"Russia Giving Assad Regime Advanced Strike Aircraft" Topic

"The Syrian Air Force is getting ten new Su-24M2 "Fencer D" all-weather strike aircraft, courtesy of Vladimir Putin. The regime of Bashir al-Assad received two right away, with the other eight coming soon. As a result, the Syrians gain a very capable weapon for use against ISIS or moderate rebels supported by the United States.

The Su-24M2 is the latest version of a plane that first took flight in 1967 – and it has been in service since 1974. The Fencer, comparable to the General Dynamics F-111, was designed to deliver over 17,600 pounds of bombs on target any time of day – or night – and in good weather, bad weather, or any in between. Su-24s are fast (a top speed of just over 1,000 miles per hour) and can reach deep into enemy territory (a combat radius of about 400 miles). The plane has seen action in the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, the Iran-Iraq War, over Lebanon, Desert Storm, civil wars in Tajikistan, Libya, and Afghanistan, the South Ossetia war, and the conflict in eastern Ukraine…"
More here
link

Amicalement
Armand

…and supplying Russian pilots to fly them.

Yep, can't have jets without pilots yet, at least most of the time (not including drone, which even then, still have ground-based "pilots").

The SU-34 would be better.

Reason why they can "give away" Su-24s is because they're integrating the Su-34s into their air forces right now.

I doubt that the Russians really know how to fly their new Su-34s themselves yet. Not that you need the latest & greatest to bomb pickups and hospitals.

They've had Su-34s for quite some time, so I suspect they know how to fly them.

I imagine the real issue is wanting to keep operating costs down by using older aircraft, and not burning through limited airframe hours on the newer jets.

They'll fly just enough sorties in those for training purposes, and to do a bit of live, real-world testing.

Gotta bomb where they hide the weapons caches and their fighters. The downside of using human shields to protect the combatants and their equipment, in hospitals, schools, mosques, etc..

As people have said, planes without pilots are useless. So not much point giving the Syrian (Assad) air force anything.

Apparently the Russian efforts in Syria are budgeted as a training exercise, so testing new weapons will count. But equally Russia has a lot of old bombs that will have to be scrapped one day, so why not use them up?

I haven't seen anything that indicates they have an extreme pilot shortage. The Su-24 airframe has been in service with Syria for ages, so plenty of guys should know how to fly them. I think their biggest issue is clapped-out, antiquated aircraft. Seems like their pilot training sucked before the war, but some of the pilots are racking up seriously impressive flight hours = plenty of OJT. An RT article from last year quoted a MiG-21 pilot who had 2,500 flight hours, sometimes flying 3-4 ground attack sorties per day. Check out this Reddit AMA from a defected pilot: ( link , especially: link )

"I haven't seen anything that indicates they have an extreme pilot shortage."

Assad has a shortage of most troops. 60% of Assads army deserted rather than fight for him. It must be depressing bombing your own towns and cities for four years. And of course its not just pilots you need but ground crew as well.

This may help you understand the situation.

link

"Intensive operations inevitably resulted in heavy losses. And orders issued by the Ba'ath Party headquarters in Damascus demanding pilots to intentionally target civilians in insurgent-held areas — and commanders to lead by example — caused a spate of defections.

Combined, both factors badly depleted the SyAAF's ranks. Between July 2012 and July 2013, the SyAAF experienced the heaviest attrition during this conflict — at least 45 helicopters and 30 fighter jets were confirmed as crashed or shoot down."

That was a good read, thanks.

They've had Su-34s for quite some time, so I suspect they know how to fly them.

Russia only has 100 of them in service compared to 1,500 Su-24s, meaning that they are still in the early process of introduction and integration into their air forces.

As such, especially with budget and production limitations, pilots are definitely still learning how to fly these new planes as they slowly replace the existing fleet of Su-24s.