Two MQ-9 Reaper drones have made a close approach to a Russian Air Force Su-24M strike fighter over Syria, according to a report from the Russian Defence Ministry’s Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria. “On July 27, two coalition’s MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance combat unmanned aerial vehicles dangerously approached Su-24 planes of the Russian aerospace forces making a planned flight over Syria. The incident took place at an altitude of around 6,500 meters near the settlement of Al Sukhnah in the Homs governorate,” the Center stated. Two pairs of U.S. Air Force F-15 fighters and A-10 attack jets were reported to have violated Syria’s airspace in the Al Tanf area eight times that day. Reaper drones have made multiple close approaches to Russian Air Force fighters over Syrian airspace, with one such incident involving a Russian Su-35 fighter having occurred in the second week of July. An MQ-9 was previously reported to have made a close approach to a Su-35 15 days prior on June 27 – a day which saw 12 recorded sustained violations of Syrian airspace by Western combat aircraft.
The Su-24 is one of the oldest classes of combat aircraft in service in Russia, and remains operational only in limited numbers with the vast majority of the fleet having been replaced by Su-34 and Su-30SM fighters – 21st century derivatives of the Soviet Su-27 Flanker design. The Su-24M served as the USSR’s premier strike fighter class from the 1970s, and was the last major Soviet fighter with a variable swept wing design. The Russian Air Force first deployed the aircraft to Khmeimim Airbase in Syria in 2015 to support counterinsurgency operations against a range of Western, Turkish and Israeli backed Islamist insurgent groups. The Turkish Air Force’s shootdown of one of the aircraft in November 2015, providing air cover to jihadist militants on the ground, led Russia to significant escalate its deployments of anti aircraft assets to the country including S-300V4 and S-400 air defence systems and Su-27SM2 and Su-35 fighters. The insurgency in Syria remains active in areas of the country under the control of the United States and Turkey in the respective northeastern and northwestern regions.