Interesting footage brings you aboard Russian Su-30SM jets taking part in missions over Syria

October 25, 2015 Russia, Syria, Troubled Areas, War on ISIS
David Cenciotti

Interesting video shows RuAF Su-30SMs at work.

Little is known, about the four Su-30SM Flanker-derivative jets deployed to Latakia, Syria.

In fact, whilst the rest of the Russian Air Force contingent (Su-34, Su-24 and Su-25 jets) has been under the spotlight since Russia launched its first raids against terrorist targets, the Su-30s have seldom been mentioned in the news updates by the Russian MoD.

Actually, the most interesting news dealing the Su-30s dates back to the beginning of the month when one Flanker violated the Turkish airspace and locked on a TuAF F-16 for more than 5 minutes.

More recently, footage emerged of a Su-30SM flying close to an MQ-9 Reaper drone.

At least there is a video now, published by RT, that provides some details about the Flanker operations in Syria.

The video, which includes some cockpit footage, shows the Su-30s taxiing, taking off and landing at al-Assad airport near Latakia. Interestingly, the aircraft operate in air-to-air configuration only, confirming the reports that the aircraft mainly fly CAPs (Combat Air Patrols), providing some support to the strike packages going after the ground targets disclosed by UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) reconnaissance missions.

 

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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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9 Comments

  2. The real question is combat air support from whom? There’s only one entity Russia is performing CAP against, and that of course is the U.S./Allied Aircraft. If Russia wants to bomb U.S. backed groups perhaps the U.S. should give them a reason for the CAP. ;)

    • This is signal “do not interfere”, yes, to US and Co.
      Besides, they can be used as flying radar lighting air situation (there is no A-50, russian AWACS).

    • any deployment in combat zones require CAPs, air defenses, indepth patrols and active air dominance, also it is quite the SIGINT and ELINT bonanza for everybody doing it right.

    • There are many fighter planes in the area, including from Turkey, USA, France, etc, it’s good to have a CAP during their strikers sorties. It’s not the first time Turkish F-16 shot down a Syrian aircraft saying they violated their territory which is difficult to prove. Anyway in the area are F-22 either, how do you know they have in their belly?

  4. must be a joyride for those sukhoi pilots, no snow, no rain, just sunshine… has anyboday seen the sukhoi su-30sm with air-to-ground ordnance? or are they only on (BAR)CAP duty?

    why russian jets work better in combat zones?

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