The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian air force has admitted that the service lost one Sukhoi Su-25 in combat operations in Chechnya, while 14 other aircraft have been damaged by ground fire, including one Ilyshin Il-76 transport.
Col. Gen. Piotr Deinekin once again claimed, that the air force had stopped bombing raids, on Grozny from 24 December 1994, having received the orders from President Boris Yeltsin, but he acknowledges, that on 17 and 18 January, the raids restarted with "pinpoint attacks on Dudayev's bunker in the presidential palace".
Deinekin says that "...special concrete-piercing bombs were used with a fuse delay of up to 32s".
Laser-guided bombs were dropped to destroy seven bridges across the River Argun to prevent reinforcements reaching the rebel forces in Grozny.
A photograph of a KAB-1500L-guided bomb, presumably released from a Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer, was shown on Russian television. Another report showed a TV-sequence from a missile seeker, which may have been a Raduga Kh-59 (AS-14 Kingbolt), launched also from a Su-24, hitting one of the bridges.
The air force was recently reported to have begun mine-laying operations from the air in rural regions of Chechnya, blocking the routes used by the rebel forces.
Source: Flight International
