Posted on 12/14/2017 11:10:38 AM PST by Red Badger
A pair of U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighters fired flares to chase two Russian Su-25 fighter jets out of restricted airspace over Syria on Wednesday, a Pentagon official confirmed Thursday.
The aerial encounter occurred when the Russian jets strayed into airspace east of the Euphrates River, putting them on the wrong side of a "deconfliction zone" established between Moscow and Washington to avoid confrontation in the skies over Syria.
The Russian jets immediately left the area after the intercept and warning flares from the F-22s, an official confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
The Pentagon could not provide an account of how many or how often Russian violations of the deconfliction zone occur.
Two engines - F22
Single engine - F35
No -— it is sovereign here— correct? get real!!
No sir. Wrong as hell. Read the preamble to the United Nations!! Absolute international law. Don’t be ignorant— it could cost you your nations sovereignty.
Yes, sounds like some mis-reporting going on.
I’m in shock! /s
No problem Bud. We all do it now and then.
It is ‘sovereign’ here only as long as we can keep someone else from taking it away from us.
Ask the Indians.....................
The 35 is single engine. The pic depicts two engines. It’s a 22.
Ha ha.....no. Even the vaunted SU-57 is likely no match. The alleged capabilities of these Russian aircraft are being greatly exaggerated for propaganda purposes. Reminds me of the MiG-25.
Also forgotten is the enormous advantage the U.S. has in sensor fusion and information sharing. The F-22 itself, formidable as it is, is just one component of the larger force that is able to identify threats, distribute that information in real time to other combat elements, and plan the most efficient and effective action in response. Add larger numbers of cheaper, but still sophisticated and stealthy F-35s now entering service to the mix and there is no way the Russians could match us. Too many people still think in terms of Tom Cruise and F-14s turning and burning, but traditional short range dogfighting is much less likely to occur and much less of a decisive factor than in the past. It’s now all about who sees whom first and has the capability to “reach out and touch them” first as well.
The Russians are trying to catch up, but they still rely too much on the less sophistication/greater numbers model that they traditionally have. They also have an economy about the size of Australia’s, so highly unlikely they can even come close to matching our level of sophistication.
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