According to the video description, the rocket reportedly hit and destroyed the house of a senior Chadian Army officer killing five people.
Taken on Apr. 17, 2020, at Adji Kossei Air Base, Chad, the video in this post features a Chadian Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 (NATO reporting name: Frogfoot) close air support (CAS) aircraft accidentally firing a rocket while refueling at the house of a senior army officer near the capital, N’Djamena.
Although the rocket missed a French C-130 Hercules, according to the video description, the rocket reportedly hit and destroyed the house of the senior army officer, identified as Mahamat Saleh Arim, located near the Adji Kossei Air Base.
Mahamat Saleh Arim is the deputy commander of the presidential guard and a close ally of President Idriss Deby Itno.
According to local reports, five people, including three children were killed in the accident. The reports added that two others were wounded in the incident.
The rocket reportedly struck just meters from the Chad headquarters of the French-led military campaign fighting militants in the region, Operation Barkhane. “An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of this incident,” said Youssouf Tom, public prosecutor at the N’Djamena High Court.
Developed in the Soviet Union by the Sukhoi Design Bureau, the Su-25 is a single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft. It was conceived to provide CAS for the Soviet Ground Forces. The first prototype made its maiden flight on Feb. 22, 1975. After testing, the type went into series production in 1978 at Tbilisi in the Soviet Republic of Georgia. Russian air and ground forces nicknamed it “Grach” (“Rook”). Upgraded variants developed by Sukhoi include the Su-25T and the further improved Su-25TM (also known as Su-39).
Chadian Air Force acquired a total of six aircraft (4 Su-25 and 2 Su-25UB) from Ukraine in 2008.
