Russia’s Su-35S fighters in Syria to be used against ground targets — expert

Military & Defense February 02, 2016, 14:18

The expert believes that the Sukhoi Su-35S planes, just as the Sukhoi Su-30SM, dispatched to Syria earlier, "are equally effective in attacking air and surface targets"

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. Russia’s newest Sukhoi Su-35S fighters, redeployed to Syria, will be flight-tested in real combat conditions and make a contribution to destroying terrorist targets on the ground, the former chief of the Lipetsk air pilots training center, Major-General Alexander Kharchevsky, has said.

He believes that the Sukhoi Su-35S planes, just as the Sukhoi Su-30SM, dispatched to Syria earlier, "are equally effective in attacking air and surface targets."

"In particular, Sukhoi-35 will be able to use its high maneuverability (in fact, unparalleled at the moment) in dog fight and effectively attack targets on the surface," Kharchevsky told TASS.

"These unique planes will certainly contribute a lot to the air group’s strike power," he said.

Another purpose of sending Russia’s newest planes in Syria is to test them in real combat. Such tests "are very important from all points of view."

"It would be very wrong to miss this chance to see our air technologies in action and it is being used to the full," Kharchevsky said.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov on Monday told the media Sukhoi-35 fighters had been moved to Syria. The fighters already began to fly combat missions from the Hmeimim air base last week. The statement followed another incident in Russian-Turkish relations. Ankara accused a Russian plane of straying into Turkish airspace. Moscow dismissed the charges as groundless.

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