Kharchevsky’s Lipetsk group

The Russian Falcons come from the Lipetsk aviation centre, the air force’s combat employment and conversion school, where a group was formed in 1993 to sharpen formation skills and show off the manoeuvrability of the Su-27. It was built around Aleksandr Kharchevsky, a fighter pilot who later became a major general and head of the centre. The name Sokoly Rossii was announced on 12 June 2004 at an air show in Nizhny Novgorod marking the centenary of Valery Chkalov. Kharchevsky led the group until 2015, when he reached the age limit for service; he died on 15 August 2024.

Dogfights instead of diamonds

Unlike Russia’s other jet teams, the Falcons do not specialise in tight formation aerobatics. Their display is built around offensive and defensive close air combat techniques flown at low altitude, alongside a four-ship diamond and solo routines. The group draws on whatever front-line types Lipetsk operates, and over the years has shown the Su-27, Su-30, Su-34, Su-35S, MiG-29 and Su-25. It has flown abroad in France, including a 2006 flypast over Paris with French Normandie-Niemen pilots, and in Norway, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus.

The Falcons today

By 2021 the group was demonstrating on the Su-30SM and Su-35S, led by Colonel Aleksandr Gostev with a small core of pilots that included Captains Vitaly Sorokin and Anatoly Sopin and Major Denis Pogodin; The Aviationist had noted in 2019 that the Falcons were already flying the Su-35. Wikipedia records appearances for the centenary of the wartime ace Aleksey Maresyev and the 75th anniversary of the 11th Air and Air Defence Forces Army. No fatal accident involving the group has been found in published sources.