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

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
About David Cenciotti
WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedIn instagram
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.

Related Articles

9 Comments

  1. Statement of the General Command of the
    Syrian Armed Forces:
    A military helicopter had been lost on Monday afternoon “09/16/2013”
    during the a reconnaissance sorties to control the infiltration of
    terrorists across the Turkish border in “Alyonseah” area near the
    village of “Bdama” in the countryside of Latakia.
    After the
    investigates shows that helicopter mistakenly entered Turkish airspace
    for a short distance and then returned towards the Syrian territory
    immediately upon receipt the competent guidance from the command center.
    During the exit of the helicopter, a Turkish warplanes have targeted it directly to fall inside Syrian territory.

    The hasty reaction from the Turkish side, especially that the plane was
    on the way back, and were not charged in any combat missions, is
    nothing but a proof of “Erdogan” government’s true intentions toward
    the Syria in straining the atmosphere and the escalation of the
    situation on the border between the two countries.

  2. If the graph above is real, the Syrian helicopter was shot down on its way out, without warning! It didnt monitored any Pantsir SAM sites neither tried to hide from radars like the Turkish Phantom did a year ago.

  3. It’s called payback people… Has everyone forgotten about the Turkish F-4 shot down by the Syrian military, or the dozens of people killed in the Turkish village? Payback is a biatch!

  4. Anyone happen to know which weapon system was used to shoot down the Syrian helicopter? AIM-9? AIM-120? M61?

  5. Guys, probably the helicopter was unarmed, but it has a great probability that the same helicopter dropped barrel bombs two days ago….
    Decapitation of the pilots was a barbarian act, but considering that Syrian AF pilots are attacking town and cities all across the country for two years now – with obsolete unguided soviet bombs – the treatment they,ve got is far from beeing a surprise.
    By the way I am surprised that since the fall of Taftanaz and Mennegh airbases – helos are able to fly up to the border. From where do they take of? Aleppo IAP or Hama?

Comments are closed.