The Russian Aerospace Forces sent fifth-generation fighters to Syria for the latter to participate in real combat operations and practice joint strikes in coordination with the crews of other fighters of the Russian troops, EDNews.net reports citing Bulgarian Military News.
The information on this subject is partially confirmed by sources of the TASS publication, which report that the Su-57 and Su-35 worked as a “flock” in real combat conditions that could only be created on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.
“The experiment was carried out in real combat conditions, a group of Su-35 fighters was involved in the” flock “, the role of the command and staff aircraft was performed by the Su-57,” said one of the agency’s interlocutors.
Another defense source confirmed to TASS the nature of the tests and explained that in the battle order, which the pilots call a flock or swarm, information is exchanged between fighters in real time: the information-control system of each aircraft automatically processes data from both its own sensors and sensors of other boards.
Sources explained that the use of a “flock” operating in a single information space, significantly increases the efficiency of combat missions. The interlocutors did not name the date and place of the experiment.
It should be noted that the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has not yet confirmed the use of Su-57 fighters in Syria, however, earlier these combat aircraft have repeatedly appeared on the territory of this Arab state.
According Russian military source by the way, the most favorable conditions have been created for testing Russian military equipment, moreover, relatively recently, the positions of the militants in Idlib were indeed subjected to air strikes, although, as expected, this was done by the Syrian Air Force.
In the last year, we have repeatedly reported the presence of a Russian Su-57 fighter jet in Syria.
We reported on December 24 that the Su-57 fighter has tested new types of missile and bomb weapons in Syria, according Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu statement at a final meeting of the ministry with the participation of President Vladimir Putin.
“In Syria, in combat, they tested the [helicopter] Mi-28NM, the pacifier Unmanned Aircraft in the strike version, and new types of missile and bomb weapons of the Su-57 fighter,” the Minister of Defense said.
Shoigu also said that the Russian army tested 43 more new weapons in Syria. By March 316 samples of new weapons were tested, a total of 359 samples were tested in the country, the minister said.
Back in October last year according to Krasnaya Zvezda, the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense reported about two Su-57 fighters having been deployed for a second time to Khmeimin Air Force Base, located near the coastal city of Jableh and Latakia (Syria).
The primary goal of the redeployment has been reported as a renewed demonstration of the latest Russian combat aircraft acting under “real-war conditions”.
BulgarianMilitary.com reported at least one proven air strike of Su-57 in Syria on April 17 this year. Then, a Russia’s Su-57 carried out an air strike over Idlib and killed at least three members of the pro-Turkish terrorist group Jaish al-Nasr.
Them, according to the Lebanese news agency AMN, it was possible that Russian aerospace forces also used an unmanned aerial vehicle together with Su-57, due to the characteristics of the terrain where the Jaish al-Nasr members were located.