🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 A Ukrainian MiG-29 shoots down a jet-powered Geran-4 at point-blank range over Kiev region, and may have paid for it

The fighter was so close to its target that it had to fly straight through the cloud of flame and debris.

Moments later, a suspicious trail of black smoke appeared behind one of its engines.

What could explain the smoke?

➡️Debris ingestion. The most likely cause. Fragments of the drone or the missile get sucked into the air intake and damage the compressor blades. The engine then burns fuel inefficiently, and it shows as black smoke.

➡️Hot gas ingestion. Flying through a fireball feeds the engine hot, oxygen-poor air. That can cause a compressor stall or surge, which also produces a burst of dark smoke, sometimes without lasting damage.

➡️Nothing at all. The MiG-29's RD-33 engines are famously smoky even when healthy. But smoke from only one engine, right after passing through an explosion, points to a problem.

If the engine did swallow debris, the jet would need to land quickly and the engine would need inspection or replacement, which Ukraine's ageing MiG fleet can hardly afford.

🔴 @DDGeopolitics