Report: Russian Navy MiG-29K crashed returning to aircraft carrier from Syria

Mikoyan Gurevich

A MiG-29K takes off of the Admiral Kuznetsov.

A report from Combat Aircraft states that the Russian navy lost a MiG-29K fighter into the Mediterranean as it returned to the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier after operating over Syria.

Combat Aircraft reports that the plane's wreckage has been recovered and the pilot survived.

Recent reports and videos suggest that Russia began the Kuznetsov's first combat deployment last week in the Mediterranean to support Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Experts agree that the Kuznetsov's deployment to Syria doesn't meaningfully increase Russia's capabilities in the area, and that the deployment was done more for propaganda purposes and to showcase Moscow's military hardware, like the MiG-29K which displayed prominently in a flashy video of the operations aboard the Kuznetsov.

The news of the crash could potentially hurt Russia's prospects to export the plane to nations like India, Thailand, and China, who also operate MiGs and ski-slope style aircraft carriers.