On Nov. 24, a Russian Air Force Su-24M that allegedly violated Turkish airspace was shot down by an AIM-120C air-to-air missile that a Turkish Air Force (TUAF) F-16 fired while on combat air patrol.
Although the details of the incident are controversial, with the Russians claiming that no violation occurred and that their aircraft had not been warned by the TuAF, it is safe to say that airspace violations occur every now and then. Rarely do they end up with the downing of the intruder, though.
Indeed, violations of Turkish airspace were reported shortly after a Russian Air Force contingent deployed to Latakia, in northwestern Syria, began pounding FSA and IS targets across the country.
On Oct. 3 and 4, NATO said a Russian Air Force Su-30SM and Su-24 aircraft violated Ankara’s sovereign airspace in the Hatay region in spite of “clear, timely and repeated warnings.” In that case, the RuAF admitted the violations, claiming they were due to “navigation errors.”
TuAF F-16s in QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) were scrambled to identify the intruder, after which the Russian planes departed Turkish airspace. During the Oct. 3 incident, the Russian Su-30SM maintained a radar lock on one or both the F-16s for a full 5 minutes and 40 seconds — unusual and provocative conduct on the part of the Russian pilots.
Following the first incidents, Ankara said it would shoot down any aircraft violating their sovereign airspace as done in the past with a Syrian Mig-23, a Mi-17 and an Iranian-made Mohajer 4 UAV.
The alleged violation of the Turkey-Syria is far from unexpected considering the intrusions reported since the beginning of October. Far more surprising is the news that Russia has also violated Israeli airspace more than once in recent weeks.
“Russian pilots occasionally cross into Israeli airspace, but due to excellent defense coordination that began with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s meeting with Putin in which limits were set, the Israel Defense Forces and the Russian military agreed on security arrangements,” said General (res.) Amos Gilad, head of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s political-security division, according to Israeli media.
The security protocol established between Israel and Russia should prevent incident like the one of Nov. 24 and the subsequent diplomatic crisis.
Gilad added, added, “In the understandings with the Russians, we retain freedom of action in our attempts to prevent weapons getting through from Iran to Hezbollah.”
There are other areas where violations regularly occur as well. The skies over the Aegean Sea are often violated by Turkish Air Force F-16s and F-4s.
Greece claims 10 miles of airspace around a chain of Greek islands lined up along Turkey's western coast in very close proximity to the Turkish mainland. Turkey recognizes only six miles.
Many of the incidents take place within the four-mile radius, which Athens considers its sovereign airspace and Ankara considers international territory. But according to several reports, there are a number of unauthorized Turkish military flights directly over Greek islands themselves.
An article published by Politico last summer cited figures from research at the University of Thessaly that reported 2,244 incursions of Turkish fighter jets and helicopters in 2014 alone.
Although it’s unclear how many of those occurred within the disputed airspace (nor do we know the number of Greek violations logged by the Turkish Air Force, aside from this data from 2012), it’s quite clear that there's potential for a border incident similar to the Russian Su-24 shoot-down. In 2006, an aerial standoff led to a dogfight and subsequent a mid-air collision that killed a Greek pilot.
Although they were clearly upset by the Russian violation on Nov. 24, the Turkish authorities should already be used to such incursions, from both the intruder's and the intruded's standpoint.
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