SU-34: Coming after Obunga's ISIS butt buddies....

The aircraft the Syrian air force uses are old Soviet machines dating from the 1960s to 1980s.

Aircraft like the MiG21 and MiG23 were designed as air to air fighters. They cannot carry heavy bomb loads.

The MiG21 is limited to 1,000 kgs. The MiG23 to 3,000 kgs.

This compares with the much heavier bomb loads the Russian aircraft can carry: 4,000 kgs in the case of the SU25s, 8,000 kgs in the case of the SU24s and 12,000 kgs in the case of the SU34s.

The heavier loads the Russian aircraft can carry don’t just mean they can carry more bombs.

It means they can carry much bigger bombs - capable of far more destruction than the much smaller bombs the Syrians use.

However the key difference as the Syrian officer said is in their sighting systems.

The chief sighing system used by the Syrian aircraft is the pilot himself. The aircraft bomb what the pilot sees.

This means the accuracy of the bombing depends heavily on the pilot’s skill. Since even the best pilots are limited by normal human limitations, inevitably that means most of the bombs the Syrian aircraft drop miss their targets.

It also means the Syrian aircraft can only fly during the day and in good weather.

Most important of all however, it also means the Syrian aircraft have to fly close to the ground.



That not only gives the jihadis ample warning of their coming.

It also means the Syrian pilots are at constant risk of being shot down by hand held surface to air missiles (“MANPADS”) and anti aircraft cannon, which are a deadly threat to aircraft flying at low altitudes and which the jihadis have in abundance.

The Russian aircraft by contrast have highly sophisticated electronic targeting systems.

These means they can fly at high altitudes, day or night, in most weather conditions, and can hit their targets with deadly accuracy.

Since the Russian aircraft fly at high altitudes they are normally beyond the reach of the jihadis’ MANPADS and cannon, and the jihadis have little or no warning of their coming.

In the great majority of cases the jihadis are not aware of the presence of the Russian aircraft until the moment the bombs strike.

The fact the Russians can strike the jihadis with deadly accuracy any time, day or night, without warning, using far more powerful bombs than any the Syrians use, explains the far greater effectiveness of the Russian air strikes.

The Russian air campaign is being conducted at a technological level only matched in the recent air campaigns carried out by the US.

The big difference is that this time it is groups allied to the US that are being targeted.

Judging from reports of increasing numbers of retreats and desertions, the effectiveness of the Russian air campaign is now starting to erode the jihadis’ morale.

Over the last few days the Russians have acted to worsen it even more.

They have publicly claimed that the reason some of the air strikes have been so effective is because targeting information on some of the jihadi groups has been provided by members of the Syrian opposition.

That is by no means impossible. However publicising this claim - whether it is true or not - is inevitably going to feed the paranoia and distrust that already exists between the various rebel groups.

Russia apparently deployed for the first time a new, radar-evading cruise missile during its massive Nov. 17 heavy bomber raid on Syria.

The Kh-101 long-range cruise missile, which reportedly packs an 800-pound warhead and can fly no less than 1,700 miles under satellite guidance, has been in development by Russia’s cash-strapped aerospace industry for three decades. Now that it’s apparently combat-ready, Moscow can claim to possess a global strike capability that, before, only the United States possessed.

Russia’s mid-November bomber raid startled observers at least as much as did Moscow’s initial deployment of warplanes to Syria in late September and its subsequent barrage of sea-launched cruise missiles at rebel forces in October.

Turkish warplanes are reported to have shot down an unidentified military aircraft near the border with Syria.

A Turkish military official told the Reuters news agency that Turkish F-16s had fired on the jet after warning it that it was violating Turkish airspace.

Turkish media broadcast video footage of a plane crashing into mountains near the border with Hatay province.

Syrian and Russian military aircraft have been targeting jihadist militants and Western-backed rebels in the area.

The Turkish general election of November 2015 was held on 1 November 2015 throughout the 85 electoral districts of Turkey to elect 550 members to the Grand National Assembly. It was the 25th general election in the History of the Republic of Turkey and elected the country's 26th Parliament. The election resulted in the Justice and Development Party (AKP) regaining a Parliamentary majority following a 'shock' victory, having lost it five months earlier in the June 2015 general election

Stuff like this is why Mr. Obama fought for so long to keep the US out of this hellhole of a war.

Jennifer R. Williams: Why would the Turkish military shoot down a Russian warplane?

Steven A. Cook: The Russians have been taunting the Turks. They have violated Turkish airspace on at least two previous occasions. It was humiliating and had the potential to become a political problem for the Turkish leadership. Obviously they felt that they had to protect their sovereignty and believed they had NATO's backing to do so.

Jennifer R. Williams: How could this affect Turkish policy toward Syria?

Steven A. Cook: I don't think it will alter Turkey's approach dramatically. They will continue to support Turkmen, coordinate with select extremist groups, and try to prevent the emergence of "Western Kurdistan." I imagine that the Russians will try to make the Turks pay in some way, but Moscow is already targeting people on Turkey's side of the fight there.

Jennifer R. Williams: What does it mean for Turkish-Russian relations?

Steven A. Cook: Well, it adds a new dimension to relations, which up until now the leaders of both countries have been able to compartmentalize. The fact that Russia supports Assad and Turkey is a leading advocate of regime change in Syria did not disrupt commercial ties, for example. There will be a lot of hot rhetoric from Moscow, especially, and there is a risk of escalation, but cooler heads are likely to prevail.

Jennifer R. Williams: What role do the ethnic Turkmen play in all this in terms of their importance to Turkey and Erdogan's willingness to protect them?

Steven A. Cook: The Turkmen are the card that Turkey plays when it wants to get involved in something or [convince] its allies to do something. Turkey's position on Kirkuk and other Iraq issues were often tied to the Turkmen, though they were just convenient for Ankara.

So surprising just how uninformed you can be.