MOSCOW. Sept 28 (Interfax-AVN) - NATO experts could not get hold of the secret code of the identification friend-or-foe (IFF) system from the Russian Su-27 fighter that recently crashed in Lithuania, Army General Pyotr Deinekin, former commander of the Russian Air Force, said on Wednesday.
"Classified information could not get into alien hands, because Russian warplanes have code destruction systems with triple redundancy for emergency situations," Deinekin told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"There have been cases when our secret codes got into the hands of foreign states' secret services," he noted, saying that it used to happen when traitor pilots hijacked planes and fled abroad.
"We had to redesign IFF systems, which required very high expenses," Deinekin said.
He explained that Russian warplanes have code destruction systems with triple redundancy for emergency situation. Before leaving the plane, the pilot should press an explosion button that activates the charge which destroys the codes. In addition, the code destruction system goes off automatically when the ejection system is activated. "Moreover, another code destruction device goes off when the plane hits the ground," he said.
Lithuanian television reported on Tuesday evening, quoting its sources, that Su-27 pilot Major Valery Troyanov may not have destroyed the plane's IFF system and that it may have been revealed among the plane's wreckage.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Gediminas Kirkilas neither confirmed nor denied unofficial reports that the IFF secret code from the Russian Su-27 plane may be in the possession of NATO. "I cannot confirm this because this is a state secret," Kirkilas said on Lithuanian national radio on Wednesday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov earlier said an IFF system self-destructs as a pilot ejects from the plane.
The Su-27 crashed in Lithuania's Sakiai district adjacent to the Kaliningrad region on September 15. Pilot Troyanov ejected safely before being charged with violating international flying regulations by Lithuania. He is currently under house arrest at a Lithuanian hotel.