No, the Turkish Air Force has not shot down a Russian aircraft near the Syrian border (at least, not yet)

October 12, 2015 Russia, Syria, Troubled Areas, War on ISIS
David Cenciotti

The news of an alleged downing is doing the rounds. But no Russian plane has been shot down, yet.

In the last few days, several media outlets have reported the news that a Russian aircraft deployed to Syria to take part in the air war against the Islamic State was shot down by the Turkish Air Force, after violating Ankara’s sovereign airspace.

Actually, the rumors started after Twitter went abuzz following the reports that an explosion was witnessed in the sky over the Syrian city of Huraytan, where Russian planes were allegedly flying.

Shortly after the fake news started doing the rounds, some images of the alleged wreckage of the Russian plane downed near the border appeared on social media. However, these turned out to be photographs of an Afghan Air Force Mi-17 crashed in 2011.

On Oct. 3 and 4 October the Turkish airspace was violated by Russian Air Force Su-30SM and Su-24 aircraft in the Hatay region.

During the first incident, the Russian Su-30SM (initially referred to as a Mig-29 by the Turkish military) maintained a radar lock on one or both the F-16s for a full 5 minutes and 40 seconds before the aircraft departed the Turkish airspace. These incidents were followed by another one, on Oct. 5, when another aircraft, an “unidentified” Mig-29 locked on TuAF F-16s in CAP (Combat Air Patrol) for 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

Following this last episode, the Turkish F-16s began responding to “MiG” radar locks in the same way: by performing lock-ons on the mysterious aircraft flying a bit too close to the border.

Even thought Ankara has said it is not willing to have its aircraft harassed again and won’t accept other violations, nothing at the moment suggests any shot down occurred in the last few days.

The TuAF has never been too “shy” about its military operations air-to-air victories and losses. In Sept. 2013, a TuAF F-16 shot down a Syrian Mi-17 that had violated the Turkish airspace.

On Mar. 23, 2014 a SyAAF Mig-23 that had violated the Turkish airspace by about 1 km was hit by an AIM-120 AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile) fired by a TuAF F-16C in Combat Air Patrol near the border: a victory celebrated with the kill markings on the F-16C 91-008.

Considered that no wreckage has been found, no official protest’s been filed and that, unlike the past, there has been no official statement about any downing by the Turkish authorities, it’s safe to say that no aircraft was shot down, at least not so far.

H/T Arda Mevlutoglu for providing constant updates

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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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6 Comments

  1. Lol. Wow, someones trolling Putin, trying to push him over the edge. First this, then the RAF greenlight (which turned out to be a newspaper screw up, well that’s what they’re saying)

    Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the US. Not the first time they would of pulled something like this.

  2. Correct. The Russians admitted entering Turkish airspace for seconds on one occasion. Not 5 minutes.

  4. You are correct in your statement that the numbers of modern aircrafts in RuAF is not high. I’ve seen an interview with some top-level general about the persentage of modern weapons in Air Force, and it was about 46%. But, it’s hundreds of modernized or new aircrafts. Of course, even oudated aircrafts like Su-27 or Mig-29 are still a very good aircrafts and could be compared in capabilities with same generation aircrafts like F-15 or F-16. Regarding “battle proven”, how many dogfights your battleproven aircrafts won agains equal enemy? Do not take Mig-17, Mig-21 or same fighters, it so old. It’s ok to bomb the lesser enemy without any AA defence. So what do you say about Russian AA defense, which is probably the best AA defense in world.

    BR.

    • “But, it’s hundreds of modernized or new aircrafts.”?

      Hundreds, eh?

      Right…..

      “Of course, even oudated aircrafts like Su-27 or Mig-29 are still a very good aircrafts and could be compared in capabilities with same generation aircrafts like F-15 or F-16.”?

      Seriously?

      An old, clapped out Flanker/Fulcrum up against a <10 year old TuAF F-16C-50?

      That's funny!

      "Regarding "battle proven", how many dogfights your battleproven aircrafts won agains equal enemy?"

      Yugoslavia….Desert Storm….

      How'd those MiG-29's fare?

      " So what do you say about Russian AA defense, which is probably the best AA defense in world."?

      This defence?

      https://youtu.be/PnOXfA-H5dk

  5. Sober up.

    ” The updated low hour SU24’s…”?

    Hilarious!

    How many hours are on those 90’s era bombers?

    Those Turkish F-16’s are Block 30, 40 & 50 variants.

    The most recent ones are less than 10 years old….

    http://www.f-16.net/f-16_users_article21.html

    “Both capable of easily handling the dated Turkish F16’s.”?

    Hilarious!

    Where’s your proof of that, comrade?

    These Su-34’s?

    http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread906518/pg1

    Thanks for the ESM data your Russian pals provided!

    Your Russian buddies are fighting the anti-government rebels.
    NOT the terrorists…

    Why did Russia INVADE the Ukraine?

Comments are closed.