



{"id":27066,"date":"2021-03-29T14:05:46","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T14:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media.am\/?p=27066"},"modified":"2021-04-02T11:14:56","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T11:14:56","slug":"pictures-of-armenian-su-30sm-show-missiles-that-according-to-pashinyan-armenia-did-not-manage-to-buy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2021\/03\/29\/27066\/","title":{"rendered":"Pictures Of Armenian Su-30SM Show Missiles That, According To Pashinyan, Armenia Did Not Manage To Buy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the end of March, photos of Armenian Su-30SMs with guided air-to-air missiles hovering under the fighter wing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/sisumasis\/6373\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">appeared<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the Internet. Earlier, Prime Minister Pashinyan <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2021\/03\/23\/26857\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">had said<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that before the war they had not managed to buy missiles for Su-30SM, that is why the jets did not enter the battle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The photos <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mamul.am\/am\/news\/206259\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">were also spread<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the press. Media.am studied them to find out where and when they were taken.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Su-30SM was parked at Shirak Airport<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Azerbaijani sources <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/military_az\/3648\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">claimed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the photos were taken at Erebuni airport. This statement is incorrect. The photos were taken at Gyumri &#8220;Shirak&#8221; airport. This is evidenced by the hangars seen in the pictures.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26962 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Su30SM-in-Shirak-air-base.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1366\" height=\"819\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Su30SM-in-Shirak-air-base.jpg 1366w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Su30SM-in-Shirak-air-base-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Su30SM-in-Shirak-air-base-1024x614.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Su30SM-in-Shirak-air-base-768x460.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1366px) 100vw, 1366px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hangars are green, they have a newly built look. There are similar newly built hangars in \u201cShirak\u201d airport. Google Earth satellite photos show that the hangars did not exist in June 2020, but were already built in September.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26970 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Visual-1-new-constructions-in-Shirak-airport-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Visual-1-new-constructions-in-Shirak-airport-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Visual-1-new-constructions-in-Shirak-airport-300x84.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Visual-1-new-constructions-in-Shirak-airport-1024x287.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Visual-1-new-constructions-in-Shirak-airport-768x215.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Visual-1-new-constructions-in-Shirak-airport-1536x431.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Visual-1-new-constructions-in-Shirak-airport-2048x574.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i>Newly built hangars at \u201cShirak\u201d airport. The photos were taken on June 13, 2020, and October 9, 2020.<\/i><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When were the photos taken?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RALee85\/status\/1375132271833968645?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">posts<\/span><\/a> on social media stated<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;that the photos were taken with a rocket between October 4-6, 2020. In other words, it was assumed from the notes that Pashinyan lied about the reasons for not using Su-30SMs on the battlefield.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RALee85\/status\/1375132271833968645?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/RALee85\/status\/1375132271833968645?s%3D20&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1617446215069000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGXqy5_6iEUZ4PHfGwwDPA8z1Swvw\">posts<\/a>&nbsp;on social media stated that the photos were taken between October 4-6, 2020. In other words, it was assumed that Pashinyan lied about the reasons for not using Su-30SMs on the battlefield.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Someone just leaked photos of the Armenian Su-30SM armed with R-27 and R-60 air-to-air missiles. The photos are claimed to have been taken between October 4 and 6, 2020. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vWrQljAfOT\">https:\/\/t.co\/vWrQljAfOT<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZbuLY1IXmS\">pic.twitter.com\/ZbuLY1IXmS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 301?? (@301_AD) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/301_AD\/status\/1375121553340399619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 25, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In order to take a photo from this angle, the Su-30SM had to face northeast, as in this picture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26956 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/North-East-plane-in-Shirak-Airport.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/North-East-plane-in-Shirak-Airport.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/North-East-plane-in-Shirak-Airport-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/North-East-plane-in-Shirak-Airport-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/North-East-plane-in-Shirak-Airport-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/North-East-plane-in-Shirak-Airport-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sun&#8217;s rays fall from the tail of the fighter to the nose, i.e. from the south-west. This means that the photo was taken in the afternoon, between 15:00 and 18:00.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26960 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sun-position-on-oct-4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1472\" height=\"858\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sun-position-on-oct-4.jpg 1472w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sun-position-on-oct-4-300x175.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sun-position-on-oct-4-1024x597.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sun-position-on-oct-4-768x448.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1472px) 100vw, 1472px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The photos show a clear sky, the weather is sunny. On October 4, 5 and 6, 2020, the weather in Gyumri was not completely clear, there were clouds. However, since the weather was only partly cloudy, it is impossible to rule out some parts of the sky being clear.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_26958\" style=\"width: 1448px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26958\" class=\"wp-image-26958 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Gyumri-Weather.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1438\" height=\"618\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Gyumri-Weather.jpg 1438w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Gyumri-Weather-300x129.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Gyumri-Weather-1024x440.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Gyumri-Weather-768x330.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1438px) 100vw, 1438px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-26958\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Data: timeanddate.com<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was not possible to find out the exact period with the available data. As the weather in Gyumri was partly cloudy in the first days of October, it is not possible to confirm or deny the claim that the photos were taken between October 4-6.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What missiles were visible on the fighter?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Missiles can be seen under the wing of Su-30SM. They belong to the group of guided air-to-air missiles. The first visible missiles are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktrv.ru\/production\/voennaya_produktsiya\/rakety_klassa_-vozdukh-vozdukh\/raketa_r-73e.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">R-73<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> class, then <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktrv.ru\/production\/voennaya_produktsiya\/rakety_klassa_-vozdukh-vozdukh\/rakety_r-27r1-_r-27er1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">R-27<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> class.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both missiles have export options (<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/roe.ru\/catalog\/vozdushno-kosmicheskie-sily\/aviatsionnye-rakety\/r-73e\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/roe.ru\/eng\/catalog\/aerospace-systems\/air-to-air-missile\/r-27r1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">). They <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dfnc.ru\/katalog-vooruzhenij\/rakety-vozdushnogo-boya\/r-27\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">could not<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dfnc.ru\/katalog-vooruzhenij\/rakety-vozdushnogo-boya\/r-73-rvv-md\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">been used<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Su-25 bombers of the RA Air Force without the use of additional equipment or modernization of aircraft. * Therefore, it is unlikely that Armenia had these missiles before the acquisition of the new generation Su-30SM fighters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prime Minister Pashinyan was talking about these missiles, noting that Armenia had not managed to buy them during the war. It is interesting that Pashinyan made this statement on March 20. A satellite photo of the Armenian Su-30SM armed with missiles was taken before that, on February 27 (see below).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26966 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/\u0540\u0580\u0569\u056b\u057c\u0576\u0565\u0580.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"719\" height=\"485\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/\u0540\u0580\u0569\u056b\u057c\u0576\u0565\u0580.jpg 719w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/\u0540\u0580\u0569\u056b\u057c\u0576\u0565\u0580-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 719px) 100vw, 719px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Former Chief of General Staff Movses Hakobyan also spoke about such missiles, claiming that Russia had decided to ban the sale of long-range air-to-air missiles to a second country and that Armenia had bought the fighters &#8220;without reading the Russian government&#8217;s decision.&#8221; In another article, Media.am <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2021\/03\/23\/26857\/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=71963c65375d4e2e5f345939d4b4c86d230f70e5-1617017873-0-AYjy1JLYvGfkKu3Z9ibWlgpthqECtGArRQ2nvBjJNByxXMGkN9-OY7yBvhsU4NVPsOzAvuJO8dKCX8fIHjC_Nna-ijwsGQST0vPh4J49EUO2OizgO_SeKR6sgwnZ8raITO_mD1lnLimKq9iePKVPI3jeSOaYPDJBY1-FEJKgqq7HM2H-fxPpW2bkHkX2hY0S7oj4SbXeJ8iv6mezpPYs0hxfusx-IFanG2pGESJU4f39NXRVNVJZ9vdla_ebr2aDFJKN1T74jyI1U8oUP0Xk026cx6iQXj_gl_87zxq44ohfj8x4Ljwuib_PzC1fWX34i5U2h_DzIfGsEcz4YhwY6X4SMhDuw98mnUp_KW_j3wSLQllQJWljuSiRw9QULNWhy4sQRznzgFMG2E1UTabFR-UJtAF6fNyqMgWu916yHX8D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">checked<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> these allegations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the above-mentioned two photos show the Su-30SM at &#8220;Shirak&#8221; airport, the fresh satellite photos show the fighters parked at &#8220;Erebuni&#8221; airport near Yerevan. Thus, in this picture of \u201cErebuni\u201d taken on February 27, you can see Su-30SM fighters armed with missiles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26973 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/last-photo-new.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/last-photo-new.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/last-photo-new-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/last-photo-new-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/last-photo-new-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.am\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/last-photo-new-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fighter missiles are highlighted in blue. Missiles can be seen on the 1st, 3rd and 4th planes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summing up, we must say that the photos that appeared on the Internet show an Armenian Su-30SM fighter with guided air-to-air missiles. The photos were taken at Gyumri &#8220;Shirak&#8221; airport, at least after June 2020 (as the green hangars&nbsp;in the June&nbsp;satellite photos had not been built yet). The claim that the photos were taken between October 4-6 could not be confirmed by the available data. It is not ruled out that they may have been taken at another time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><b>Karine Ghazaryan<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">* The article was amended on March 30, 2021. The initial version did not state that the P-73 and P-27 class missiles could be used for Su-25 aircraft if upgraded.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of March, photos of Armenian Su-30SMs with guided air-to-air missiles hovering under the fighter wing appeared on the Internet. Earlier, Prime Minister Pashinyan had said that before the war they had not managed to buy missiles for Su-30SM, that is why the jets did not enter the battle. The photos were also<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2021\/03\/29\/27066\/\"> Read the full article&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-verified","author_posts-karine-ghazaryan"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27066"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27089,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27066\/revisions\/27089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}