Roman Filipov


Roman Nikolayevich Filipov was a Russian military pilot who killed himself in a last stand to avoid being captured after being wounded by militants when his Su-25SM jet was shot down in Idlib Province, Syria, on 3 February 2018. Filipov was posthumously awarded the honor of the Hero of the Russian Federation.

Biography

Roman Filipov was born on 13 August 1984 in Voronezh to the family of a military pilot and graduated from school No. 85 in Voronezh in 2001.
Upon completing the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School, he was posted at the air base in the village of :ru:Черниговка |Chernigovka, Primorsky Krai, in the Russian Far East. In the summer of 2017, he was stationed in Sakhalin.
On 3 February 2018, during the Syrian Civil War, Filipov was flying a Sukhoi Su-25 accompanied by another Su-25 at an altitude of about on a routine patrol mission over the province of Idlib. Uploaded videos showed the jet was part of a two-ship formation flying at low-to-medium altitude, with the downed aircraft separating and diving to perform a rocket attack. While pulling up after deploying air to ground rockets without deploying defensive flares, the Su-25 was hit by a missile. He was downed by militants over the province of Idlib, near the town of Maarrat al-Nu'man, or the town of Saraqib, according to other sources, presumably by a shoulder launched surface to air missile. Responsibility was claimed by Tahrir al-Sham and Jaysh al-Nasr, which is affiliated with the Free Syrian Army.
Filipov survived the crash and was last seen on live footage being surrounded by militants and committing suicide with a grenade to avoid capture. On the same day, Russia retaliated by firing Kalibr missiles targeting rebel positions in Idlib province responsible for the downing, killing at least 30 rebel fighters.
On 6 February 2018, by presidential decree, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
Filipov's body was repatriated to Russia on 6 February 2018. Commemoration events in his memory were held across Russia. Major Filipov was buried with full military honors on 8 February 2018 at the Alley of Glory of the Kominternovskoye Cemetery in Voronezh with thousands of people attending the related ceremonies. In his speech to the Russian parliament, President Putin hailed his courage and service.