A recent digital ad for President Trump’s reelection campaign calling for the public to “support our troops” reportedly used a stock image of Russian-made fighter jets and weapons, Politico reported Monday, citing experts who identified the image.
“That’s definitely a MiG-29,” Pierre Sprey, who helped design both the F-16 and A-10 planes for the U.S. Air Force, told Politico regarding the photo in the ad. “I’m glad to see it’s supporting our troops.”
Ruslan Pukhov of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow also confirmed to Politico that the planes are Russian MiG-29s and said the soldier on the far right carries an AK-74 assault rifle.
The digital ad was made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and ran from Sept. 8 to Sept. 12. It features the silhouette of soldiers standing beneath the jets.
In identifying the jets to Politico, Sprey noted the angle of the aircraft’s tail and the spacing of the engines. Russia’s MiG-29 was developed during the Cold War specifically to counter American F-15s and F-16s, and the U.S. obtained a few to play the adversary in war games, Politico noted.
The Trump Make America Great Again Committee is run by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The Trump campaign and the RNC did not immediately respond to The Hill for comment. The RNC declined to comment to Politico.
Politico identified the image used in the ad as a stock photo available on Shutterstock named “Military silhouettes of soldiers and airforce against the backdrop of sunset sky.”