Subject ：土耳其与俄罗斯共同造成了土耳其击落俄罗斯战斗机事件
On 24 November 2015 at 9:24 am, as it was returning to Khmeimim airbase, a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber aircraft with tail number 83 was shot down near the Syrian–Turkish border by a AIM-9X Sidewinder missile from a patrolling Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet [Wikipedia(2015 Dec. 17)].
Turkey and Russia have different explanations. Turkey insisted that the aircraft was hit in Turkish airspace and crashed into Syrian territory . According to Turkey's statement to the UN Security Council, two aircraft, whose nationalities were unknown at the time, violated Turkish airspace up to a depth of 2.19 km (1.36 mi) for about 17 seconds. But Russia claimed the Su-24 was downed from an altitude of 6,000 metres (20,000 ft) within one kilometre of the Turkish border and in Syrian airspace. Russia has maintained that the aircraft never left Syrian territory.
The intention to shot down is different too. Turkey said that at the time to shot, it did not know the nationality of the war plan and shot by patrolling fighters. But Russia said it's an ambush.
The question here is what the reason that Russian did not find the trap?
According to Turkish officials, the aircrafts were given 10 warnings within the span of 5 minutes, by operators at a ground-controlled interception station, to change their course. Turkey later released the audio recording. The Russians claim there were no warnings.
Although Turkey issued warnings, Russian may not received them. Analysts have noted that Turkey's warnings were issued on a dedicated mutually-agreed radio channel, which was the international Guard (emergency) channel (243.0 MHz), but the R-862M radio fitted to the Su-24M is not able to monitor this channel without optional equipment, which may not have been installed.
- why Russia ignore the Turkey's warning
- After the 2012 shooting down of a Turkish jet by Syrian forces, Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan protested, saying that brief incursions should not trigger an attack, pointing out that Turkey did not shoot down Syrian helicopters that strayed into Turkish airspace.[16][17][18] Nevertheless, as a response to the event he announced that Turkey changed its rules of engagement, and said it would start to consider all "military elements" approaching from Syria an enemy threat and would act accordingly.[19][20] Subsequently Turkey shot down a Syrian helicopter in September 2013[21] and a warplane in March 2014.[ Wikipedia(2015 Dec. 17)]
- Turkey and NATO protested against what they saw as Russia's deliberate violations of Turkish airspace.[23][a] The Russian Defence Ministry admitted that a Russian Su-30 aircraft had entered Turkish airspace "for a few seconds" because of bad weather, adding that measures had been taken to prevent a repeat of such incidents.[30][31]
- From 3–15 October, five discussions between senior ranking officials from Turkey and Russia occurred, concerning Turkish rules of engagement and Russian violations of Turkish airspace.[32][33][34][35] On 6 November 2015, six U.S. Air Force F-15C fighters were deployed by US European Command from the 48th Fighter Wing at their Lakenheath base in Britain to Incirlik Air Base as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.[20][36] The Government of Turkey requested these to secure the sovereignty of Turkish airspace because of earlier repeated Russian intrusions into Turkish airspace.[20][36]
- On 19 November, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov and the Russian military attaché Colonel Andrei Victorovich Dovger were summoned by Turkey.[37] Russia, which was criticised by Turkey for having conducted operations near the Turkish border, a region inhabited by Syrian Turkmen and largely free of ISIL (though al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, is present in the region),[38][39] was notified that Turkey's rules of engagement were in place and it would react to any violations of its border security.
- what happened
- Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday, the first time a NATO member's armed forces have downed a Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s, and an act Russian president Vladimir Putin said would have "significant consequences."[Reuters and VICE News(2015. Nov. 24)]
- Turkey's version
- Turkey said the aircraft had violated its airspace and was warned 10 times in the space of five minutes before it was shot down by F-16 fighter jets. The country has requested an extraordinary NATO meeting to inform members about the incident, which is taking place in Brussels. [Reuters and VICE News(2015. Nov. 24)]
- Russian version
- At first Russia's account of the downing of the plane conflicted with Turkey's, with its military saying the Su-24 had apparently come under fire from the ground. It also said it could prove the plane never left Syrian airspace. Later Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed it had been shot down by Turkish F-16s, calling the act a "stab in the back carried out by accomplices of terrorists."
- American attitude
- Speaking at a joint press conference with French President François Hollande on Tuesday afternoon, President Obama urged all sides to proceed with caution. "We are still getting the details of what happened," he said, adding that "Turkey like every country has a right to defend its country and its airspace." Obama appeared to lay the blame for the incident at the feet of the Russians. "If Russia were directing its operations towards ISIL, some of those mistakes... are less likely to occur," using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State. Before the press conference, White House officials told Reuters that the "Russian incursion into Turkish airspace lasted seconds."[Reuters and VICE News(2015. Nov. 24)]
- My version
The Russians gave the Turks the opportunity to show their teeth – but the Turks were waiting for it.
- Turkish shoot-down was, as Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted, an “ambush” that had been carefully prepared in advance[Gareth Porter(2015 Nov. 30)].
- Although the Obama administration is not about to admit it, the data already available supports the Russian assertion that the Turkish shoot-down was, as Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted, an “ambush” that had been carefully prepared in advance. The central Turkish claim that its F-16 pilots had warned the two Russian aircraft 10 times during a period of five minutes actually is the primary clue that Turkey was not telling the truth about the shoot-down.
- The Russian Su-24 “Fencer” jet fighter, which is comparable to the US F111, is capable of a speed of 960 miles per hour at high altitude, but at low altitude its cruising speed is around 870 mph, or about 13 miles per minute. The navigator of the second plane confirmed after his rescue that the Su-24s were flying at cruising speed during the flight.
- Close analysis of both the Turkish and Russian images of the radar path of the Russian jets indicates that the earliest point at which either of the Russian planes was on a path that might have been interpreted as taking it into Turkish airspace was roughly 16 miles from the Turkish border – meaning that it was only a minute and 20 seconds away from the border.
- Furthermore according to both versions of the flight path, five minutes before the shoot-down the Russian planes would have been flying eastward - away from the Turkish border.
- If the Turkish pilots actually began warning the Russian jets five minutes before the shoot-down, therefore, they were doing so long before the planes were even headed in the general direction of the small projection of the Turkish border in Northern Latakia province.
- In order to carry out the strike, in fact, the Turkish pilots would have had to be in the air already and prepared to strike as soon as they knew the Russian aircraft were airborne.
- The evidence from the Turkish authorities themselves thus leaves little room for doubt that the decision to shoot down the Russian jet was made before the Russian jets even began their flight.
- The Russian's fight is to be ambushed on purpose
- Russia has ability to detect the Turkish fighters [BBC (2015 Dec. 01)].
- Russia immediately deployed S-400 anti-aircraft missiles at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria - a significant show of force in the troubled region.
- The S-400 can hit targets up to 400km (248 miles) away, so at Hmeimim the missiles cover the airspace of Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, half of Israel and a large swathe of Turkey, the Russian state-controlled news channel RT reports.
- It can hit any existing aircraft or missile travelling at speeds of up to 4.8km (three miles) per second, RT says. Targets at heights of up to 30km are within range.
- Russia is also suspending the reciprocal visa-free regime with Turkey from 1 January.
- Russia has banned charter flights to and from Turkey, and Russian travel firms have been told to stop selling Turkish holidays. That move and warnings to Russians not to travel to Turkey, are expected to hit Turkey's tourist industry, as it is a top destination for Russian tourists.
Reference:
- Wikipedia(2015 Dec. 17). 2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown. Retrieved on 2015 Dec. 17 from website:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Russian_Sukhoi_Su-24_shootdown#Shootdown
- Reuters and VICE News(2015. Nov. 24). Turkey Shoots Down Russian Warplane Near Syrian Border. Retrieved on 2015 Dec. 12 from website:
https://news.vice.com/article/a-russian-fighter-jet-has-been-downed-over-syria
- Gareth Porter(2015 Nov. 30). The Real Reason for Turkey's Shoot-Down of the Russian Jet. Retrieved on 2015 Dec 12 from website:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/11/30/real-reason-turkeys-shoot-down-russian-jet
- BBC (2015 Dec. 01). Turkey's downing of Russian warplane - what we know. Retrieved on 2015 Dec 13 from website:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34912581
- MARK GALEOTTI(2015 Nov. 25). Russia, Turkey, Deconfliction and Distrust. Retrieved on 2015 Dec. 13 from website:
https://inmoscowsshadows.wordpress.com/2015/11/25/russia-turkey-deconfliction-and-distrust/?blogsub=confirming#blog_subscription-3
