Su-25 'Frogfoot' Units In Combat (Combat Aircraft, 109)

Pretty in depth analysis of Frogfoit operations and nearly current with the Ukranian conflict. I love the Osprey series and this one was short and lacking a little depth but overall an entertaining read. The book really proved the survivability of this aircraft but was lacking a little interesting details about how it can run on diesel fuel and not much focus on the cannon but I'm being picky and does cover the action of this aircraft though in some areas consists of only a few paragraphs. A must have for Soviet aircraft enthusiasts and lots of color panels of different units in different conflicts for reference in modeling, if you're into that. The American aircraft in Osprey series get much more thorough explanation but that's to be expected.Warthog, shmorthog.

Wow! What a terrific and informative title for Osprey! I was fascinated with the in depth history that author Alexander Miladenov provided. I would suggest you also buy Osprey's Su-25 Frogfoot in the Air Vanguard series (#9 in that set). If you want to know what the Soviet version of the American A-10 Warthog did in history, this is THE book for you! I bought both, have read both, and will probably re-read both again soon! The author delivers a NON-BIASED, objective, viewpoint of the history of the aircraft in action. Was it perfect? No, and the author tells you why. Was it a good plane that carried forth and did it's job and duty as a ground attack plane? YES! And again, the author will explain why. I hope these are just the beginnings of this author's writings available to the Western world, I'm looking forward to them and his style or writing. The color profiles were superb, and Osprey as usual delivered!

This is a good supplement to the other Su-25 book by Mladenov. This book is basically a bunch of war stories of Su-25 pilots in various conflicts - really all of them up until the date of publication. Sadly, some of the full stories can't be told as the pilots died; but this is not the author's fault. This book covers as much as possible pilot narratives, technical anlaysis, and sort of overview issues.It's interesting to learn how many Frogfoots were shot down - many more than I would have thought. It makes me wonder if this design is as good as planned or advertised. I compare this to the A-10, in which very few have been shot down even if many have been damaged. It is not a perfect comparison as the Frogfoot and the Warthog faced different threat environments. but it's a question I ask as the planes are sort of siblings.www.liamhdooley.com

This almost unit diary gave me a better understanding of the plane. I thing there is a myth that this is a CAS aircraft. Maybe it is in theory, but it’s operators did not have the comms, personnel, support aircrafts or doctrine for that function. If you disagree don’t kill me, please read the A-10 entry in this same Osprey collection. That being said, these pilots were without doubt brave and resourceful people.

I like the way , the author is good , same for the pictures and excellent for the color profiles.

Excellent information on a type of aircraft not often heard about in the west. Usual high standards for Osprey Publishing.

I really enjoyed reading this book, especially some infos about combat in Afghanistan and how pilots did there.If the book would have more pages and more pictures I would give him 5 stars for sure.

Good

'Why is it that spectacularly fast, sleek and pretty planes always get all the attention' I mused one day 'how about all those ugly, yet highly useful workhorses?' Putting my money where my mouth was, I bought this booklet about the decidedly ugly Sukhoi-25 'Frogfoot'. This plane's design started in the late 1960s and it was produced in significant numbers in the 1970s and 1980s - ironically (given its future use) in a plant located near Tblisi, Georgia.The Su-25's role is similar to that of the A-10 and the Buccaneer, i.e. low level ground attack. Because of the inherently high risk associated with this role, the Su-25 has a number of design features to increase its survivability to whatever ground forces would throw up at it: it has lots of armour-plating (the pilot being seated in a titanium 'bathtub'), highly robust controls and lots of redundancy.Despite this, the Frogfoot suffered heavily in the Afghan war from Stinger SAMs, to the point that the Russians were forced to stop using it at the low level where it belonged, instead flying some 5 km high and even limiting the lowest point of the dive to no less than some 3 km above target. Needless to say, this greatly reduced the plane's operational effectiveness. From these kind of altitudes, the typical targets (a shepherd with a few donkeys carrying arms & ammo, say) were not even visible, let alone that the Su-25's then rudimentary optics could ensure bombs or rockets actually hitting their mark.The Su-25 saw fairly extensive use in various small conflicts after the Soviet Union's break-up: they were used against by Russia against Georgia (clandestinely supporting Abkhazian separatists and then openly in the 5-day war), against the Chechens and againts Tajiki insurgents. The Frogfoot's high affordability and high availability to all sorts of countries suffering from internal trouble means that it is still used in a number of low-level conflicts around the world (often flown by mercenary pilots). Past examples include use by Peru against airborne drug dealers, by Ivory Coast against rebels (accidentally hitting some French soldiers too), by Sudan against separatists and by Angola against UNITA. Some of these conflicts actually pitted the Su-25 against Russia itself, as happened during the 5-day war (the few Georgian Su-25's did not achieve anything themselves, but their existence resulted in a number of 'blue-on-blue' hits by other Russian planes and by Russian SAMs on their own Su-25s which were mistaken for Georgian ones). More recently, Su-25's were used by Ukraine against Russian separatists in the East, and by Iraq against ISIS (some of their Su-25s were originally used against Iran at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, then flown to Iran during the first Gulf war, and have now been returned, complete with Iranian Revolutionary Guard pilots).On the Frogfoot's looks: I must say that the plane's esthetics started to grow on me after a while. With a catchy camo colour-scheme and a nice shark-beak on the nose, it could even be argued to look slightly handsome.In common with most of these booklets, the prose fits the plane itself: somewhat prosaic rather than beautiful. Lots of listings of exactly which OshAP flew how many missions from which base during what war, accompanied by detailed %s of which type of ordnance was dumped on the enemy, but little perspective e.g. on how the Su-25 stacks up against other planes for similar roles. A case in point of how the forest gets somewhat obscured by all those trees. Even the eye-witness accounts of downed pilots came out somewhat bland, which is a pity as there must be so many good stories to tell about this planes still recent use.

The Su-25 Frogfoot, an ungainly looking close air support aircraft and contemporary of the American Fairchild A-10, has been amongst the most frequently used, if hardly glorified platforms of post WW2 Soviet / Russian air campaigns. Coming to prominence in Afghanistan, it operated in practically all conflicts after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, where the Russian or other CIS air forces played a role, and in several additional ones, to boot. Its good ability to absorb combat damage, its general ruggedness and low maintenance requirements, as well as a good capability as an attack weapons platform conspired to make it so widely used.In line with the series format, the author covers the development process of the aircraft (although little is said of the other competitors for the role), the basic systems, weapons and performance data, and then primarily focuses on actual combat use and experience. This contains a good mix of first hand accounts and overall summaries by the author, and is easy and pleasant to read. While the book does not quite stretch to the current employment in Syria, some of Ukraine is covered, so it is quite up to date.In addition to the well conceived text, you will get plenty of photographs, the usual line drawings and colour plates of all the many operators, and all the necessary technical data.As such it is a really valuable addition to the series, and one of the relatively rare ones covering Soviet / Russian types. As such, every military aviation enthusiast will do well to take a look, as will those interested in the late CW / post CW conflicts more generally.

An excellent book, well written and full of interesting information.

Very good book if you are interested in the subject matter. I found the descriptive writing about Russian tactics using the Su-25 to be particularly interesting. As a life long fan of the A-10 since I was a kid, this book helped me to appreciate an equally impressive ground attack aircraft.

Il libro ha soddisfatto le mie aspettative. Descrive con sufficiente dettaglio le operazioni belliche di questo aereo d'attacco, nei vari teatri, dalle campagne in Afghanistan fino al Caucaso, con notizie recentissime dal Medio Oriente.