EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT: Putin May Not Have Landed in Syria if it Weren’t For the ASF Cover
At Putin’s annual news conference, much was revealed about the unknown brave men, thanks to whom the President and the Commander-in-Chief can carry out his policy. Here is that fragment.
Kseniya Golovanova, Interfax: “I'd like to ask you about Syria. The last question is about your trip. It looked really cool. Please, tell us, when you decided to do it, did our Aerospace Forces play any role in making this trip happen? Thank you”.
Vladimir Putin: "The need for such a trip was clear to me for a long time. The question was when we would finish getting rid of these terrorist groups and what the situation would be like there. Well, the opportunity came up. With regard to security, the specialists know that the most dangerous moments of such events include landing and take-off when an airplane could be targeted by MANPADS. However, the pilots, I looked, did not just fly by our side, they went below our plane during landing. The nozzles of combat aircraft warm up much more than the engines of civilian aircraft, and they, in fact, were covering our aircraft. Of course, I am grateful to them for that and I want them to know about it, to hear it. Although I think, there was no need for that but, nevertheless they did what they did".
We'll talk later about the need. For those who don't know, MANPADS is a Man-Portable Air Defense System. In other words, it's a heat-seeking missile. It goes towards higher temperatures. On the eve of the news conference, Putin made an unexpected, how should I put it, both a diplomatic trip and even a military operation, a speed march in the Middle East, Egypt, Turkey, but first, Syria.
In Syria, Putin came off the plane and was met by Syrian President, Assad, but a specific moment was that it was the Russian military who were the first to greet their Commander-in-Chief. It was the recently appointed Russian Aerospace Forces Commander, who meanwhile continues to command the Syrian operation, Colonel General Sergey Surovikin. It's a Russian base in Syria.
But let's come back to the moment when the Presidential aircraft was approaching the Khmeimim base. This video shows it maneuvering over the Mediterranean sea. Now, you'll see those Russian Air Force escort fighters that were covering the Presidential plane. Putin waved to the pilot, but to who exactly? I give the floor to our military correspondent, Alexander Sladkov.
Alexander Sladkov: “Syria. Russian Khmeimim military base. This is the multi-role Su-30SM fighter of 4++ generation, that is, the most modern one. It’s designed to gain dominance in the air. It does this well because this fighter can destroy targets both on the ground and in the sky in any conditions: at night, during the day, in rainy weather. This week, it was this aircraft that escorted the Presidential plane in the sky over Syria, on which the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, arrived at the Khmeimim military base.
Here are the pilots who performed this difficult task. We can talk to them.
- Yura, how did it all happen? How did you find out that you were to fly and to escort? Did you know that this was the Presidential plane?
- It was a normal day, we were on duty. The task was to escort a military transport aviation plane. We took off, entered the area, found this plane, came close, and at that stage, we realized that it was not just an airplane, but the Presidential airplane.
- Listen, ordinary people, young pilots carried out this task. In fact, Yura, does it happen often that you accompany planes? Civil, military, and transport ones?
- Yes, this is one of our main tasks. But it was the day when I learned that it was the President's plane that was unique for me. Such a significant event in a pilot’s career!
- Great! Will you be promoted?
- No, I won’t be promoted. But the most important thing that happened that day was seeing this plane in the air next to me and successfully carrying out the task I was assigned to.
- Pasha, did you see the President in the window through the glass?
- No, we were on the left side, it was sunny, and the sun was shining in our direction, so we couldn’t see if someone was looking in the window.
- Yura, what does it mean to cover a plane? Just to cover it from a possible missile strike from the ground, from the air, or what the president was talking about, to cover it with the temperature of your aircraft? How does this happen at all?
- We cover the planes from air confrontation. In this case, the task was to meet the Presidential plane, to accompany it until the landing, and one of the tasks was to literally cover it with our airplanes.
- That is, you acted as a heat trap for possible missiles?
- Yes. The aircraft exhaust gases temperature is much higher, and the operating conditions were at maximum because the speeds of our aircraft are different. And it turned out that we covered the President's aircraft on both sides.
- Pasha, how did your plane behave?
- We tried to fly on the same level, wing to wing, maintaining a distance.
- And who told you?
- We realized that we were accompanying the President, having already completed the flight. I saw on TV that he waved to us and saw that we accompanied him.