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Two of Russia's Su-34's have been involved in a mid-air collision during a training mission over the Sea of Japan. The Su-34 is a two-seater variant of the Sukhoi Flanker aircraft, and it is used as a strike aircraft. The Su-34 fleet has been grounded, despite the accident being reported as pilot error. There are a few reports about the status of the pilots and planes, but they seem to conflict with one another. I'll update as more information gets confirmed.

Update: the most consistent story I've seen regarding the pilots is that one plane's crew ejected, and one pilot has already been rescued. One operator may have died at sea. The other aircraft may have landed, but some reports still say both planes crashed.

https://theaviationist.com/2019/01/18/t ... confirmed/

Now it appears both aircraft crashed and both crew ejected. Two bodies have been recovered and one pilot has been rescued as previously stated. The last person is still missing.

Still no news on the fourth pilot, but today a Russian Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber crashed while landing at Olenya Air Base near Murmansk, killing 3 of the 4 people on board. Not a good week for Russian strike aircraft.

https://theaviationist.com/2019/01/22/r ... w-members/

This should probably be a separate thread but here's a wild video of the TU-22 crash. RIP to the crew.

https://www.facebook.com/Aeronews.ro/vi ... permPage=1