I've watched this video numerous times and still can't figure out how it's possible to shoot down your wingman.
According to the Russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber, the pilot survived and is now in the hospital.
(UPDATE: It appears that the first Russian jet doesn't hit the other one with a rocket, but the second jet has its wing simply fall off when it goes into a hard bank, with the heavy g-force. I'm not sure which explanation is crazier, but it does say something about the Russian maintenance of their aircraft.)
Source: Trench Art (David Axe Substack)
The Russian air force can’t afford to be shooting down its own Sukhoi Su-25 attack jets. The subsonic planes and their pilots have had a hard, hard war—and it’s only getting harder as attrition shrinks the fleet, compelling fewer planes and crews to fly more often to sustain their attacks.
On or just before Friday, a section of Russian Su-25s was performing one of its usual low-level rocket runs somewhere over the 700-mile front line of Russia’s 40-month wider war on Ukraine when something went tragically wrong.
One of the pilots fired his unguided rockets in the flight path of his wingman. The second jet exploded and tumbled to the ground. No parachute was visible in the video of the incident. (See above.)
It was the 39th confirmed Russian Su-25 loss of the wider war—and it further reduced an Su-25 force that had nearly 200 airframes prior to the war, but now may have just 100 or fewer once you add attrition from accidents and fatigue.
