Europe and the Middle East

Fleet Survey

In the latest of our series, Alexander Mladenov examines Europe’s final surviving Frogfoots in Bulgaria, as well as the turbulent service history of the Su-25 in Iran and Iraq.

Su-25 operators Part 5

A pair of Bulgarian Air Force Su-25s each armed with four 20-round B-8 pods for 80mm calibre unguided rockets. These jets also carry R-60M air-to-air missile acquisition rounds on the outboard underwing pylons.

Alexander Mladenov

Bulgaria

Bulgaria was among the early export customers for the Frogfoot, taking delivery of 36 Su-25Ks and four two-seat Su-25UBKs between 1986 and 1988. These equipped the two squadrons of the 22 ShturmovI Aviatsionen Polk (ShtAP, Attack Regiment) stationed at Bezmer airfield in the southeast of the country. The consignment had mixed fortunes: one of the single-seaters was lost in a training accident in 1989 and another was damaged beyond repair in 1995. Then, during the 2000s, a total of 14 single-seat aircraft were sold to local intermediary companies – in at least three batches – and some of these were subsequently re-sold abroad.