Turkey shoots down Russian aircraft.

[Bilge_Rat]

Russia is claiming the F16 that shot down the Russian jet itself violated Syrian air space.

If you look at the radar track map supplied by Turkey, the F16 track does seem to very conveniently stop just when it reaches the border.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat

Russia is claiming the F16 that shot down the Russian jet itself violated Syrian air space.

If you look at the radar track map supplied by Turkey, the F16 track does seem to very conveniently stop just when it reaches the border.

Ha, so Turkey has converted their F16s to VTOL now, eh?

What a bloody mess.

[Bilge_Rat]

I saw a report in the Guardian that the missile used was a AIM9 sidewinder which would almost garantee that it was fired by the F16 while it was in Syria. However, I don't trust journalists when it comes to missile ID. I would also have thought a AIM120 made more sense.

[ikalugin]

Russian MoD claims that:
- we did not violate Turkish airspace.
- Turks did violate Syrian airspace.
- Turks did not contact us.
- it was most likely a SRAAM.
- one of the SAR helicopters was downed by the small arms fire from the ground and abandoned. One naval infantryman died.

What we would do:
- we would escort all flights with ASFs.
- we would move Slava closer to Latakia.
- all targets, potentially threatening us would be destroyed.
- contacts with Turkish military would be cut.

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by ikalugin

What we would do:
- we would escort all flights with ASFs.
- we would move Slava closer to Latakia.
- all targets, potentially threatening us would be destroyed.
- contacts with Turkish military would be cut.

This could get real ugly, real fast.

[ikalugin]

Russian tourism in Turkey is dead.
http://www.russiatourism.ru/news/9783/

[mapuc]

Is it in Putin's interest to escalate this ?

Markus

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat

This could get real ugly, real fast.

Yeah, the Moskva has been with a couple of Krivaks and a Kashin off the coast for a while, bringing that closer to shore will bring the S-300K SAMs (SA-10) into range of Turkish airspace. There's not much in the way to cruise missiles on any of the three classes of warship, mainly Anti-ship missiles and anti-submarine weaponry, so it would be down to the guns unless the P-500 (SS-N-12 Sandbox) can be modified to hit ground targets.

I wouldn't be surprised if a Turkish F16 meets a Russian SAM at some point in the future, especially if they keep popping over the border to bomb the Kurds.