Apparently, at least a portion of Russia’s fleet of Su-24 Fencers are running on handheld Garmin-like GPS systems in addition to their aging inertial navigation systems, as seen in this photo tweet showing a Fencer refueling from an Il-76 Midas tanker.
Setups like these were not totally uncommon in the late 1990s in some US combat aircraft that still had not received an embedded GPS/INS upgrade, but seeing this in 2015 is a bit startling. They even have what looks like a homemade plastic cradle made for the unit replete with rubber band “hold-back system!”
Tyler Rogoway is a defense journalist and photographer who maintains the website Foxtrot Alpha for Jalopnik.com You can reach Tyler with story ideas or direct comments regarding this or any other defense topic via the email address Tyler@Jalopnik.com