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Jitenbee
Ethiopian Eritrean War: Su-27 vs Mig-29
Perang antara Ethiopia dan Eritrea tahun 1998-2000 mungkin bisa disebut forgotten war atau perang yang terlupakan,padahal terdapat kisah menarik mengenai pertempuran antara Su-27 dengan Mig-29 didalamnya. Ya dua buah pesawat tempur buatan Rusia dan segenerasi saling berhadapan dalam sebuah pertempuran. Berikut petikan kisahnya
Sukhoi Contra Mig
On the morning of 25 February 1999 four MiG-29s were sent to intercept two Su-27s which were patrolling along the front-lines at Badme. Both Sukhois, flown by Ethiopian pilots, detected the appearance of their opponents in time and attempted to disengage, when - all of a sudden - they came under an attack by several R-27/AA-10 missiles. None of the weapons fired by the Eritreans – which were meanwhile inside the Ethiopian airspace – hit, but after evading them, the Ethiopians decided to turn back and fight. The lead, Maj. Workneh, acquired the enemy and fired what was reported as a "salvo" of R-27s, targeting one MiG-29 after the other. However, all the missiles missed and the only result was that the Eritreans were forced to break their attack - only to be pounced by the faster Su-27s. The result of following dog-fight was one Eritrean MiG-29 shot down, probably by an R-73/AA-11 IR-homing, short range air-to-air missile (fired again by Maj. Workneh). The ERAF fighter came down near Ethiopian Army positions. The fate of the pilot, rumoured to have been the commander of the Eritrean Air Force, Brig. Gen. Habte Zion Hadgu, was not reported by either side. Like his deputy, Col. Abraham Oqbaselassie, Hadgu used to be a EtAF MiG-23-pilot during the Derg regime. He was never again mentioned in the public, but was apparently replaced by Maj.Gen. Teklay Habteselassie, who remains Commander-in-Chief ERAF until today.
ERAF Mig-29
EtAF Su-27
Only 24 hours later, a new - but highly interesting - engagement developed over the Badme area. This time, a lonesome Su-27S, reportedly flown by female pilot Capt. Aster Tolossa, was escorting several MiG-21s on a strike mission, when a single aircraft was detected, closing from the direction of Asmara. Capt. Tolossa turned to intercept and identified the target as an - apparently unarmed - Eritrean MiG-29UB. After some manoeuvring, during which there was some kind of communications exchange between the crew of the MiG and the Sukhoi, the Ethiopian was high at enemy's 6 o'clock, when she realized that the pilot of the aircraft in front of her was her former instructor. Capt. Tolossa immediately warned him that she was about to shot him down, and requested the Eritrean to land at Debre Zeit. He disobeyed, and Tolossa pulled the trigger. Exactly which weapon was used this time remains unknown, but it is highly likely that the Ethiopian used at least two air-to-air missiles, both of which were evaded, and then finished the target with 30mm gunfire. The Eritrean pilot was certainly experienced enough to evade two missiles, and he also knew who and where was the enemy. While it remains unknown if anybody ejected from that MiG-29UB, it is certain that Capt. Tolossa was given a hero's wellcome back at her base; with right, then she was the first female fighter-pilot to show down an enemy fighter-jet in the history of air warfare.
The authenticity of this version remains disputed by different sources. For example, some Ethiopian sources stress that there was no and still is no Capt. Asther Tolossa, flying Su-27s with EtAF at the time, and that the first female EtAF pilot graduated only in June 2004. Equally, the reported version of this engagement is contradictive because of airfields mentioned: Capt. Tolossa should have ordered the ERAF MiG-29UB-pilot to land in Debre-Zeit, which is an hour flight away from the northern front, while there were two other EtAF airfields much closer to Eritrea, namely Mekele – the HQ of the Northern Command – and Bahir-Dar.
Whatever happened, upon obviously losing one more of their precious MiG-29s in effort to deny the air superiority to the EtAF, the Eritreans stopped challenging the Sukhois. On the other side, the Ethiopians would not let them give it another try: the Ethiopian Army already concentrated enough armour and artillery in order to achieve a small breakthrough near Badme. Eritreans managed to stop the enemy short behind their former lines, but their government immediately agreed to accept international peace proposal. Nevertheless, Ethiopians continued with probing attacks, preparing their forces for a „final“ offensive.
There were many skirmishes during the next months and on 18 March 1999 the Eritreans claimed their first large success. On that day two EtAF Mi-35s were to attack Eritrean positions after approaching from the rear. While attacking one of them was hit in the fin area, on the right side, and forced to land behind the Eritrean positions. The other helicopter swiftly landed near the stricken bird, and managed to evacuate the crew, but the helicopter fell into Eritrean hands. Subsequently, the Eritreans proudly presented the captured Mi-35s at the Asmara IAP.
Couple of days later, a further clash between Ethiopian Su-27S' and Eritrean MiG-29s was reported, in which supposedly two MiGs were shot down. Again no better details are known about this air battle, except that quite a number of air-to-air missiles were fired without any hits.
On 16 May 2000 Eritrean Air Force flew couple of counterattacks against the Ethiopian “left hook”, advancing against the western flank of Eritrean positions. Even MiG-29s were deployed in air-to-ground sorties, and seen harassing Ethiopian ground forces several times: one of two incoming MiG-29s were intercepted by EtAF’s Su-27s, however, and it seems that another air battle occurred. This was a situation which the Eritreans and the Ukrainians wanted to prevent when they started the fight for battlefield air superiority a year earlier, by challenging Ethiopian Su-27s: they wanted to prevent a situation in which ERAF aircraft would not be able to attack Ethiopian troops on the ground because of the presence of Ethiopian interceptors in the air. Such concerns proved right as during this battle at least one MiG-29 was damaged sufficiently to crash-landed at Asmara, obviously after being damaged by R-27. The ERAF remained stubborn: only two days later, two MiG-29s were scrambled to intercept an incoming formation of EtAF MiG-21s. The leading Eritrean pilot missed with his R-27s, but then shot down at least one of Ethiopian fighters, using the 30mm gun during a short dogfight. Nevertheless, only minutes later, the same MiG-29 was in turn intercepted by a pair of EtAF Su-27s. As the Sukhois engaged, one of them collided with an Africa Buzzard (a very large bird), and had to return to base after sustaining heavy damage. The other Sukhoi – flown by one of former Derg-pilots – continued, engaging the MiG and shooting it down by a single R-73.
Conclusions
Couple of events that happened in this two years long bloodshed are very interesting for all observers. Firstly, while there are still many observers in the West, which refuse to believe that two of the poorest African countries could "put up such a war" - and use such „high-tech“ equipment like Su-27s, MiG-29s, Mi-35s, tanks, artillery and rocket launchers in large numbers and in tactically and strategically feasible manners - the fact remains that under a closer look the operations of both sides made very much sense. Consequently, both the Ethiopians and the Eritreans have carefully planned and executed their moves, even if not everything functioned.
As second, even if both sides suffered grievous losses during the fighting (according to some reports, possibly as many as 150.000 people already lost their lives during the fighting), some tactical decisions (supposedly "produced" by foreign "instructors"), like the Ethiopian „left-hook“ at Barentu, with the closely-following push towards Aseb - were very interesting
Very interesting were also clashes between Ethiopian Su-27S' and Eritrean MiG-29s. Besides taking out four Eritrean MiG-29s - plus writing another off due to damage received from an air-to-air missile - Ethiopian Su-27s flew many strike missions against the Eritrean ground forces, using unguided rockets and "dumb" bombs, and also escorted almost all MiG-23 deep strikes into Eritrea. Interesting is also, that most - if not all - Eritrean MiG-29s were shot down in close-quarters turning dogfights, where MiGs were supposed to have some advantages over larger and heavier Sukhois. Finally - except one - all the air-to-air kills were reportedly scored by R-73, even if quite a few (up to 24) R-27s were fired, pointing to some possible problems with R-27s, which is otherwise highly praised by quite a few air forces around the world! Supposedly, there should be no significant differences between early and new - or domestic and export - versions of R-27s, however, it seems, that this type so far has a worst combat record than even US Vietnam-era AIM-7Es or AIM-7Fs! This was certainly no good news for the Russians, which were keen to try out their new mounts and weapons under conditions of conventional warfare, and against a well organized enemy.
Finally, already in 2000, there was a question about the capability of both air forces to keep their aircraft up and flyable once their Russian and Ukrainian instructors would leave, while also the actual reasons behind the massive Russian support for Ethiopia were completely unclear.
By now, it is clear that the Russian interests were foremost of commercial nature. The subsequent commercial successes of the Su-27s and other Russian-built equipment on international markets, as well as the pull-back of almost all instructors after approximately 12 months in Ethiopia, seem to confirm this. Once most of the Russians have left, however, the situation of the EtAF detoriated again. Newest reports indicate that hardly four Su-27s are operational on average. The efforts to improve the situation with the help of the newly established "Ethiopian Aircraft industries" (DAMEC) works, built by the Russians at Debre Zeit in 1999, and now supposedly supported even by the Israelis, should not have brought any useful results so far. Nevertheless, at least theoretically, the Ethiopians are left in a slightly better situation than Angolans or the government of Sierra Leone, where the regular forces almost broke down after their foreign instructors have left. After all, a number of former officers and technicians of the Derg-times EtAF, who used to work as mercenaries in Angola, Sierra-Leone, Uganda and some other African countries as technicians and pilots in the 1990s, were allowed to return back to Ethiopian Air Force during the war with Eritrea.
Indeed, while the Eritreans are still not especially interested in revealing more about their experiences from this war, the Ethiopians are very proud about the achievements of their deadly Su-27s. Nevertheless, the Eritreans have continued their relations to the Ukraine, but also established better connection to Moscow. While only a small cadre of the Ukrainians remained there after the war, in summer 2001 the EtAF purchased four new MiG-29s from Russia, in order to replace the losses from the war with Ethiopia and bring their fighter squadron back to strength.
Meanwhile, in Mekelle, thare is a bar owned by a woman who named it "Bar SU", as a remembrance on planes that "beat the Eritreans". A security guard at the airport in the same city boasts with a key-ring from which an odd metal shape dangles: supposedly a part of an Eritrean MiG-29 wreck, that was shot down by Ethiopian Su-27.
sumber: http://www.acig.info/CMS/option=com_...=138&Itemid=47
-------------------------------------------------------------
Nah pertempuran ini mungkin menjadi salah satu penyebab kenapa Su-27 semakin laku sedangkan nasib Mig-29 semakin terpuruk cap battle proven emang nggak boong
Sukhoi Contra Mig
On the morning of 25 February 1999 four MiG-29s were sent to intercept two Su-27s which were patrolling along the front-lines at Badme. Both Sukhois, flown by Ethiopian pilots, detected the appearance of their opponents in time and attempted to disengage, when - all of a sudden - they came under an attack by several R-27/AA-10 missiles. None of the weapons fired by the Eritreans – which were meanwhile inside the Ethiopian airspace – hit, but after evading them, the Ethiopians decided to turn back and fight. The lead, Maj. Workneh, acquired the enemy and fired what was reported as a "salvo" of R-27s, targeting one MiG-29 after the other. However, all the missiles missed and the only result was that the Eritreans were forced to break their attack - only to be pounced by the faster Su-27s. The result of following dog-fight was one Eritrean MiG-29 shot down, probably by an R-73/AA-11 IR-homing, short range air-to-air missile (fired again by Maj. Workneh). The ERAF fighter came down near Ethiopian Army positions. The fate of the pilot, rumoured to have been the commander of the Eritrean Air Force, Brig. Gen. Habte Zion Hadgu, was not reported by either side. Like his deputy, Col. Abraham Oqbaselassie, Hadgu used to be a EtAF MiG-23-pilot during the Derg regime. He was never again mentioned in the public, but was apparently replaced by Maj.Gen. Teklay Habteselassie, who remains Commander-in-Chief ERAF until today.
ERAF Mig-29 EtAF Su-27
Only 24 hours later, a new - but highly interesting - engagement developed over the Badme area. This time, a lonesome Su-27S, reportedly flown by female pilot Capt. Aster Tolossa, was escorting several MiG-21s on a strike mission, when a single aircraft was detected, closing from the direction of Asmara. Capt. Tolossa turned to intercept and identified the target as an - apparently unarmed - Eritrean MiG-29UB. After some manoeuvring, during which there was some kind of communications exchange between the crew of the MiG and the Sukhoi, the Ethiopian was high at enemy's 6 o'clock, when she realized that the pilot of the aircraft in front of her was her former instructor. Capt. Tolossa immediately warned him that she was about to shot him down, and requested the Eritrean to land at Debre Zeit. He disobeyed, and Tolossa pulled the trigger. Exactly which weapon was used this time remains unknown, but it is highly likely that the Ethiopian used at least two air-to-air missiles, both of which were evaded, and then finished the target with 30mm gunfire. The Eritrean pilot was certainly experienced enough to evade two missiles, and he also knew who and where was the enemy. While it remains unknown if anybody ejected from that MiG-29UB, it is certain that Capt. Tolossa was given a hero's wellcome back at her base; with right, then she was the first female fighter-pilot to show down an enemy fighter-jet in the history of air warfare.
The authenticity of this version remains disputed by different sources. For example, some Ethiopian sources stress that there was no and still is no Capt. Asther Tolossa, flying Su-27s with EtAF at the time, and that the first female EtAF pilot graduated only in June 2004. Equally, the reported version of this engagement is contradictive because of airfields mentioned: Capt. Tolossa should have ordered the ERAF MiG-29UB-pilot to land in Debre-Zeit, which is an hour flight away from the northern front, while there were two other EtAF airfields much closer to Eritrea, namely Mekele – the HQ of the Northern Command – and Bahir-Dar.
Whatever happened, upon obviously losing one more of their precious MiG-29s in effort to deny the air superiority to the EtAF, the Eritreans stopped challenging the Sukhois. On the other side, the Ethiopians would not let them give it another try: the Ethiopian Army already concentrated enough armour and artillery in order to achieve a small breakthrough near Badme. Eritreans managed to stop the enemy short behind their former lines, but their government immediately agreed to accept international peace proposal. Nevertheless, Ethiopians continued with probing attacks, preparing their forces for a „final“ offensive.
There were many skirmishes during the next months and on 18 March 1999 the Eritreans claimed their first large success. On that day two EtAF Mi-35s were to attack Eritrean positions after approaching from the rear. While attacking one of them was hit in the fin area, on the right side, and forced to land behind the Eritrean positions. The other helicopter swiftly landed near the stricken bird, and managed to evacuate the crew, but the helicopter fell into Eritrean hands. Subsequently, the Eritreans proudly presented the captured Mi-35s at the Asmara IAP.
Couple of days later, a further clash between Ethiopian Su-27S' and Eritrean MiG-29s was reported, in which supposedly two MiGs were shot down. Again no better details are known about this air battle, except that quite a number of air-to-air missiles were fired without any hits.
On 16 May 2000 Eritrean Air Force flew couple of counterattacks against the Ethiopian “left hook”, advancing against the western flank of Eritrean positions. Even MiG-29s were deployed in air-to-ground sorties, and seen harassing Ethiopian ground forces several times: one of two incoming MiG-29s were intercepted by EtAF’s Su-27s, however, and it seems that another air battle occurred. This was a situation which the Eritreans and the Ukrainians wanted to prevent when they started the fight for battlefield air superiority a year earlier, by challenging Ethiopian Su-27s: they wanted to prevent a situation in which ERAF aircraft would not be able to attack Ethiopian troops on the ground because of the presence of Ethiopian interceptors in the air. Such concerns proved right as during this battle at least one MiG-29 was damaged sufficiently to crash-landed at Asmara, obviously after being damaged by R-27. The ERAF remained stubborn: only two days later, two MiG-29s were scrambled to intercept an incoming formation of EtAF MiG-21s. The leading Eritrean pilot missed with his R-27s, but then shot down at least one of Ethiopian fighters, using the 30mm gun during a short dogfight. Nevertheless, only minutes later, the same MiG-29 was in turn intercepted by a pair of EtAF Su-27s. As the Sukhois engaged, one of them collided with an Africa Buzzard (a very large bird), and had to return to base after sustaining heavy damage. The other Sukhoi – flown by one of former Derg-pilots – continued, engaging the MiG and shooting it down by a single R-73.
Conclusions
Couple of events that happened in this two years long bloodshed are very interesting for all observers. Firstly, while there are still many observers in the West, which refuse to believe that two of the poorest African countries could "put up such a war" - and use such „high-tech“ equipment like Su-27s, MiG-29s, Mi-35s, tanks, artillery and rocket launchers in large numbers and in tactically and strategically feasible manners - the fact remains that under a closer look the operations of both sides made very much sense. Consequently, both the Ethiopians and the Eritreans have carefully planned and executed their moves, even if not everything functioned.
As second, even if both sides suffered grievous losses during the fighting (according to some reports, possibly as many as 150.000 people already lost their lives during the fighting), some tactical decisions (supposedly "produced" by foreign "instructors"), like the Ethiopian „left-hook“ at Barentu, with the closely-following push towards Aseb - were very interesting
Very interesting were also clashes between Ethiopian Su-27S' and Eritrean MiG-29s. Besides taking out four Eritrean MiG-29s - plus writing another off due to damage received from an air-to-air missile - Ethiopian Su-27s flew many strike missions against the Eritrean ground forces, using unguided rockets and "dumb" bombs, and also escorted almost all MiG-23 deep strikes into Eritrea. Interesting is also, that most - if not all - Eritrean MiG-29s were shot down in close-quarters turning dogfights, where MiGs were supposed to have some advantages over larger and heavier Sukhois. Finally - except one - all the air-to-air kills were reportedly scored by R-73, even if quite a few (up to 24) R-27s were fired, pointing to some possible problems with R-27s, which is otherwise highly praised by quite a few air forces around the world! Supposedly, there should be no significant differences between early and new - or domestic and export - versions of R-27s, however, it seems, that this type so far has a worst combat record than even US Vietnam-era AIM-7Es or AIM-7Fs! This was certainly no good news for the Russians, which were keen to try out their new mounts and weapons under conditions of conventional warfare, and against a well organized enemy.
Finally, already in 2000, there was a question about the capability of both air forces to keep their aircraft up and flyable once their Russian and Ukrainian instructors would leave, while also the actual reasons behind the massive Russian support for Ethiopia were completely unclear.
By now, it is clear that the Russian interests were foremost of commercial nature. The subsequent commercial successes of the Su-27s and other Russian-built equipment on international markets, as well as the pull-back of almost all instructors after approximately 12 months in Ethiopia, seem to confirm this. Once most of the Russians have left, however, the situation of the EtAF detoriated again. Newest reports indicate that hardly four Su-27s are operational on average. The efforts to improve the situation with the help of the newly established "Ethiopian Aircraft industries" (DAMEC) works, built by the Russians at Debre Zeit in 1999, and now supposedly supported even by the Israelis, should not have brought any useful results so far. Nevertheless, at least theoretically, the Ethiopians are left in a slightly better situation than Angolans or the government of Sierra Leone, where the regular forces almost broke down after their foreign instructors have left. After all, a number of former officers and technicians of the Derg-times EtAF, who used to work as mercenaries in Angola, Sierra-Leone, Uganda and some other African countries as technicians and pilots in the 1990s, were allowed to return back to Ethiopian Air Force during the war with Eritrea.
Indeed, while the Eritreans are still not especially interested in revealing more about their experiences from this war, the Ethiopians are very proud about the achievements of their deadly Su-27s. Nevertheless, the Eritreans have continued their relations to the Ukraine, but also established better connection to Moscow. While only a small cadre of the Ukrainians remained there after the war, in summer 2001 the EtAF purchased four new MiG-29s from Russia, in order to replace the losses from the war with Ethiopia and bring their fighter squadron back to strength.
Meanwhile, in Mekelle, thare is a bar owned by a woman who named it "Bar SU", as a remembrance on planes that "beat the Eritreans". A security guard at the airport in the same city boasts with a key-ring from which an odd metal shape dangles: supposedly a part of an Eritrean MiG-29 wreck, that was shot down by Ethiopian Su-27.
sumber: http://www.acig.info/CMS/option=com_...=138&Itemid=47
-------------------------------------------------------------
Nah pertempuran ini mungkin menjadi salah satu penyebab kenapa Su-27 semakin laku sedangkan nasib Mig-29 semakin terpuruk cap battle proven emang nggak boong
Diubah oleh Jitenbee 23-07-2013 17:12
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