PUBLISHED on August 12, 2025, 1:26 PM EDT – Key Points and Summary – Russia’s Su-34 strike fighter has become the most destroyed combat aircraft of the Ukraine War, with losses mounting from both air defenses and increasingly effective Ukrainian drone strikes on airbases deep inside Russia.
-The aircraft’s role as a frontline “workhorse,” often flying dangerous, low-altitude missions, has made it exceptionally vulnerable.
-Despite a significant ramp-up in production of a modernized Su-34M variant, these heavy and repeated losses are creating a serious attrition problem for Russia’s tactical bomber fleet, a vulnerability Ukraine continues to exploit with operations like the massive “Spider Web” drone attack.
Why Has Russia Lost So Many Su-34 Fullback Fighter-Bombers in Ukraine
WARSAW, POLAND – On the night of June 27, a drone strike by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) hit several of the aircraft at the Marinovka Airbase in the Volgograd region of Russia. Satellite imagery of the aerodrome confirmed that two Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) Sukhoi Su-34 strike fighters were destroyed in this raid and that two others were damaged.
This attack was followed by another SBU drone strike on the night of June 28, on Kirovske Airfield on the occupied Crimean Peninsula in an overnight maneuver. This drone attack took out a number of helicopters, including at least one Mi-28 attack helicopter.
These drone strikes were part of an SBU offensive to increase the number of hits on Russian airfields. It bears mentioning that this was at the end of the same month when the Security Service had launched Operation Spider Web, a simultaneous attack on multiple Russian aerodromes.
These drone strikes destroyed numerous high-value Russian strategic bombers at various airbases located across much of the country. One of those aerodromes was located deep inside Siberia and some 4,000km from the border of Ukraine—this was the farthest penetration into Russian territory of any other previous drone strike.
The Curse on the Su-34
The Su-34 has been destroyed in greater numbers than any other model of Russian combat aircraft in the Ukraine War. This statistic has airpower analysts asking why this aircraft has been subject to so many shootdowns or being taken out while still on the ground.
One reason is that the aircraft has often been pressed into service to attack positions on the frontlines and from lower altitudes than any other bomber aircraft in Russian service. In more than one respect, it has been a utility attack aircraft of multiple mission roles for Russia’s air war against Ukraine.
These missions put the aircraft at a greater threat from air defense systems and tactical fighter aircraft than any of the other aircraft that the VKS is using in theatre. Many of the aircraft’s losses have also been due to it being pressed into low-altitude missions instead of launching precision munitions from standoff range.
However, a significant number of the Su-34s lost have been from attacks on aerodromes where the Su-34s are based. On June 13, 2024, several of these aircraft were damaged in a major drone strike on the Morosovsk Airfield in Russia’s Rostov region. This base is located at least 250 kilometres behind the front line of the conflict.
The Su-34 Program In a Higher Gear
The Su-34 had been put into production at a higher rate by the Russian Defence Ministry, which received six batches of the aircraft in 2024. By the end of the year, Russia’s aerospace industry had more than doubled production of the aircraft, reaching almost 30 of the Su-34s per year being rolled out of the Novosibirsk Aviation Production Association (NAPO) plant.
Because of the higher production rate, the Su-34 fleet is expected to reach more than 300 of this type by 2030. The uptick in production has also reportedly made the aircraft less expensive to produce than its initial production runs. The higher rate of production has also been made possible by the importation of electronic components from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The Su-34 units produced since 2024 have been a newer, modernized Su-34M variant. This upgraded configuration had first been ordered in 2020, but saw production delays due to several factors. These newer units are also being produced in several different variants. In addition to the regular bomber and precision-strike model, a specially modified electronic attack variant and an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance version will also be available.
In October 2023, the then-Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stated the Su-34 “is the main workhorse” of the VKS. This statement was largely due to the very high sortie rates being flown by these aircraft.
Although technically a bomber aircraft and developed originally as a “built-out” version of the Su-27, the Su-34 is the heaviest and longest ranged aircraft categorized as a fighter in the world today. However, many of its missions are closer in profile to Russian bomber aircraft like the Tu-22M3 or Su-24, rather than the sorties flown by fighter aircraft.
The aircraft had initially suffered higher losses than it is experiencing today. The attrition rates dropped in 2023 when the Su-34s stopped dropping “dumb” iron bombs and instead began launching long-range precision-guided glide bombs. This permitted the aircraft to attack targets from much greater distances.
A newer model of glide bomb for the Su-34 was provided to the aircraft in September 2024. A second new class of this weapon, the Drel cluster bomb, is expected to be integrated into the aircraft by the end of 2025.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
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