Here’s the Russian version of the Su-24 shootdown.

On Nov. 24, a Su-24M Fencer bomber was shot down
by a TuAF F-16 near the Turkey-Syria border. The Turkish Air Force
claims the Russian bomber violated the Turkish airspace after ignoring several radio warning issued by a GCI (Ground Controlled Intercept) radar station.

Although the violation (the last in a series of alleged incursions)
was extremely short (17 seconds) the intruding Su-24 was hit by an
air-to-air missile and caught fire. Both crew members ejected: one died
after being fired upon while descending towards the ground; the other
one was rescued by a CSAR (Combat SAR) mission.

However, the Russian Air Force has a different version of the story.

Here’s the release by the Russian MoD (highlights mine):

“In the course of appearance of different versions concerning
circumstances of the attack on the Russian Su-24M aircraft carried out
by the Turkish F-16 fighter in the sky over Syria on November 24, the
Russian Defence Ministry presents facts of this situation unprecedented
in its disloyalty.

The accident happened on November 24. Combat loss of the Su-24M, tail number 83, was caused by fire engagement.

At 9.15 (MSK) it was assigned to carry out strike near Kepir-Motlu-Zahiya located in the north of Syria.

This task was assigned to two Su-24M aircraft crews, including
one of pilot Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov and Captain Konstantin
Murakhtin (aircraft number 83, with combat payload four OFAB-250-270 air
bombs).

The crews were assigned to conduct combat air patrol near Maarrat al-Numan at flight levels of 5800 m and 5650 m correspondetly.

The aircraft took off from the Hmeymim airbase at 9:42.

At 9:52, the Su-24M entered detection zone of the Turkish Air
Force radar means and was under their coverage in the course of 34
minutes.

After 20 minutes passed since the crew had entered its area of
responsibility, the Command centre of the Hmeymim airbase ordered it to
eliminate militants in the area.

The crews bombed two assigned targets and turned to the left to make another approach for destruction of two remaining targets.

As it was carrying out an airstrike at the target located 5.5 km
to the south of the Turkish border, at 10:24 the crew led by Lieutenant
Colonel Peshkov O.A. launched bombs at the target and was then downed by
an “air-to-air” missile from an F-16 fighter of the Turkish Air Force,
which had performed take-off from the Diyarbakir airfield of the 8th Air
Brigade located in the territory Turkey.

During the analysis of video air situation display provided by
the Command Centre of the Syrian Air Force and Air Defence, an aerial
target was spotted, moving from Turkey in the direction of the state
border at the speed of 810 kmph and with the heading of 190 degrees.

After the Turkish fighter approached the Su-24M at a range equal
to the range of a missile launch (equal to 5-7 km, which proves that the
F-16 was in the Syrian air space), it quickly maneuvered to the right,
lowered, and disappeared from the display of the air situation display.

According to the objective monitoring data received from the air defence means, the
Turkish jet remained in the Syrian air space for 40 seconds and dived 2
km into Syrian territory, while the Russian bomber did not cross the
Turkish border.

The crew of the leading aircraft confirms the missile launch.
After the launch and a left turn for heading 130 degrees, they observed a
flash and a tail of white smoke, which he reported to the flight
control officer.

At 10:25, the flight control officer registered that the mark
from the Su-24M aircraft disappeared from the radars. The further
requests and the requests of the leader crew of the Lieutenant Colonel
Peshkov remained without answer.

The estimated time of arrival of an F-16 aircraft from the
military airfield Dyabakyr from the stand-by position on the ground to
the possible place of missile launch constitutes 46 minutes (15 minutes
for preparation and take-off, 31 minutes – flight time needed to arrive
at the firing point).

Thus, interception of a Su-24M aircraft from the stand-by
position on the ground from the military airfield Dyabakyr is
impossible as the necessary time for approaching the target exceeds the minimum time needed for attack by 12 minutes.

Objective monitoring data received from the Syrian radar stations
confirmed the presence of two F-16’s in the duty zone from 9:11 till
10:26 min (for 1 h 15 min) at the altitude of 2400 metres, that
shows that the operation was planned beforehand and the fighters were
ready to attack from the air ambush over the territory of Turkey.

It is to be mentioned that the fighter aircraft stopped
maneuvering in the duty zone an headed rapidly to the offset point 1
minute and 40 seconds before the maximum approach of the Su-24M aircraft
to the Syrian-Turkish border. The method the F-16 aircraft entered the
engagement zone (not by the curve of pursuit) shows that it was vectored
from the ground.

Actions of the Turkish aircraft after launching of missiles over
the territory of Syria ­- the wind-down turn with loss of altitude and
going under the lower range line of the air defence means – also speaks
for the fact that the perfidious crew’s actions were planned beforehand.

Objective monitoring data from the Hmeymim airbase and the leader aircraft did not register any request made by the crew of the Turkish aircraft to the Russian pilots on the pre-arranged frequency.

The readiness of the Turkish media to cover this incident is also surprising.

The strike with the “air-to-air” missile was made by a pilot of
the F-16 aircraft of the Turkish Air Force at 10:24 and just in an hour
and a half the video showing the falling warplane was published on the
YouTube video hosting site by the Turkish private television company.
The angle of the footage allows to define the possible place of
recording. It is situated in the area controlled by the radical
terrorist groupings consisting of people from the North Caucasus and the
former republics of the USSR. The operator had known in advance the time and place, which would be the best for recording the exclusive footage.

Rapid appearance of militants’ groups in the landing area and
publication of the video in the Internet just 1.5 hours after the
accident show that the terrorists had been informed in advance about the prepared provocation for its videoing and publication of the materials in social media on the Internet.

All these facts clearly show the earlier preparation for
downing of the aircraft and the coverage of those events using the
Turkish Air Force, illegal armed groups and Turkish information agencies
along with active support of the media.

Since the signing of the mutual understanding memorandum between
the Russian Ministry of Defence and the Department of Defence of the USA
on October 23, 2015, the Command of the Russian air group has
undeviatingly taken all measures to prevent incidents between Russian
military aircraft and warplanes belonging to the Coalition countries.

In accordance with these agreements, the Russian Air Force Command Centre at the Hmeymim airbase had informed representatives of the US Air Force concerning the engagement areas and echelons of a pair of Russian Su-24M bombers in advance.

That is why statements made by different officials from Turkey concerning that they had not identified the Russian aircraft are, at least, confusing.

Moreover, the Turkish military command has violated all
articles and dispositions of the international law that regulates
defence of the state border in the air space.

It is to be stressed that there were neither apologies, nor
offers of help in positioning and evacuation of the downed crew received
from the Turkish party after the tragedy happened.

In conclusion, it is necessary to touch upon the subject of the
search-and-rescue operation conducted to evacuate the navigator, Captain
Konstantin Murakhtin from the landing location .
First of all, the Command expresses its gratitude to all the
members of the operation for their accurate, coordinated work, their
tenacity and composure shown in the most difficult situation at night,
surrounded by terrorists. Their work helped to bring the ejected
navigator to the base.

As soon as Captain Murakhtin was safe, massive airstrikes were
made by Russian aircraft and the Syrian rocket artillery on the area
occupied by terrorists who had been actively searching for him.

In conclusion, it must be said that the Aerospace Forces Command
is proud of its pilots, technicians, commanders, and maintenance
personnel, which carry out combat missions to fight international
terrorism in Syria.

The Command wishes to express its deepest condolences to the
families of Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov and Private Alexander
Pozynich, who lost his life rescuing the crew.

The families of the servicemen will not be left on their own and they will receive all required assistance.”

So, summing up, the Russian Air Force believes that the TuAF have
established Combat Air Patrol (CAP) stations along the border (for
years…) to ambush Russian (or Syrian) planes passing close by its F-16s.

Furthermore, it’s worth noticing that the entire “ambush” was
monitored by the Syrian Air Defense and that, once again, the Russian
MoD said that the F-16s did not make an attempt to radio the warning,
but did not mention the GCI station that actually radioed the warnings.

Following the incident, Ankara said that the warnings, on a dedicated mutually agreed radio channel
and the international Guard (emergency) channel (243.0/121.5 MHz – that
the Su-24M is not able to monitor with the current radio equipment),
were not answered by the Russian plane that continued to fly towards the
Turkish airspace, leading the Turkish Air Force to believe the
intruding aircraft was not Russian but Syrian.

In the meanwhile, Moscow has deployed the S-400 air defense system at Latakia, moved the Moskva guided-missile cruiser off the airbase and decided to escort its bombers with the Su-30SM Flankers.

Image credit: Russia MoD

http://theaviationist.com/2015/11/27/turkish-air-force-f-16s-ambushed-the-su-24-fencer-heres-russias-version-of-the-controversial-shootdown/