Russian bombers perform flight to stratosphere

Russian Eastern Military District Sukhoi Su-34 pilot crews have performed flights to the stratosphere, the upper layer of the athmosphere, the head of the district's press service, Alexander Gordeyev, has told TASS. 

According to the official, the crews also trained night flight navigation and drilled bomb attacks against ground targets at one of the local test ranges.

The Su-34 two-seat frontline bomber is capable of operating equally efficiently day and night and in any weather conditions. The Su-34 dubbed as Fullback under NATO classification is designed to deliver missile and bomb strikes against ground objectives and destroy an enemy’s aerial targets.

The Su-34, which is a modified version of the Su-27 (Flanker) fighter aircraft, has been developed by the Sukhoi design bureau under the guidance of its chief designer Rollan Martirosov. The fighter bomber has been serial produced at the Novosibirsk-based Aircraft-Making Enterprise since 2006.

The Su-34 performed its debut flight in 1990 (the prototype aircraft T-10V-1 was piloted by USSR honored test pilot Anatoly Ivanov).

The Su-34 was developed for promptly redeploying it for missions from any parts of the country to its border to reliably seal off a possible armed conflict before the arrival of the main forces.