Oh yea, I'm gonna take the Russians' word for it, they've never shot down anything flying near their airspace before! Oh and they don't ever lie either!!! LOL!

Most of their explanations for why it's fake... aren't necessarily true, or are misleading. I mean, suggesting that all air to air missiles are smokeless while all SAMS are not... BS.

Flying under the UAV to get the shot, they suggest is stupid and makes no sense, but this is shallow, not much under. Also it DOES make sense to get under it, to have improved contrast for the IR seeker, more important than usual given that a UAV will have a very small IR signature.

Probably the most credible issue the Russians make, is that of the missile's launch: they say the Mig-29 does not fire missiles from the wingtip, or close to it, while the video, if you watch it carefully like I did several times, shows it's doing exactly that, right under the wingtip. But... is that enough to prove the video is fake? I'd just as soon believe that some Migs were rigged to have an additional hardpoint that the West doesn't know about, than believe this video was faked, since either would be plausible and straightforward to accomplish.

Ultimately though, Russia has a history seen by us where they lie for whatever reason.

The Ethiopian pilot's name was Captain Aster Tolossa. It was the first air to air kill by a woman since World War II.

Miao, Cat

Anyone have a good high-res copy of this? I'm going nuts trying to figure out if it's a MiG or a Sue.

At first I was sure it's a Fulcrum, but after repeated viewings, there are certain angles that make me think Flanker.

In the beginning, the LERX and the seemingly perpendicular vertical tails look like the Su-27. But a few moments later, the fins look canted outward a few degrees. The whole "wingtip missile" thing is buggin' me, too. It's hard to tell if it's a wingtip, or the outer pylon of a MiG-29.

I know it's pointless to obsess over it, but I pride myself on my aircraft recognition skills...

Thanks for that info Cat. I really had no knowledge of that incident.