False: Video shows a demonstration of a fighter jet at Aero India 2023 in Bengaluru.

By: Ankita Kulkarni
February 17 2023

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Context

Biennial air show Aero India 2023 is being held from February 13 to 17 at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru, India. The five-day event on the theme ‘The runway to a billion opportunities' will display India's growth in aerospace and defense capabilities, according to a government release. Reports say the U.S. Air Force's F-35 and Russia's Sukhoi fifth-generation SU-57 fighter jets will be exhibited. Amid this, a 15-second video was shared online with the claim that it is from the ongoing Aero show. The video shared on Twitter shows a fighter jet moving in the Cobra maneuver, in which the plane maintains a vertical position while in the air before flying off. The tweet claims that the video was shot during Aero India 2023 and has garnered 15.7K views on the platform. 

In Fact

A Google reverse image search led us to multiple social media posts that shared the video before Aero India 2023 began. It was shared on Twitter by a user called "Avia. Pro-Foreign Affairs-Geopolitics" on February 9, 2023, and the caption read, "Russian pilot at a flight demonstration. Aircraft type - Sukhoi SU-35." Another Twitter post by "Dénes Törteli" on February 8, 2023, also shared the video with the caption, "The legendary Su-35 in an air show and on the real battlefield in Ukraine." 

We also found the image of the fighter jet on Airliners.net, a website that includes an extensive photo database of aircraft and airports. The website noted it is a "Russian airforce Sukhoi Su-30MKI." Though the jet in the video resembles the Russian jet, the comments under both Twitter videos suggested that it could be a radio-controlled (RC) model of the Russian fighter jet SU-35. 

The dimensions of the jet seen in the video also made us doubt its authenticity. We tried to find out if RC models of SU-35s are available. We found a YouTube video uploaded on the channel Airgaurdian on July 22, 2022, which shows an RC model of the SU-35 made by a company called the "Freewing Model." We can see that it resembles a fighter jet and also similarly attempts a cobra maneuver, as seen in the viral video. The RC model's proportion and color also match the one in the now-viral video. This indicates that the jet seen in the viral video could very well be a model. 

Though we could not ascertain the origin of the viral video, it predates the commencement of the Aero India 2023 and was not shot from the Yelahanka Air Force Station. A Technical Engineer from HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed to Logically that it is an old video and is not related to Aero India 2023.

The Verdict

The viral video that shows a remote-controlled model of a fighter jet predates Aero India 2023 and was not captured recently in Bengaluru, India. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.