Yeah, Bubba, "they" musta greatly improved those pods ince we saw them integrated on U.S. jets. Being the "dark world" of ECM, I would not expect to see details of any improvements, ya think?
Secondly, can't tell if they tried to use the hook. I had my A-7D hook skip the cable one rainy night and thankfully snagged the primitive one at the overrun that dragged out huge boat chain links, heh heh. Could be they were past the departure cable or thot they were too fast or..... Takeoff roll isn't that long, best I can tell. Then again, maybe they lost directional control and never got there. No mid-field cable either, but a very good overrun cable that's much better than than one I took.
Crying shame to lose that expensive beast, and this Red Flag looks like it's gonna be a ballbuster for "close" allies only.
Gums...