Here’s how the Turkish F-16 shot down a Syrian Mil Mi-17 Hip helicopter today

September 16, 2013 Syria, Troubled Areas
David Cenciotti

More details about the downing of a Syrian helicopter are emerging.

Turkish General Staff released a statement and published the radar track history regarding the incident.

Here’s how the incident unfold:

1. The Syrian Mi-17 Hip was first detected as possible intruder and immediately tracked by the Diyarbakir CAOC (Combined Air Operations Center) at 13:41 LT, while it was 26 NM (nautical miles) from the border.

2. CAOC repeatedly issued warnings to the helicopters until it was 5 NM from the border

3. The helicopter intruded Turkish airspace at 14:25 near Guvecci Gendarmerie Post at Yayladag, Hatay province at 14,200 ft and 2km depth.

4. Two F-16Cs that were on CAP (Combat Air Patrol) nearby were diverted to intercept the helicopter

5. The helicopter was shot down at 14:27 and crashed at 1km within the Syrian side of the border.

Here below you can see a video showing the Syrian helicopter falling to the ground after being hit.

And in the following video you can see the wreckage of the downed Hip.


H/T to Arda Mevlutoglu for translating the additional details about the interception

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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.

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23 Comments

  1. 2km inside Turkey yet gets shot down and descends vertically but somehow ends up 1km within Syrian border. How does that work? Isn’t this another blatant provocation by one of NATO’s Al Qaeda Air Force?

  2. Brave Turks, airstrikes at villages, bombs at civilians, missiles at choppers… Shooting at anything that cant return fire.

  3. Bad Syrians shot down Turkish RF-4 after it violated Syrian airspace, bad Iraqis shot down Turkish F-100 after it violated Iraqi airspace, bad Kurds shot down Turkish army helicopters after employing Turkish troops that burned Kurdish villages, bad Greeks shot down Turkish F-16 after it violated Greek airspace, good Turks defend their sovereignty and kill the Syrian helo :)

    BTW Who is Arda Mevlutoglu what’s his profession?

  4. My concern is, that the NATO rules of engagements cannot possibly have been followed. You cannot in two minutes go through all motions of signaling and eventually declaring the intruder Hostile, which is the justification for an engagement. I held a command position for ten years where I had to follow those rules in the Baltic, which is complex environment. So been there done that.
    Michaël SES Svejgaard

    • After having been confirmed that Syria used sarin gas to murder over 1,000 civilians, can you blame the Turks for having a hair-trigger reaction to any Syrian incursion into their airspace? And what about that Turkish F-4? Did Syria warn it off?

      No, where Syria is concerned, they have forfeited any warning, any consideration, and should be given no quarter by NATO or anyone else. They have violated all rules of war, so no protections should be afforded their forces either. In other words, it’s now shoot first and ask questions later. As I see it, that’s the most appropriate ROE where Syria is concerned.

      Assad threw the rulebook out a long time ago. He must now suffer the appropriate consequences!

      • Turks have used chemical weapons against civilians too and none gave a shit… those two countries are identical. BTW your Phantom deserved the shot, your pilots Hasan Hussin Aksoy and Osman, fooled around a Pantsir SAM site!

        • “Your Phantom”? I’m not Turkish. No where near to being so! But I do sense a lot of hatred (bigotry?) towards Turks on this board. Doesn’t surprise me, for it seems Europeans want nothing to do with Turks (as indicated by their strong reluctance – no aversion – to admitting them into the EU).

          I don’t care much for the Ergodan pro-Islamist government, but being an American, if educated Turks want to emigrate to the U.S., they are more than welcome to as far as I’m concerned. We need all of the skilled people (engineers, doctors, etc.) that we can get. Where they come from, what their religion is does not matter. As long as they are law-abiding and contribute to society, the are welcome to come to the U.S.!

        • Excuse me when we are used chemical weapons aganist civilians?Are you idiot or something?If our Phantom deserved to shot Syrian helicopter was at our space.

      • Was it an armed helicopter?
        ask2wice: Where did you gety the informartion that Assad used Sarin gas? Even the U.N. team doesn’t say it.

        • The UN implicated Assad. BTW – does not matter who fired the shells containing the sarin. Assad should have never made such horrible, illegal weapons in the first place. He bears ultimate responsibility, even if the waste-of-flesh jihadiis were the ones who used it (they didn’t). From the NY Times dated September 16th, 2013:

          “A United Nations report released on Monday confirmed that a deadly
          chemical arms attack caused a mass killing in Syria last month and for
          the first time provided extensive forensic details of the weapons used,
          which strongly implicated the Syrian government”.*

          Strongly implicated is good enough for me, but like I said – the fact that he even possessed them makes him responsible, and an international outlaw until the day he is arrested and tried (or more likely he will not even enjoy that luxury).

          http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/world/europe/syria-united-nations.html?_r=0

          • Oh, so your source is *gasp* the NYT? Wow. As for the “Assad should have never made such horrible blahblahblah”, why, who else hasn’t? Seriously, dude, get a grip. What’s more, since Syria is (was) not part of the chemical weapons treaty, they were not even illegal.

            • Gassing people, including children, may not be such a big deal to you, but it is to me!

              BTW – “They were not even illegal”? What a twisted outlook. Looks like it’s you who needs to get more of a grip … dude!

              • “Gassing people” does not equal “my source is in any way credible”. You need to learn how to have a cohesive line of reasoning. Quoting the NYT is… oh well.

                As for the legality or not, are you even aware what the term ‘legal’ means? It’s not a matter of outlook. Read up on some international law – if you’re not part of an agreement you simply are not accountable under its provisions. So, if you’re not part of the chemical weapons agreement, you have no legal obligations stemming from it.

                It’s funny how you seem so outraged by this single incident and seem to take the part of some of the greatest slaughterers of modern history – Israel, Turkey and the US. Yeah, that makes absolute sense.

        • … and if Turkey did employ chemical weapons against the Kurds (unproven) then they should be kicked out of NATO, sanctions applied against their nation!

      • >_> Confirmation that chemical weapons were used in Syria is not confirmation the government ordered or used said weapons. What is it with you people not understanding the profound difference? No one doubts Sarin was used, it was the /other/ set of idiots that set them off as Russia now confirmed. You racist pig.

        • Pulled out the “R” word hey? A sure sign that you LOST the argument. You’ve not a leg, or fact, to stand on!

    • Found some more information that, if true, may shed some light on this shoot-down. Perhaps they (the helo crew) were warned! More Assad tricks? Read the entire linked article and you decide. From DebkaFile:

      DEBKAfile
      Special Report
      Sep 17, 2013, 12:12 PM (IDT)

      “Bashar Assad’ sent a Syrian M-17 helicopter into
      Turkish air space Monday, Sept. 16, with deliberate intent. Ankara fell
      into the trap by sending the Turkish Air Force to down the intruder
      after it failed to heed several warnings, instead of chasing it back to
      Syria. The incident sent border tensions spiraling and gave Damascus and
      Moscow the pretext for backing out of the chemical weapons deal under
      the oversight of the Organizaton for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons,
      so long as the OPCW was headed by a Turkish official”.

      http://debka.com/article/23285/The-Syrian-helicopter-flight-over-Turkey-fabricated-first-Assad-obstacle-to-chemical-weapons-handover-

  5. Michaël SES Svejgaard

    I agree with you, but maybe there was a hostile act / hostile intent, we will never get the answer. In general I dont see a reason to shout down the helicopter because the helicopter was flying back to Syria. Btw I was also working in a CRC for several years (south of you)

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