A spokesman from Al Jazeera ...
Surely some mistake, air strikes always kill civilians in the Mid East when Al J covers the story. :p

Actually, if what he says is true - good! :ok:

"Surely some mistake, air strikes always kill civilians in the Mid East when Al J covers the story."

only when Assad strikes with his stupid old planes that can't make difference ;)

Lonewolf wrote

They are still upgrading the Backfires in service. The plan is to get about 30 upgraded to Tu-22M3M standard by 2020.

IBTimes have incorrect image of three Su-24 Fencers in their article.

Russia Tupolev 22M3 Bombers Upgrade: Modernized Jets To Be In Service By End of 2015

https://russianmilitaryphotos.wordpr...nized-by-2020/

Not sure if this was shown on this forum. On the video you can see briefing at coordination centre at Ministry of defence of Russian Federation. Even if my Russian is a bit rusty - at 12:30 Putin says something rather fascinating to the commander of the Russian Navy cruiser:

"At present time a French Navy group will arrive into your operating area. It is needed to establish direct contact with French and to cooperate with them like allies. The Chief of staff of MoD has to work out the plan of coordinated action with them at sea and in the air. Thank you."



In the wake of recent attacks in Paris this is quite a remarkable statement. Let's see if it is just PR stunt or there will be some coordinated action between NATO country and Russia in Syria.

Even if you don't understand what is said, just observe the body language especially at the end. I am not sure if you saw the earlier video of today where Putin delivered clear message about "we will find and punish the offenders of the attack on Russian Airbus" - this guy really means it.

It is only pity that in our western world politics we lack personality with this kind of bold leadership traits.

"It is only pity that in our western world politics we lack personality with this kind of bold leadership traits."

Putin can afford to be bold because he doesn't need to get himself elected.

actually it's boldness that gets you elected in Russia

IIRC the Russians, French and other allies worked pretty well together during a war last century.

Stitchbitch,

For the sake of historical truth, it were the British and US who were the Russian allies during the WWII in Europe fighting against nazi. France was quickly defeated and some units who managed to escape elimination in 1940 then joined the British troops and some even the Russian AF (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandie-Niemen)


As far as history is concerned, the British could make a very useful step by going to St. Paul's Cathedral and "asking" T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia) to materialise/reincarnate, return to Middle East and duly organise all those dispersed groups of rebels. This battle against IS and likes cannot be accomplished by air strikes only. Somebody has to do the most dirty and dangerous work on the ground.
Helas, no such great men at the moment...

IIRC Lawrence was actually organising a rebel group against lawful authority thereabouts - (well thats how the Turks saw it)

it was never much more than a sideshow and the wheels came off in all directions when the big boys ignored the insurgents and divided the whole area up post-war on their own terms

Released by Russian Ministry of Defence from the recent airstrikes in Syria.

Cruise missiles from Tu-160 Blackjack. The caption states

Appears to be Kh-101?



Kh-555 cruise missiles from Tu-95MS Bear H



OFAB bombs from Tu-22M Backfire C



Possible cruise missile malfunction in Syria?



Appears to be remains of Kh-101 cruise missile?

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/bmpd/...64348_1000.jpg

http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/bmpd/...64981_1000.jpg


http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/bmpd/...62048_1000.jpg

Might that have been shot down by ground fire?
I ask because: how would one know to point the camera there?

Obama offers to work with Russia against ISIS under one condition - CBS News

That is precisely what Putin and his folks are trying to do: end the Syrian Civil War, which has been going on for about 4 years ... a permutation on the famously successful Arab Spring. (Oh, wait ... )

That Putin chooses to back someone many in the West don't like doesn't change that objective being behind Russian involvement there. :ugh:

A note for Mr President: Whomever is writing your speeches and talking points needs a few teachable moments.

I am available, rates to be negotiated in advance of services being provided.

Pretty shocking to see high-altitude / level-profile dumb bombing from the Backfire. Who knows where those sticks landed!

In that first video posted by TEEEJ the left-side bomb door [i.e. starboard] looks like a rusting ship's bilges. What am I mis-seeing?

likely Raqqa, Putin is using the situation to not really care about civilians(read : make Dresden out of it) because noone from the west will have the guts to accuse him right after Paris attacks

All reference images of the Tu-160's bays suggest an uneven orange/brown bay wall colour. The only thing that comes to mind is some sort of foam for thermal lining & presumably (like expanding foam) it ages unevenly & becomes scuffed / marked over time.

It was announced earlier (even on TV) that the targets for the previous two days would be oil infrastructures controlled by ISIS.

Well, IMHO it should have been the first targets when US & Co. started striking ISIS, but they were not.
It is well-known that ISIS is making some mln bucks per day by selling oil at half price. All the transportation routes are known, all the companies involved, bank accounts, beneficiaries, etc - everything is known. Why all involved are not being hunted for is not clear. FIFA bribes, US citizens hiding money in Swiss banks to cheat their revenue office - all are tracked and many are behind the bars, but not those buying ISIS oil and financing the terrorists. Strange...

So, dumb bombs were used by Tu-22M3s to destroy convoys of trucks transporting oil (parallel to tubes). It was said that there were up to 500 trucks used for that. Well, in this case dumb bombs (not heavier than 250 kg each) is an ideal weapon to cover a long stripe. The same for the pipelines and refineries - "process" all these are targets with expensive hi-prec weapons is just stupid.

Parallels with Dresden are inadequate. A dozen bombers are incomparable with what was used in the German skies on that day (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombin...n_World_War_II )

As for civilians, well, if you a truck driver working for ISIS you should accept the risk of being torn into pieces at any time. That's a war...

As for civilians, well, if you a truck driver working for ISIS you should accept the risk of being torn into pieces at any time. That's a war...


Agreed, but active measures are undertaken to eliminate or minimise the risk to civilians. How about directly observing the target? If the video of the Backfires dropping the GP type bombs was the actual footage over Syria, it appeared to be totally cloud covered. Not good.

Thermal protection matting.

Lonewolf wrote

Very true.

The Russians have released video of strikes against oil tankers and refineries.