The longer the turmoil in Syria lasts, the more news about its military appears on the big screen. In just a few years, the country has gone from minor clashes with "opposition" groups to the bloody chaos of a civil war. Oddly enough, until recently, the Syrian Air Force did not attract any attention to itself, although their role in keeping militant fanatics and "dollar Islamists" is very large.
A bit of history
Since the Baath party came to power in the country, which happened in 1963, military aviation has played an important role in the life of this state. It was the Air Force officers under the command of Hafez al-Assad, who is the father of Bashar al-Assad, the current president of the country, who staged that armed coup. It is not surprising that it was the “flyers” that played and are playing prominent roles both in military and purely civilian life. Although in the last three years they have not been able to prove themselves in the last field.
Why did Syria have such a powerful air force?
There are many explanations for this. First, the Syrians are traditionally at odds with neighboring Israel. Secondly, for a number of reasons they were forced to intervene in the Lebanese conflict. Thirdly, they once had very serious contradictions with the government of Saddam Hussein.
The 80s were especially successful for the Syrian Air Force: when highly qualified "native" pilots finally appeared in the country, and not their colleagues from the USSR, the Syrians were able to more actively intervene in chronic conflicts on the Israeli border, not fearing political repercussions. Moreover, they were convinced in practice that Israeli planes are not an all-destroying shaft, but only targets. This was able to somewhat whitewash the Syrians in the eyes of the Kremlin leadership.
After the “Doomsday War”, shameful for Syria, when almost all the expensive Soviet equipment was destroyed by the Israelis at the airfields, and the pilots did not even attempt to take to the air, Moscow became very skeptical about the idea of restoring the Syrian Air Force as a class.
Where are the footage from?
From a small core, which was prepared by British military specialists in 1948, a cohort of talented specialists has grown. In 1980, the Air Force included 650 aircraft and helicopters, at least one hundred thousand military personnel and about 40 thousand reservists. At that time, the main task of the country's leadership was the radical modernization of its Air Force, for which in 1986 the government placed an order for the supply of a certain number of MiG-29s from the USSR. It was also planned thatthe airborne troops of the Syrian Air Force will undergo a radical reform, after which their structure and training will become similar to the Soviet.
But in the 90s, for obvious reasons, deliveries were practically curtailed, and soon the Syrian "flyers" practically did not participate in any combat operation. Of course, the war with Israel was always waged, without stopping for a single day, but due to the weakening of the opponents of the Jews in that region and the growth of the power of their army due to the constant supply of equipment from the United States, Syria found itself in a stalemate. At that time, there were no more than 60 thousand professional pilots left, there were even fewer reservists, the composition of the Syrian Air Force was generally reduced to 555 units. Relatively many, but … Many of the aircraft existed only on paper and could not even theoretically rise into the air.
The current state of affairs
Again, on paper, everything looks quite rosy, since the Syrian Air Force can be compared in size with their counterparts from Egypt or Israel. But in fact, everything is bad. The main problem is the catastrophic obsolescence of the entire fleet of combat aircraft. It includes no more than 60 MiG-29 aircraft, about three dozen MiG-25s and two dozen Su-24s. Everything else is very old MiGs, which, due to the complete lack of sane maintenance, often cannot even take off. Of course, with such forces, it is stupid to think about countering the Israeli Air Force.
For example, the Jews in recent years have begun to effectively use UAVs of their own design, and their aircraft missiles are very good. The Syrians have it allis not even in its infancy, but simply absent as a class. Even reconnaissance squadrons are not really equipped with more or less modern equipment. And there is nothing to cover them with: almost all the MiG-21s that could somehow counteract the Israeli F-16s were destroyed long before the well-known events, having been ground up in constant border skirmishes.
It is also reported that a significant part of the MiG-23s remaining in Syria was destroyed by the so-called "oppositionists". However, there is a high probability that they blew up and burned already good-for-nothing scrap metal, which has not flown since the late 90s. In general, the condition of the Syrian Air Force today is very difficult.
Hard Times
As in many countries of the Middle East, the country's air force has undergone a significant reduction, and the cost of maintaining them has decreased significantly. No more than 3% of GDP was allocated for the maintenance of the entire army, even in the relatively prosperous year of 2009, and this is subject to the ongoing war on the borders. The situation was further aggravated by the skillful "support" of the United States, which in every possible way cut foreign exchange tranches and investments in the country's economy, introducing new restrictions against it.
Officially, it was reported that the Syrians allegedly support "terrorists" from Iraq. At the same time, the fighters of the government Iraqi army were called terrorists, which at that moment the Americans themselves exterminated with inspiration. The culmination was Operation Orchard, during which Israeli F-15 and F-16 aircraftcompletely destroyed the reactor under construction of the proposed Syrian nuclear power plant. There is some interesting information about a targeted cyber attack that all the country's military networks were exposed to at that moment. This organized resistance failed.
Thus, the Air Force and Air Defense of Syria are currently in such a deplorable state that it is difficult to talk about their real existence. Purely hypothetically, the country has planes, but their real combat capability raises the deepest doubts.
air defense
The deplorable state of the radio intelligence system is of particular concern. Unlike Israel, which is armed with a lot of AWACS aircraft, the Syrians are forced to be content with ground-based radar systems only. This technique is reliable, but very outdated. It is for this reason that the planes of the same Israelis or Turks very often violate the state border of the country. Syria has practically no interceptors of its own, so there is simply nothing to counteract such behavior of neighbors.
In addition, the situation with the air defense system does not cause delight either. Once upon a time, a considerable number of quite modern cars for those times were delivered to the Syrians, but due to the horrendous conditions of their maintenance and storage, when the most elementary norms were not observed, most of them were already lost. The remaining equipment is already very old and imperfect, it cannot guarantee the detection of enemy aircraft in all situations, and the crews attached to the machines do not always have a high level of training. This is largely due to the fact that many personnelthe military has already died in several years of continuous war.
Russian support
Ever since the Cold War, when the USSR was the main supplier of weapons for Syria, a similar state of affairs has been preserved in relation to Russia. Currently, the Russian Air Force is also conducting operations in Syria, and there is also information about contracts with the Syrian side, which provide, in particular, for the supply of Mi-25 combat helicopters (this is an export modification of the Mi-24).
Even in the early 2000s, there was information about the start of deliveries of the MiG-31E. It was assumed that these aircraft would replace the obsolete MiG-25s. On the pages of the media slipped messages about the order of eight cars, the delivery of which, allegedly, was slowed down due to financial difficulties with the Syrian side. But in 2010, it was officially announced that no contracts had actually been signed.
The delivery of the MiG-29 is currently in a "suspended" state. In addition, it is assumed that domestic gunsmiths intend to sell Syria at least 36 Yak-130 combat training aircraft. As of the end of 2012, the contract was officially announced. So far, we can say that this equipment is not yet available in the country.
Loy alty to Russia
For obvious reasons, all these agreements cause a pronounced negative reaction from the US and its satellites. But Russia, most likely, will fulfill all its agreements. Many domestic economists once said that only lowthe solvency of the Syrians, since Moscow is not going to repeat the mistakes of the USSR by supplying expensive equipment for free, but this is not only about money.
Back in 1971, an agreement was concluded between our countries, under the terms of which Russia has the right to be located at a base located in Tartus. In many ways, this also determines the success of the Russian Air Force in Syria, since our group has good rear facilities and does not experience supply problems.
War with the "opposition"
So far there is no reliable data on the supply of aircraft and helicopters to Syria. Foreign "partners" also contribute to this in many respects: for example, the ship carrying the repaired Mi-25s was forced to stay in the port altogether, since the insurance of the ship under British jurisdiction was withdrawn by Great Britain. Only thanks to the escort of Russian warships, surrounded by which he left the port of Kaliningrad, it was possible to deliver 30 or 45 helicopters to the Syrians.
As mentioned at the very beginning of the article, the Syrian Air Force showed itself well in the fight against ISIS. In the first years of the war, the same Mi-25 was especially respected. Its weapons include heavy machine guns, rockets, and it is possible to hang a wide range of bombs. In addition, the Su-25 attack aircraft was also in demand, some of which the Syrians still retained. Unfortunately, due to the low training of many pilots and the large number of MANPADS, almost all of this equipment was lost.
Direct support for Russia
If it were not for the Russian Air Force in Syria, the Assad government would be very tight. It is noteworthy that the first reports in foreign media regarding the presence of our aviation on the territory of this state appeared long before the first official confirmations. This is largely due to the wide distribution of video hosting services: a year and a half ago, when our equipment was not in Syria, a video was walking around the expanses of the network, in which several Su-34s and an Il-86 transport aircraft fly over Syrian territory.
Given that the paint scheme of the Syrian Air Force is extremely similar to the Russian one (in fact, we use the same desert camouflage), we can still assume that these are the fighters delivered to the Syrians covering the Russian transport carrier carrying supplies. But soon the Government of the Russian Federation nevertheless made an official statement. It said that the Russian Air Force is indeed present in Syria.
By the way, how are Syrian military aircraft painted? Unlike our Air Force, which uses several camouflage options at once, which depend on the immediate conditions of use, the equipment of this state is painted much more “modestly”. Possible yellow-green color or marsh, greenish variant.
Prevails the usual sand coloring with identification marks of the Syrian Air Force. Photos of these aircraft, if they do not have any special marks on them, are very easy to confuse with similar machines of other states in this region, which at one time received weapons from the USSR.
How many of our planes are therehave?
At first, at least some reliable data on the composition of our group in this region was not provided, but today there is such information. So, in the Syrian sky today fly:
- Su-27SM – 4 units.
- Su-30SM - 16 units.
- Su-34 – 12 units.
- Su-24M - it is assumed that there are just over 30 of these aircraft.
- Finally, there are 12 Su-25SM attack aircraft.
Departures from Russia
In addition to aircraft, 15 Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters were sent to help the Syrians. Finally, relatively recently, Russian Air Forces based in Mozdok and Makhachkala began to fly into Syria. Among the "guest performers" who represent the Russian Air Force in Syria, there is the following equipment:
- Legendary "White Swans", aka Tu-160 - 6 units.
- No less famous "Bears", aka Tu-95 - 5 units.
- Tu22M3 - flights are made from 12 to 14 aircraft.
- Su-34 – 8 pieces.
- Su-27SM – 4 more units.
Thus, the composition of our group is quite numerous, but very heterogeneous. This is largely due to the traditional highly specialized focus of domestic combat aircraft, which are clearly divided into attack aircraft, fighters, interceptors and bombers. Considering that only “dryers” fly in Syria, there are no special problems with their supply, since this technique is unified as much as possible among themselves. The same applies to helicopters of the Mi family. Herewhat are the Russian Air Force in Syria.
