On February 21, 1999, the Eritrians ambushed with two MiG-29s, leading the first to attack at an altitude of about 6 km on the Ethiopian Su-27 "52" on duty above. Approaching the acceleration, the Su-27 pilot used the R-27RE from a range of about 45 km, but the rocket exploded near the target without hitting it, since the MiG-29 pilot's nerves could not stand it and he turned away, knowing about a surprise for the attacking fighter. The Su-27 pilot, continuing to approach the enemy in a turn, fired another R-27T at a distance of 10 km at the outgoing enemy and even saw the rupture of his missile near the MiG-29, which then began an energetic descent. But then a missile was also used against the Su-27 from the MiG-29, which was previously in ambush behind the plateau, and suddenly began to pursue the attacker. The difference in altitude of more than 4 km and the supersonic speed of the Su-27 allowed it to get away from the enemy, although the sight of two self-destructed missiles launched at it from the MiG-29 remained in the pilot's memory for a long time.
The damaged Eretrian MiG-29 was not counted, although, according to intelligence, it did not return to its airfield. Having carefully analyzed this air battle, the pilots were convinced of the correctness of their tactics, the superiority of aviation technology, and perked up.
Already on February 25, 1999, a Su-27 with hull number "54", performing scheduled air duty, was put out to intercept a pair of MiG-29s, which were clearly going to storm Ethiopian ground troops. Taking into account the experience of his comrades and clearly fulfilling the commands of the guidance officer, the pilot accurately entered the permitted launch zone, correctly withstood the regime and launched two P-27s on time at the leading open pair, piloted by the Eritrean pilot Samuel. As a result, the first MiG-29 was shot down, immediately collapsing in the air, the pilot died, and the second, turning energetically, returned to his territory without completing the task. The victory was confirmed by ground troops.
The next day, the enemy decided to catch the Su-27 on duty in the air, and at the end of his watch sent an aircraft of the MiG-29 type towards the capital of Ethiopia. The ground control station noticed the target at high altitude and immediately began to direct the Su-27 with the tail number "58". Everything happened almost as in exercises until the last minute, when another MiG-29 was discovered by the ground guidance point, going at low altitude and suddenly starting aiming at the Su-27. To the credit of the Su-27 pilot, despite the warning from the ground, and later the trill of the "Birch", signaling the capture of his aircraft by the enemy's sight and a possible launch at it, he managed to aim and fire two R-27T missiles in an extremely limited time. who hit the target. Eritrean pilot Jonas was killed. The second enemy plane, seeing the falling debris of its partner, urgently turned away and returned to its airfield. Due to the small remaining fuel, the Su-27 also had to return to its base. After landing, about 200 kg of kerosene remained in his tanks, which is less than half of the authorized emergency residue.
A thorough analysis of the battle showed that the pilot of the Su-27 was not shot down only because he fully realized the advantage of the Su-27, which has a slightly greater permitted launch range (here they are 2 seconds !!!) and in this case, a high flight speed. In the future, the guidance navigators always looked especially closely at the air situation at low altitudes, even delaying the start of guidance somewhat.
This air battle was recorded on videotape by the front-line Ethiopian correspondent. A few days later, this video was broadcast on local television, which helped to raise the morale of the troops and the prestige of the Su aircraft. He was recognized as the eldest in the family of combat aircraft in Ethiopia. Thanks to the effective use of the Su-27, absolute air supremacy was won. Throughout the war, Eritrean aviation never bombed the country's territory.
The enemy did not try to engage in open air clashes anymore, although he made a number of attempts with someone else's hands to check the Ethiopian air defense system. In one case, an allegedly lost Kenyan "Douglas" flew in from the northwest, intercepted over a desert area at a very long range and forcibly landed at the Bahar Dar airfield by a Su-27 on duty near the capital. After stopping the intruder, the Su-27 passed twice over the Douglas pilots escorted by ground guards and calmly sat down at the main airfield.
