SyAAF Su-22M-4 Shot Down (2017-06-18)

On 18th June 2017, a SyAAF Su-22M-4 belongs to No.827 squadron from T4 AB and piloted by Lt. Col. Fahd Ali "العقيد فهد علي" was shot down by a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet to the south of Raqqa city.

Most pro-regime FB pages reported the pilot ejected safely with minor injuries and was returned to Damascus while actually he is caught POW by SDF personnel.

SyAAF SA 342 Gazelle Shot Down (2016-12-19)

Yesterday, 19th Dec., a SyAAF Gazelles was shot down by ISIS fire in T4 AB surroundings taking into account that since late 2014 a pair -at least- of Gazelles were deployed from Mazze AB to the T4 and housed inside the maintenance hangars as mentioned in my previous post.

The Gazelle was piloted by Brig. Gen. Khedr Al-Hussain "العميد خضر الحسين" and Major Abbas Yunes "الرائد عباس يونس", both were KIA.
I need to draw your attention here that some pro-regime media claimed the death of Major Amer Ibrahim due to the crash of his helicopter at the surrounding of the airbase which is false.

SyAAF's T4 AB in Danger

New video published by ISIS videoed from the south western part of the T4 airbase and shows how close the ISIS fighters got.
MiG-25s are scattered everywhere around the airfield as can be seen in aerial imageris, may be 2 or 4 PDS interceptors are still air worthy while the others has been decommissioned since years.

The maintenance hangars are in sight and could be an easy target to ISIS fire; SyAAF shouldn't worries about whether Su-22M-4s and Su-24M2s are inside but for the Gazelles which are housed in.

It's good to mention that the south western HASes in this airbase house the Su-22M-4 squadron.

SyAAF Su-22M-4 Shot Down (2015-09-17)

Yesterday, 17th Sep. 2015, a SyAAF Su-22M-4 operating from T4 airbase and piloted by Col. Muhammad Al-Hussein "العقيد محمد الحسين" was shot down over Jazal oil field area located around 40km to the north east of the said airbase.
ISIS media reported shooting down the aircraft claimed as 'MiG-21' which is apparently not.

This VIDEO below shows the remnants of the Su-22M-4 such as the tail fin and the drag-chute compartment.

SyAAF Su-24M2 Shot Down (2012-11-28)

 
On 28th Nov. 2012, the FSyA units scored their first kill against the most advanced SyAAF aircraft, the Su-24M2.
The Syrian Fencer -serial is still unknown so far- which home base is the T4, carried out an attack sortie in the county of Aleppo before a 9K38 Igla MANPAD successfully hit the aircraft in its way returning to base and brought it down 25km to the west of Aleppo in Daret Ezzeh 'دارة عزة' town.
 

 
Both pilot Colonel Ziad Dawod 'العقيد زياد داود' and co-pilot -non confirmed- Major Akram Hammoudi 'الرائد أكرم حمودي' ejected at that moment; Rebels drove Lt. Ziad to the hospital of Termanin where he died there suffering serious injuries led to his death as can be seen in various videos, while the fate of the co-pilot is still a mystery till moment.
 

Exclusive photo for Abu Omair with his Igla, the responsible for shooting down the mighty Syrian Su-24M2.

Eye-Catching AFB: T4 (Syria) - UPDATED

'Apple Maps' did it again and is the first among others alike to reveal new aerial imagery of the Syrian secretive T4 AFB which is for sure taken recently (let's say 2 years old maximum).
Above is a KEYMAP shows the crops I did below:
 

 
View 1: The north eastern HAS's those used to shelter the mighty MiG-25's before the mass phasing-out of this interceptor.
Nothing changed in this sector comparing to the last AERIAL IMAGERY Apple Maps revealed on Sep. 2012 except one MiG-25 towed into an exposed aircraft pin at the furthest north of these HAS's.

 
View 2: Nothing changed here as well, ten phased-out/stored MiG-25's and the Su-22M stayed in its place over the engine test pad.

 
View 3: Here we can see four MiG-25's newly towed out and set randomly on sand, raising the number of the officially seen phased-out / in storage Syrian Foxbats to 32 units.

 
View 4: Among these seven MiG-25's seen here, one is newly shifted to an exposed aircraft pin. 

View 5: Note the enormous volume of armament green wooden crates at the Su-24M2 eastern tarmac!!

Photos of SyAAF Su-24 - UPDATED

Some new photos for the Syrian mighty bomber, the Su-24 Fencer. It was known that SyAAF used to own around 18~24 units of MK variant of this aircraft, but recently some photos were published on the website of the 514 ARZ overhaul facility in Rzhev (Russia), here I would strongly advice to read Oryx' article about the recent 'M2' modernization of SyAAF Fencers HERE.
Looking at the photo above -Su-24 carries the serial 3506- extracted from the website of the said facility would make a Syrian proud to see that the SyAAF Fencers are overhauled with soft hands :P 
 

Another exclusive share to our blog from one of our great friends (thanks again!) shows the fuel nozzles under engines' outlets those are responsible of the cloudy trail the SyAAF Su-24's were spotted a lot performing that in their way back to T4 AFB in order to balance the weight of the aircraft by emitting extra amount of fuel till reaching the acceptable landing weight.
To the left, a nose of a Su-22M.
 

Although it's very partial, but a great shot for the cockpit of a SyAAF Su-24.
 

A SyAAF Su-24 spotted firing a guided missile -notice the trailing of the missile at the bottom of the photo- on a building in Douma town (suburbs of Damascus) on 12th May 2014 after continues failure of precisely targeting that building by the MiG-23BN's.
 

If the SyAAF Su-24 are spotted rarely over Damascus, this bomber flies 3~4 sorties a day over towns and villages of Idleb governrate and Jabal Azzawiyah.
 

Syrian Su-24 inside a HAS, could be either in T4 AFB (the home base of this bomber).

Photos of SyAAF Su-24MKs

Back!! to all fans, sorry for this gap as I was abroad for a couple of weeks. Anyway, I came back with a load of new and rare images will be posted here shortly!
Starting posts of December from the point I stopped, as you all know it will be for the SyAAF Su-24MK.

Very nice shot for a unit in flight, I am not sure when it was taken and where...was it during the live fire maneuvers? or been taken by a ground staff of some airbase (either T4 or Seen) ?!?!
The airframe here carries the serial 2508, also all the pylons are fitted to the wings and fuselage.

The second interesting photo is for another Syrian Su-24MK photographed in the T4 airbase on 16th Oct. 2013. The serial is readable here and it is 2514.
The group here are called the 'Slavonic Corps' operating in Syria, for more info you should not miss reading Oryx's post about them HERE.

Another airframe with serial 2502 was photographed on ground. It is just abnormal to see this aircraft stationed with 45 degrees oriented on tarmac, so this imagery might be taken near/at the back yard of a HAS.

(Photo from: The Aviationist)

The famous Su-24MK videoed by a co-pilot on 15th Oct. 2011 passing over Aleppo city in their way to Rasm Al Abboud airbase (Kweres) in training just one day before the air personnel graduation ceremony held in that base.
The serial of this aircraft could be read 2509.

A shot for a Syrian Su-24MK just after taking off appeared in media in the state channel during the live fire maneuvers took place on July 2012. 

In action: the SyAAF relied a lot on this machine in ground attack sorties over Aleppo, Idelb, Homs and recently Dar'a with very few times seen over Eastern Ghouta in Damascus.
This one was spotted over the northern county of Aleppo (towns of Hayyan and Hreitan) loaded with Eight free fall bombs FAB's.

It turned back after it carried out its attack sortie.
The fleet of Syrian Su-24MK's is based mainly in T4 AFB with some units in Seen AFB.

Over Idelb and specifically over Jabal Azzawiyah area the Su-24MK's are flying almost daily like this one spotted there on 18 Sep. 2013.

I would advise readers to have a look on Oryx's article about the same HERE with much details about the recent upgrade some of the SyAAF Su-24MK's have received.

Eye-Catching AFB: T4 (Syria)

I believe it's time to talk about a very attractive Syrian AFB, especially after the great Apple maps revealed its latest and most recent aerial images...it's the T4.
T4 (or as named in GE "Tiyas" which is not known at all with this name in Syria) is located in the Syrian desert 80km to the east of Homs city.

T4, is one of the most important AFB's in Syria since it is STILL the main home base for the Syrian Su-24MK fleet, and WAS for the sadly phased-out most of the MiG-25PD's fleet.
This AFB witnessed the operation of Su-7, Su-22M, Su-24MK, MiG-25PD/PU/RB, MiG-29 in addition to the two Il-28 SyAAF used to have in 1960s.
Above is a key map for the views below:

View 1: This is the first aerial image which clearly confirms the phasing-out of MiG-25PD's, four airframes sadly towed into the desert.

View 2: The north-eastern HAS's shows another MiG-25s still parked outdoor, they look here more stored than phased-out.
Note the two fuselage of scrapped Su-7s to the upper right corner.

View 3: The south-eastern HAS's also shows few MiG-25s stored aside outside.

View 4: another four MiG-25s parked outside.

View 5: To the furthest west of this AFB, two yards received ten MiG-25s, the western HAS's used to be occupied by Su-22 squadrons.

View 6: Another four confirmed phased-out MiG-25s been towed also in the desert.
From these satellite images, T4 became a boneyard for the MiG-25 fleet in which we can count at least 27 airframes (stored/phased-out), but referring to the video of Tadmor airbase in which at least three MiG-25PD/PU appeared then we assume that only few units might be still operational till todate.