North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversees flight drills of combat pilots of Unit 1017 of the Air and Anti-aircraft Force of the Korean People‘s Army on Apr. 16, as reported by Korean Central Television (KCTV) on Apr. 17. (Yonhap News)
@GIKorea, you used the same pic for the new guided weapons test. Your editorial guise is slipping. Hehehehe
setnaffa
5 years ago
That aircraft is a Sukhoi Su-25 “Frogfoot”, essentially a hybrid fighter/ground support aircraft from the Reagan years…
Wikipedia reports, “North Korea was the first Asian country to obtain the Su-25. In the period from the end of 1987 until 1989, the DPRK acquired a total of 32 single-seat Su-25Ks and four Su-25UBKs. The aircraft are based at Sunchon Airport (20 km from Pyongyang), which features heavily fortified natural hangars equipped with blast-proof doors capable of protecting the aircraft from conventional and nuclear explosions.”
As to the types listed, they’re essentially the generic export model:
Su-25K
The basic Su-25 model was used as the basis for a commercial export variant, known as the Su-25K (Komercheskiy). This model was also built at Factory 31 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The aircraft differed from the Soviet Air Force version in certain minor details concerning internal equipment. A total of 180 Su-25K aircraft were built between 1984 and 1989.
Su-25UBK
From 1986 to 1989, in parallel with the construction of the main Su-25UB combat training variant, the Ulan-Ude plant produced the so-called “commercial” Su-25UBK, intended for export to countries that bought the Su-25K, and with similar modifications to that aircraft.
Since they have a total of 36 of these birds and they’re at least 30 years old and probably held together with spit and baling wire, they probably are intended as a deterrent to the RoK getting itchy trigger fingers rather than an actual threat.
@GIKorea, you used the same pic for the new guided weapons test. Your editorial guise is slipping. Hehehehe
That aircraft is a Sukhoi Su-25 “Frogfoot”, essentially a hybrid fighter/ground support aircraft from the Reagan years…
Wikipedia reports, “North Korea was the first Asian country to obtain the Su-25. In the period from the end of 1987 until 1989, the DPRK acquired a total of 32 single-seat Su-25Ks and four Su-25UBKs. The aircraft are based at Sunchon Airport (20 km from Pyongyang), which features heavily fortified natural hangars equipped with blast-proof doors capable of protecting the aircraft from conventional and nuclear explosions.”
As to the types listed, they’re essentially the generic export model:
Su-25K
The basic Su-25 model was used as the basis for a commercial export variant, known as the Su-25K (Komercheskiy). This model was also built at Factory 31 in Tbilisi, Georgia. The aircraft differed from the Soviet Air Force version in certain minor details concerning internal equipment. A total of 180 Su-25K aircraft were built between 1984 and 1989.
Su-25UBK
From 1986 to 1989, in parallel with the construction of the main Su-25UB combat training variant, the Ulan-Ude plant produced the so-called “commercial” Su-25UBK, intended for export to countries that bought the Su-25K, and with similar modifications to that aircraft.
Since they have a total of 36 of these birds and they’re at least 30 years old and probably held together with spit and baling wire, they probably are intended as a deterrent to the RoK getting itchy trigger fingers rather than an actual threat.