Reports of Russia completing delivery of promised warplanes to Syria were confirmed today by an unnamed official in the Syrian Air Force, confirming they got “at least five” advanced fighter jets as well as a number of reconnaissance aircraft and other “sophisticated military equipment.”
The confirmation follows US reports of 28 Russian planes in the country, though how many of these were actually to be delivered to the Syrian Air Force and how many are simply there to protect the Russian specialists they have expanding the Syrian air base in Latakia as part of another military contract remains unclear.
The Syrian officials also didn’t identify the planes they got, but some are likely to be among the MiG-29 contracts that Syria had signed with Russia in the past. Syria’s Air Force is almost exclusively built out of Russian MiGs and Sukhol planes.
In addition to the Russian expansion of the air field in Latakia, there are unconfirmed reports out of IHS Jane’s suggesting Russia is also doing construction at another pair of Syrian base along the coast. Both sites were also within a few miles of Latakia, and one is adjacent to the site of one of Syria’s air defense systems.
Good, now put them to use.
Is a good news for the Syrian people where they can put these weapons to use against the most barbaric regime that been produced by Saudis and rest of the enemies of a legitimately elected government of Syria. It is time for ISIS to be vaporized by the Kurdish, the Iraqi, the Iranian and most of all the Syrian fighting forces fighting the Saudis-Wahhabis-Salafis barbarians.
The Mig 29 dates from 1983. Jet fighters are fairly useless against insurgents and they're certainly no match for US or Israeli fighters. In other words, a typical example of Putin's methods: big talk but nothing behind it.
Begs the question what all those US "sorties" with F-18s are accomplishing.
For the record, B52s are 1950-1960 technology (Hanoi 1968) and A-10s are 1970s technology. You have made numerous posts concerning "obsolete" Russian equipment without apparently recognizing that the same situation applies in NATO. If you have seen, up close, an A-10 in a ground attack role, you wouldn't be so dismissive of old, but still very lethal, technology.