Why Did Russian MiG-31K Fighter’s Engine Catch Fire Over Maladzechna?
- 19.01.2023, 17:41
The military analyst believes that this is only the beginning.
Today, residents of Maladzechna and a number of other cities heard a powerful explosion. Monitoring groups write that it is about the surge of the engine of the Russian MiG-31K fighter jet.
According to the monitoring groups, the MiG-31K fighter of the Russian Aerospace Forces (RF-95194) caught fire in one of the two engines, this was accompanied by the sound of an explosion.
This is not the first time such a jet has been on fire in Belarus. On December 25, the MiG-31K caught fire at the airfield in Machulishchy.
What was the reason for such incidents and will it happen again? Charter97.org asked this question to Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko.
– If there was a surge, then with a certain degree of probability we can talk about engine damage. It requires serious maintenance at least and repair work in general because it is out of order.
Why did it happen? In fact, Russia is using the old Soviet MIG-31 aircraft, which has been on duty since the 70s, as a carrier for its Kh-47M2 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. They stopped their production 25 years ago in 1994. As we understand it, the youngest MIG-31 in use is 28 years old.
Some may say that this is not a great age for aircraft, but taking into account the level of operational load for these fighters, I even say overloads, it is possible that problems with propulsors and engines will only become more frequent.
Aircraft must undergo routine technical work, routine maintenance, and replacement of spare parts if they have a certain level of wear.
Knowing about the situation that exists in the Russian army, we can say that all this was not carried out qualitatively and regularly.
These fighters are, to put it mildly, in unsatisfactory technical condition. Such incidents will only become more frequent because Russia has significantly increased the operational load for the jets. There is a constant imitation of launches of the Kinzhal missiles from the territory of Belarus.