The air confrontation in Idlib, Syria, could have been much more violent, but only one Russian plane demonstrated the senselessness of such a scenario.
This is stated in an article of the Chinese edition of “Sina” on the escalation of tensions in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
The authors of the article recalled how desperately Turkey tried to use aviation in this confrontation. The situation was complicated by the fact that the sky over the Syrian province is controlled by air defense systems located at the military airfield “Khmeimim”, which has become a base for the Russian Air Force. Moreover, the Russian Ministry of Defense made it clear that security for Turkish aviation in Idlib would not be guaranteed.
In this regard, Turkish aviation activity was deployed outside Syrian airspace. For example, the American F-16 fighters, which are in service with the Turkish Air Force, were striking with AIM-120 missiles. These air-to-air missiles, also produced in the United States, have a range of 105 kilometres. The target designation was made by Boeing 737 AEW&C radar detection aircraft.
The situation changed not in favor of Turkey on March 4, the Chinese edition notes. Russia actually “isolated” the Turkish Air Force, showing the helplessness of American aircraft. Then the Su-22 fighter managed to get away from the AIM-120 missile produced by the Turkish aircraft. At the same time, the authors stress that the manoeuvre was successful thanks to the Tu-214R radiotechnical and optical-electronic reconnaissance aircraft. Russian scout allowed to detect the approach of F-16 in time. As a result, it allowed not only to save the Su-22, but also to warn the Syrian Air Force.
The publication notes that the Russian Tu-214R made the Boeing 737 absolutely useless. The American plane simply could not perform its main task, as the jamming complex “Porubshchik” was able to disrupt the data exchange network “Link 16”, which is used in NATO.