Two Russian Generals Among Those Killed In AWACS Plane Ukraine Shot Down

And not just any generals, but the commander and deputy commanders of long range aviation of the Russian Air Force. As previous reports have acknowledged, losing the multi-hundred million dollar planes, which are rare, was bad enough. Losing trained crews and commanders - priceless. JL

Quaoar reports in Daily Kos:

The crew of about 10 from that downed Russian A-50 plane didn’t make it. The downed A-50 pilots were found near Berdyansk, their frozen remains in the snow. Lieutenant General Oleg Vladimirovich Pchela, commander of the long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force, was reportedly on board the A-50 aircraft (as was) Oleg Volodymyrovych Bdzhola, deputy commander of long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force. The distance from Ukrainian controlled territory to the location where the planes were believed to be is just at the range of a Patriot MIM-104D/E PAC-2 which has a published range of 160 km (86 nmi; 99 mi). Patriot seems to be the most popular working theoryDowned A-50 pilots were found near #Berdyansk, their frozen remains lie in the snow According to independent sources, Oleg Volodymyrovych Bdzhola, deputy commander of long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force, was on board the plane. Lieutenant General Oleg Vladimirovich Pchela, commander of the long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force, was also on board the A-50 aircraft If is true, it will be a very painful loss for the Russia.

 

The crew of about 10 from that downed Russian A-50 plane didn’t make it. The IL-22 was severely damaged but managed to land. It is still uncertain what weapon was used. The Russians claim it was friendly fire, which is, of course, bullshit.

 

The current Russian cope about the shootdown of the RFAF A-50 and damage to the Il-22 ranges from "friendly fire" to a "22 member British SAS team with MANPADS." Personally, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around what weapon was used if it was not friendly fire, which I do not believe it was. The distance from Ukrainian controlled territory to the location where the planes were believed to be is just at or outside of the range of a Patriot MIM-104D/E PAC-2 which has a published range of 160 km (86 nmi; 99 mi). Despite this, Patriot seems to be the most popular working theory I have observed from others.