KHANAKALA, May 12 (AVN) - SU-25 Frogfoot fighters have flown 12 sorties in Chechnya since Thursday, a spokesman for the unified federal headquarters told the Military News Agency.
AN-26 Curl and AN-30 Clank planes flew four retransmission and reconnaissance missions. MI-24 Hind Army aviation helicopters flew 40 sorties.
The specific feature of the present stage of the federal aviation operation in Chechnya is that the stress on the pilots have considerably grown, despite the smaller number of missions, Anatoly Kornukov, Air Force commander told the Agency. Now the federal forces, militants and locals in Chechnya are mixed and that calls for greater responsibility when inflicting strikes. The main task here is to guarantee the security of the population and federal troops.
According to the spokesman the federals failed to find the SU-24MR Fencer plane missing since May 7. 18 aircraft as well as ground troops of the federal forces are employed in its search, the spokesman added.