An advanced Russian jet just crashed during its debut off the

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/11/14/an-advanced-russian-jet-just-crashed-during-its-debut-off-the-syrian-coast/

>A Russian fighter jet crashed in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to land on Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, which is stationed off the Syrian coast, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Monday in a statement.

>The plane went down several miles from the carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, according to the Ministry of Defense. The pilot ejected and was recovered.

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>It is unclear why the aircraft crashed; landing and taking off from an aircraft carrier is extremely difficult — even for the best-trained pilots. Russia’s carrier-based air wing is relatively inexperienced compared with its U.S. counterparts, and its deployment to the Syrian coast appears to be a combat operation and a testing ground for some of its capabilities, including the addition of new MiG-29Ks to its inventory.

>While land-based versions of the MiG-29 have been around since the 1980s, the MiG-29K underwent limited testing during the Cold War and was built only in modest quantities by Russia in the early 2000s. According to news reports, the MiG-29Ks were added to the Kuznetsov’s carrier wing this summer. Specifically designed to handler the rigors of carrier operations at sea, the MiG-29K boasts modest improvements over some of its older variants.
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