2014-04-30

Photos of SyAAF Helicopters (Misc)


Syrian Navy Mi-14PS looks to be performing a 'show' near the corniche of Tartous city.


Another shot for a Mi-14PS in Hmemim airbase (Lattakia IAP).


Mi-14PS carrying the serial 1475 flying over Qal'et Al-Hosn after regime forces conquered the area. This was photographed on 18th April 2014.


Closer shot for the same Mi-14PS which was called here to video the Syrian flag formed by volunteers in the Citadel itself.


Again in Lattakia IAP, a press team was transported from/to this airbase to cover an event in Syria infront of a SyAAF Mi-17 with serial 37.
Note behind the boom of a SyAAF Hind Mi-25 and the row of three Mi-14PL's and one Mi-14PS to the right.


Another press reporter standing infront of a SyAAF Hip in Neyrab airbase (Aleppo IAP) on 2nd Feb. 2014. This Mi-8 carries the serial 260 as seen in another video for the same event. 


SyAAF Mi-17 was spotted flying nearby Dummar district in Damascus on 5th Sept. 2012.


A photo for a SyAAF helicopter pilot was taken in an airbase (could be Taftanaz) with an armed Mi-17 and Mi-8 in background.


SyAAF Mi-25 spotted over Hama city on 2nd Mar. 2014 fitted with two FAB's.

2014-04-29

SyAAF MiG-23MS in Abu DhHour AFB


It is the first anniversary of the overrun of Abu DhHour AFB in Idleb governorate when rebels succeed on 30th April 2013 to pass into the Western side of the airfield for few days before the regime forces could push them back out.
 

There was a MiG-23MS scrapped at the back of a double HAS in the south-western corner of the airbase, which was marked the first jet targeted by rebels by an ATGM at the beginning of the Syrian unrest.
 

The already-phased-out MS was seriously damaged by that hit, which has been totally knocked out after few days of the invasion of this AFB.
 
 
As seen in a footage of the video this still above was extracted from, this MiG-23MS with its famous locally Green painted radome, carries the insignia of 'The Factory' which means it was indigenously overhauled in Neyrab facility.


The last shot of this MiG-23MS which carries the serial 1605.
 

In addition to the phased-out MiG-23MS, Abu DhHour AFB until 2011 was the home base of MiG-23UB, MF in addition to squadrons of MiG-21MF and bis. The photo above shows the bone-yard of seven MiG-23MS/UB.

2014-04-25

SyAAF Helicopter Sorties From Misc AFB's (1st Quarter 2014)


Another survey I prepared for the air raids/transport sorties SyAAF is carrying out with its fleet of Helicopters in a trial to estimate the 'remaining' operational units at least in the northern/western areas of clashes, specifically those are starting from Hama (Hama governorate), Sh'eirat (Homs governorate), Abu Ddhour (Idleb governorate) and Hmemim (Lattakia governorate).

As stipulated above, we can notice that contrary to expectations, Abu Ddhour AFB is 'very' alive and as active as Hama AFB in terms of number of daily sorties.
Hmemim airfield was kinda conservative in number of daily sorties from the beginning of January until the first half of March, while the second half of March till today (as we will see in the updated survey) it becomes one of the main bases for Helicopters to start from.

21st Feb. recorded the maximum number of Helicopters taking off from the four airbases in a single day with a total number of 42 sorties. Of course, we cannot consider all these were attack sorties as helicopters are currently being used for the following:
- Bombing (dropping death barrels)
- Supplies (para-dropping food for besieged SyA units)
- Transportation (units and VIP's)
So, if we consider that each helicopter took off twice a day we may reach a conclusion that there are at least 21 operational/air-worthy Mi-8/17/14/25 in these four airbases.

Talking about the distribution of each type in these four AFB's -relying on available visual records in each base- it is as below:
- Mi-8/17: Hama, Sh'eirat, Abu Ddhour, Hmemim
- Mi-14: Hmemim
- Mi-25: Hama, Sh'eirat, Hmemim

2014-04-08

Air Raids From Hama & Sh'eirat AFB's (1st Quarter 2014)


In a trial to understand the current inventory of aircraft the SyAAF is currently operating, I worked to survey and available records of attack sorties the SyAAF 'Jet' units are performing. Fortunately, I found trustful entries -from a group specialized in observation of air sorties- for Hama AFB (Hama governorate) & Sh'eirat (Homs governorate) AFB, and accordingly prepared a log of the number of air raids started from both.

The charts above stipulate the daily air raids from both air bases in the first quarter of this year. We can notice that January witnessed the least sorties due to the bad weather in some days, while in February the more sorties been performed stably from both airports. In March the rate was unstable in terms of continuity of the same number of aircraft started from both airbases especially from Sh'eirat.

22 is the maximum number of air raids conducted in a single day from Sh'eirat on 20th Feb. and 14 in a day from Hama on 15th Mar. which drives us to a conclusion that at least there were 11 operational (Su-22M-3/4 / MiG-23BN) and 7 operational (MiG-21bis / MiG-23MF) in Sh'eirat and Hama AFB's respectively (this if we estimated that each aircraft scrambled twice a day).

At last, I would remind that this survey is limited to Jet Fighters/Bombers and there are twice the number of raids carried out by helicopter starting from these both air bases.

2014-04-04

Syrian Air An-26 with Strange Pods


Today, a video is published for a Syrian Air An-26 carrying the serial YK-ANC about to land in Hama AFB. The strange thing I noticed in this transporter is the two pods -as mentioned above- suspending from the fuselage.

This is not the first time to see these pods fitted to the Syrian An-26's, during the 'Live Fire Maneuvers' a photo for this aircraft showed the same pods, also, a very clear shot for the same YK-ANC was flying over Lattakia clearly showing them as well.

I spent an hour 'googling' trying to identify this pod but failed, are they camera pods for recon? weather surveillance equipment? any idea?


2014-04-02

SyAAF MiG-29 in Action


Let's say that March 2014 would be a turning point for the SyAAF in terms of appearance and utilization of its units in the current uprising!
We saw the first appearance of the MiG-25's over the eastern county of Hama, also the intensive use of MiG-29's over the northern county of Damascus, and to the eastern side of Seen AFB.
Spotting Fulcrum's over Rhaibeh (just 15km to the north of Dhmair AFB and 25km to the southern west of Nasriyeh AFB) gives some kind of impression that the bomber fleet is over-tired (Su-22M & MiG-23BN).

Above is one of the MiG-29's those attacked seven times Rhaibeh town on 24th March 2014 (boringly fitted with B-8 pods) !! The serial is unclear but might be read 3436 or 3439.
This is the most valuable photo of a Syrian MiG-29 as it shows the camo pattern on the upper surfaces which will be helpful for modellers and artwork renderers ;)


 
Another shot for the same MiG-29 opening its gun fire which we saw in the famous video when this attacked the cameraman (below).




Some videos I collected showing this fighter carrying out ground attack sorties in the area to the east of Seen AFB which is known as Al-Tanf, that when FSyA attacked the 559 tank brigade on 20th March.











2014-04-01

Spotted Aircraft/Aerial Vehicles over Syria: March 2014

List of spotted 'Aircraft and Aerial Vehicles' over Syria during the month March 2014.

PROVINCE CITY/TOWN DATE AIRCRAFT LINK
Hama Al-Hamra' 01-03-2014 MiG-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znacDq7q12M
Damascus Yabroud 05-03-2014 MiG-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOw1rfW0iiY
Lattakia County 05-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdWIlleMVl8
Lattakia Jabal Al-Akrad 05-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UePfZNJMYpY
Homs Qal'et Al-Hosn 05-03-2014 Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBsh40IDSpI
Homs Houle 05-03-2014 Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89vdLiirvdU
Idleb County 05-03-2014 MiG-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ_VrktfKJ4
Idleb Khan Sheikhoun 05-03-2014 MiG-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmSgqhTSin8
Idleb Al-Habitt 05-03-2014 MiG-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1e-5FBXxQo
Lattakia County 06-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOAyPkxKSWM
Idleb County 06-03-2014 MiG-23MF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7flfn5067d4
Idleb County 06-03-2014 Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx6rMukeasU
Damascus Kafar Batna 07-03-2014 MiG-23BN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBw0UATKeHs
Idleb Idleb 08-03-2014 MiG-23MF http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INfemqb0bAY
Idleb Idleb 08-03-2014 MiG-23MF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CfeLHiWhFA
Idleb Kourin 08-03-2014 MiG-23MF http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pvw8yaBUIk
Damascus Dhmair 09-03-2014 Su-22M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDBwemUh5Mc
Raqqa Raqqa 11-03-2014 MiG-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqI4HJqsWvI
Idleb County 11-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kyUxTidTTU
Idleb Khan Sheikhoun 11-03-2014 Su-22M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lo6tJOCvR4
Hama County 11-03-2014 MiG-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qnsurPGTu4
Dar'a Dar'a 15-03-2014 Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnFV43mb_Q
Idleb Jabal Azzawiyeh 15-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enPHMBToSBk
Idleb Sarjeh 15-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UftDBf5N59c
Idleb Kafareshlaya 15-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMFwFg43Qww
Idleb Khan Sheikhoun 15-03-2014 Su-22M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L4YItCwiw0
Homs Talbeeseh 15-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-OPJF57BIY
Hama Mourek 17-03-2014 MiG-23MF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUkGThBClaw
Lattakia County 17-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK75Z0s_qa8
Lattakia County 17-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xttoD1n7wFQ
Lattakia County 17-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u61xJM74mLI
Unknown Unknown 17-03-2014 Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpVOviX9Agw
Homs Homs 18-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4X7ga8etuM
Homs Talbeeseh 18-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHoRL2e3kTQ
Homs Talbeeseh 18-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_F_X1fJJbI
Dar'a Dar'a 19-03-2014 MiG-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hb7z2NY4QA
Homs Al-Houle 19-03-2014 Il-76 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=139hBCc5wjI
Idleb Khan Sheikhoun 20-03-2014 Airliner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ5yX6RkwKs
Homs Qal'et Al-Hosn 20-03-2014 Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuqiuB5Mg64
Damascus Al-Tanf 20-03-2014 MiG-29 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngOaZ-Zx278
Damascus Al-Tanf 20-03-2014 MiG-29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FKFVa9MIW0
Damascus Al-Tanf 20-03-2014 MiG-29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppu4cLcgBKo
Damascus Al-Tanf 20-03-2014 MiG-29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68uVfmgog_A
Damascus Al-Tanf 20-03-2014 MiG-29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbCbywl4nm8
Damascus Al-Tanf 20-03-2014 MiG-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppu4cLcgBKo
Damascus Al-Tanf 20-03-2014 MiG-23ML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtuCcy3Qdxk
Lattakia Jabal Al-Akrad 20-03-2014 Airliner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG3SXYpzsAU
Idleb Jabal Azzawiyeh 21-03-2014 Airliner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bkOLS7uVxY
Homs Al-Dar Al-Kabira 21-03-2014 Su-22M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0ndz8CSSJg
Homs Talbeeseh 21-03-2014 Su-22M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VH-ANSkk4
Homs Talbeeseh 21-03-2014 Airliner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uml-xt_8h90
Homs Al-Ghanto 21-03-2014 Su-22M-4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heWL3PjKZVk
Damascus Mleha 22-03-2014 MiG-23BN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onnWzy8oIeE
Homs Al-Houle 22-03-2014 Airliner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBHWbDOZZgo
Raqqa Tabqa 22-03-2014 MiG-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jzHeyu9ZVc
Hama County 22-03-2014 MiG-23MF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSoxf6KpYz8
Homs Al-Houle 23-03-2014 Airliner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZwv7FWvec4
Damascus Rhaibeh 24-03-2014 MiG-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJu-x7hbwHg
Idleb Khan Sheikhoun 24-03-2014 MiG-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E43vxzsODFY
Homs County 24-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49zjTO41ksk
Homs County 24-03-2014 Su-22M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab4YcVa4JkI
Hama Eqeirbat 24-03-2014 MiG-25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOd4AT3JChw
Lattakia Kasab 25-03-2014 Su-22M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr3MIIq6lqc
Hama Aqrab 25-03-2014 Il-76 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQprf1eUYss
Hama Mourek 25-03-2014 MiG-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6P9O72ydj0
Dar'a Dar'a 26-03-2014 MiG-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my64Ffm7nLo
Idleb Saraqeb 26-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ublGjickRo
Idleb Kafar Takharim 26-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyCp-SJxMfo
Idleb Jabal Azzawiyeh 26-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sovc0pPGwYc
Idleb Jabal Azzawiyeh 26-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBzkBb5GwUE
Idleb Jabal Azzawiyeh 26-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC7AA1gzoik
Idleb Jabal Azzawiyeh 26-03-2014 Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTVaGKR-u94
Idleb Ma'arret Annu'man 26-03-2014 MiG-23 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZoUMt31c0U
Damascus Unknown 27-03-2014 MiG-29 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdR4sXlrOxM
Idleb Taftanaz 27-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_paLWb6FeA
Hama Eqeirbat 27-03-2014 MiG-25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buZdZisBWKQ
Hama Mourek 27-03-2014 Unknown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwobbgffPxI
Raqqa Tabqa 27-03-2014 MiG-21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3FXTnzEFaE
Homs Talbeeseh 28-03-2014 Su-22M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6hU52avvM
Homs Talbeeseh 28-03-2014 Su-22M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwCEW2FK08
Homs Talbeeseh 28-03-2014 Unknown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO-5WzJqaP0
Homs Al-Dar Al-Kabira 28-03-2014 Su-24MK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgQSnrFHXJs
Hama Al-Zawar 28-03-2014 Unknown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri6epCylTRc
Aleppo Rasm Al-Ward 29-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAG7ZDDMI_o
Hama Mourek 29-03-2014 Su-24MK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2izmcoqkeGc
Idleb Ma'arret Annu'man 31-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1HF3hMczHY
Idleb Kafar Takharim 31-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr4-YRUyZQg
Idleb Kafrunbel 31-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdRiHL6j2sI
Idleb Jabal Azzawiyeh 31-03-2014 Su-24MK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ystBKG5ms