Russia has had considerable casualties of Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers during the recent war with Ukraine. And now the Ukrainians have a new project, which uses parts of these aircraft that were shot down.
On other occasions, we show our audience aircraft key chains, made with parts of historic or highly relevant aircraft. That's exactly what Ukrainians are doing to raise funds to buy drones.
“I have been thinking for a long time how to save more money to buy drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is obvious that we must look for money abroad. It is also obvious that everyone who wanted to donate has already donated. It is necessary to involve the general public. It means that we must give something for a donation. Ukrainian postage stamps are great, but we need to find something cooler.”, wrote Yura Vysoven, project leader for the Drones for Ukraine Foundation, in a Facebook post.
According to Vysoven, there are 48 units that will most likely be disputed. On Reedit he also pointed out that there is material to make over 100 key chains like the ones below.
https://www.facebook.com/yura.vysoven/posts/10221875906194456
To acquire one like this one, you need to donate more than US$ 1000 to the Drones for Ukraine Foundation. They give the keychain as a “souvenier”. “It's not for sale,” Vysoven said.
The punch used to mount the key chains is a Sukhoi Su-34 shot down in early March 2022 near Kiev. According to Ukrainian military, it was ed as RF-81251, had a Red 31 callsign and belonged to the 227th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Russian Air Force.
On the key chain we can find the geographical coordinates of the fighter's crash site at the top, along with a thank you message and a scketch of the fighter-bomber.
Real data indicate that another nine Russian Sukhoi Su-34 planes were shot down or crashed in Ukraine, but certainly not all of them can be recovered and become key chains.
The Sukhoi Su-34
The Sukhoi Su-34, designated Fullback by NATO, is a long-range fighter-bomber developed from the Su-27IB prototype in the Soviet period. Equivalent to the North American F-15E Strike Eagle, the Su-34 is crewed by two soldiers (pilot and co-pilot/weapons systems operator) who sit side by side in an armored cockpit, accessed through a ladder in the landing gear. front landing.
In addition to the 30mm GSh-1-30 cannon (traditional armament among Russian fighters), the Su-34 can carry eight tons of various weapons, including the R-73 and R-27 air-to-air missiles, Kh-31 anti-radar missiles, KAB-500 series smart bombs and anti-ship missiles such as the Kh-35 and cruise missiles such as the Kh-59.
Due to the design of its radome (which houses the Leninets V004 ive electronically scanned multimode radar), the Su-34 is nicknamed the duckbill or platypus.
