Jordanian F-16 allegedly downed by ISIS in Syria. Pilot captured.

A Rojal Jordanian Air Force F-16 was allegedly downed by ISIS in Syria. Pilot has been captured by IS militants.

Although it has not been officially confirmed yet, pictures posted on Social Media seems to prove a Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 has crashed in Syria. Pilot, whose military ID card was recovered and posted on Twitter, was captured by Islamic State militants.

According to several sources, the aircraft was downed by ISIS militants, 11 km to the east of Al-Raqqa, in the northern part of central Syria.

Although the reasons of the crash are still unknown, if it was not flying at high altitude, the aircraft may have been hit by ground fire.

ISIS forces are known to operate MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) along with anti-aircraft artillery pieces: the effectiveness of such weapons systems against low/medium flying jets and helicopters has been proved by the number of Syrian Arab Air Force aircraft shot down by local insurgents.

H/T Lorenzo Mainardi for the heads-up

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.