In the thick of 2022, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent shockwaves across the globe, a faint glimmer of hope persisted. Many believed that Putin’s vaunted hypersonic weapons couldn’t be efficiently utilized, given that the MiG-31K, their usual carrier, had become a rare sight in the post-Soviet skies.

But that fragile comfort was shattered in mid-March. The sky roared, not with a MiG but a Sukhoi Su-34 strike/bomber. With terrifying precision, it released the first Kinzhal hypersonic missile in the conflict, showcasing that this post-Soviet warplane was far from obsolete and a formidable force to be feared.

Though the Su-34 had seen minimal action since its official induction into the Russian Air Force in 2014, this brazen act thrust it back into the limelight. Sleek, nimble, and boasting an impressive 4,000-kilometer range and a 14,000-kilogram bomb capacity, the aircraft seemed unstoppable.
But as it tore through the skies over Ukraine, a haunting story began to unravel piece by piece. The battlefield soon bore witness to the charred remains of the Su-34, and theories emerged about its design being its own worst enemy.


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Join Dark Skies as we explore the world of aviation with cinematic short documentaries featuring the biggest and fastest airplanes ever built, top-secret military projects, and classified missions with hidden untold true stories. Including US, German, and Soviet warplanes, along with aircraft developments that took place during World War I, World War 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and special operations mission in between.

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