An interesting development/report, if true, though the source of it makes me more than a little suspicious.
I suspect whatever Israel needs to do will get done, regardless of whether Russian fighters are in the region, or not.
Israel has a much better kill ratio vs. Russian pilots than vice versa.
I wouldn't want to be a F-35 pilot going up against those big, bad, very fast, maneuverable, and superbly well-armed Sukhois though, especially during daylight, in a possible visual detection environment.
Fortunately, the Israelis have lots of experience, great command and control (AWACS), drones, cruise missiles, and other aircraft to make life complicated for both the Russians and the Syrians.
I was surprised to read about the Syrian shoot-down of the Russian aircraft. Must have missed that, though it looks like it occurred in September, and not October, as erroneously reported in the article (unless there was another Russian aircraft downed too).
Looks like lots of Russian aircraft are being shot down by inexperienced Syrian missiles crews. Seems they're not good enough to identify proper targets, but are good enough to down Russian aircraft, no doubt, much to the chagrin on the Russian military leaders and Vladimir Putin:
"On September 17, 2018, a Russian Il-20M ELINT plane was shot down by a Syrian S-200 surface-to-air missile. Four Israeli F-16 fighter jets attacked targets in Syria's Latakia with standoff missiles, after approaching from the Mediterranean Sea, a statement by the Russian defense ministry said on 18 September".
What's Russia's response?
Give them the deadlier S-300s and S-400s instead.
I wonder how many Russian pilots and aircrews may regret that in the future?
