September 23, 2007:
For the
third time this year, Russian Su-24 bombers were grounded because one of them
had crashed, and the reason was not immediately known. The Su-24s have been in
service for 32 years, and about a third, of the 1,400 manufactured, are still
in service.
The Su24 was something of an
"F-111 Lite." The 43 ton, swing-wing bomber has a crew of two and can carry up
to eight tons of weapons. The aircraft has inefficient engines, and lots of
electronics. When everything worked, the Su-24 was an all-weather bomber
capable of delivering dumb bombs quite accurately. Most of the time, everything
didn't work. Nevertheless, the aircraft performed well in Afghanistan during
the 1980s.
The basic design of the Su-24
was good, and Russia is spending lots of money to upgrade the electronics and
engines with more reliable equipment.