24M, wearing a Guards badge, and assigned to the 4th Combat Training and Aircrew Conversion Centre at Lipetsk has been upgraded with the SVP-24 avionics package. It is shown armed with the B8M1 20-round rocket pods for firing 80mm rockets
The KAB-1500L is the Fencer-D’s most powerful precision-guided bomb. It weighs 1,500kg, uses laser guidance and can be employed by non-upgraded and upgraded derivatives.
The Su-24M is capable of carrying up to 36 OFAB-100 100kg (220 lb) fragmentation/high explosive bombs.
An Su-24MR equipped with a Tangazh ELINT pod and a Efir-1 reconnaissance pod takes off from Voronezh-Baltimor Air Base.
The radar picture of the target area and bomb-aiming symbols in the new KAI-24P head-up display of the SVP-24 configured Su-24M.
The cockpit of a Su-24M.