That’s a rough flight.
A Russian fighter jet caught fire and crashed into a lake Wednesday while conducting a training run in the northern Murmansk region.
Video taken from afar of the two-seat long-range supersonic all-weather plane shows stunned bystanders gasping as it plunges behind the tree line.
The jet was taking part in a planned exercise outside the city of Monchegorsk, not far from the border Russia shares with new NATO member Finland, state media outlet TASS reported.
“During the execution of a planned flight, one of the engines of the MiG-31 caught fire, after which it fell. According to preliminary data, the plane crashed into the lake,” the news agency quoted a law enforcement source as saying.
“The pilots probably ejected. Eyewitnesses say they saw two paratroopers in the crash area.”
Russia’s defense ministry confirmed in a separate statement that the pilots were unharmed, evacuated by a search and rescue helicopter, and “nothing threatens their lives and health.”
There were no immediate reports of civilian casualties.
The MiG-31 Foxhound is armed with a six-barreled, 23mm cannon and can be modified to carry air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, hypersonic aeroballistic missiles and aerial bombs.
The long-range interceptor aircraft is manufactured by the Russian Aircraft Corporation (previously known as Mikoyan and MiG) and used by the Russian and Kazakhstani air forces, according to Airforce Technology.
The jet, which was inaugurated in 1975 during the Cold War, was the first Soviet fighter aircraft to have true “look-down and shoot-down” radar capability, meaning it could track and guide a weapon to its target.
The crash came as Russian forces struggle to gain ground in Moscow’s 14-month-old invasion of Ukraine.
