MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. A Su-25 aircraft safely returned to its airbase in its sortie in Ukraine after two missiles of the Stinger man-portable anti-aircraft missile system hit its engine, a navigator of a Russian air squadron said on Monday.
"There were two instances of Stinger missiles hitting the engine, following which the aircraft safely returned and made a landing at the take-off airfield," the squadron’s navigator said in a live broadcast on TV Channel One.
The Su-25 ground attack aircraft is "quite survivable in combat conditions" and also performs excellently at low and ultra-low altitudes, he said.
The FIM-92 Stinger is a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile system that was developed by the US-based General Dynamics in the late 1960s through the late 1970s and produced by Raytheon Missile Systems. The Stinger is no longer manufactured today. The air defense weapon is capable of striking aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, locking on the target by detecting its infrared or ultraviolet radiation. The Stinger has a maximum operating range of about 5 km.
The Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft is designated to provide close support to ground forces day and night and to destroy targets with designated coordinates round-the-clock in any weather conditions. As of now, the Russian Armed Forces operate the Su-25SM and Su-25SM3 modifications and the Su-25UB combat trainer version.