OK, with NATO (ie the US) holding Turkeys coat (Int, Satelite and all manner of non-kinetic happenings) who would win between Turkey and Syria? For the sake of argument lets say the establishment of a no-fly zone a la northern Iraq including GBAD assets. Escalation play would be blockade of all Syrian ports. Could Turkey stick one on Assads boys? :confused:

I think claiming this military aircraft was shot down over International waters might be speculation and so far both sides have only agreed that this aircraft had at the very least been in Syrian air space, the location where it was actually hit is still open to debate.

Japanese airliners, U2 aircraft, this is hardly the first incident if its type and if you want to go 'walkabouts' there is a price to pay.

Did Turkey cooperate when forces from NATO countries wanted to invade Northern Iraq from the Turkish borders?

Depends if the Turks are looking for a casus belli, and who is willing to support them.

Good point but will there be any volunteers?

My own thoughts are there is very little chance of that happening and Russia needs that warm water port. Turkey has now learnt a very expensive lesson and how very sad that two people might have had to pay the ultimate price for this act of brinkmanship.

Turn your speaker on and listen...

pr00ne

No idea, but exactly the same was done in Libya a few month ago. Now everything is the same except small details - Syria don't have enough oil to support export. Maybe JDAMs are too expensive for this kind of country then...

The incident as viewed by the turkish side (source of graphics = turkish air force radar) :
TÜRK UÇA

(edit: let the video play, I don't understand turk, but graphics are legended in english if you're a bit patient)

How reliable is that website anyway?

Turkey allowing SFA to base itself there and be supplied by Saudi's so lots more to add into the mix.

At this point in time a calm down is more appropriate but whether that will happen is unknown.

very insightful

S-D

There hasn't been any word on the ELT, has it?

By the way, does anyone know if the type is equipped with an FDR of some sort, and if so, does it record RWR data?

LS-4 has his location listed as Canada... they played by different rules than the Aussie/US forces.

There was one 35 Sqn Vulcan captain who declared war on the Russians. One day the Kiev was passing close to the UK in international waters; our secondary role was 'maritime radar reconnaissance' (aka 'boat spotting'), so off he went full of aggression, having entered in the auth sheets the words:

He then proceded to bring back several shots of the Kiev taken at slow speed on the F95, with his overflight taking a number of frames.....and he flew rather more than a single pass. Surprised Russian sailors could be seen staring skyward, wondering WTF was going on.

After they'd recovered from the shock, the MRR cell showed our warry hero the JSP regulations for flight in the vicinity of Russian ships, all of which he had comprehensively broken. The auth sheet entry was removed and destroyed, the boss 'had a word' and the rest of us merely agreed that this particular captain was barking...

The Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman has revealed that the aircraft was downed by anti-aircraft fire and not by a radar-guided missile.

News Headlines

To be pedantic, a Syrian Ministry spokesman has claimed, rather than revealed. Truth is the first casualty and all that...

I do love the 'even if it were Syrian we would have shot it down' bit - clearly, a kill's a kill!

Not very judging by the latest "news" it was shot down by AA fire less than 1.5 miles from Syria.

ORAC or, a valid defense of territorial waters/airspace. Granted, most nations operate under the protocol of warning before shooting, but maybe the Syrians are in the right here.

Heh. I was well within 5 miles numerous times. Good fun. Got mooned a few times for my troubles.
This looks like a variation on the rule "squawk or die." Back in the 80's, in the Med, off the coast of Lebanon, that was roughly the rule I had to adhere to when launching off of our ship's deck. If Mode IV was not responding, I put me arse back down on the deck until our crypto was up and sweet. This was as defense against our own people and their surface to air tools, both missiles and that fun little robot known as CIWS / R2D2. An ounce of prevention, and all that.

Red Line:
So that's where those F-15 pilots ended up, the ones who shot down the Black Hawks. They are now consultants to the Syrian MoD. :E

As to Turkey's response to Syria, and Syria harboring Kurds ... the Turks have ventured into Northern Iraq more than once since the Americans showed up, and since the various Iraqi governments have been in place. All to hammer down on one Kurdish faction or another.

My point is: Turks are not at war with Iraq. Turkish troops running about in Syria chasing Kurds need not be a cause for war, but the Syrian government would have to be on board (which IIRC the Iraqi government was for a while). The odds of Assad and friends being supportive? Low to nil.

You might be mistaking me for Fox3WheresMyBanana..

During the Cold War, the only wings I had were those of my diapers.

Video claiming to be people on a beach watching the F4 being shot down..

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5b8_1340635536