According to the U.S. general responsible for air operations in the region, armed Russian jets flew over the U.S. military garrison at Syria almost every day in March. This violated a four-year-old agreement.
Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich is the combined forces air component commander of U.S. Central Command. He stated that the last Russian overflight at At Tanf Garrison was only a few hours ago and that Russian aircraft have violated US airspace approximately 25 times this month, compared with zero in February and 14 January.
He said that it was a significant increase and explained that they are now “on track for being twice as big as in the past”.
Grynkewich stated that they fly regularly directly overhead of our units. He also said, “They’re flying directly overhead of my units, and I’ve defined directly overhead as being within about a quarter mile, no more then a quarter mile off one side, while we have forces right there at ATG.” It’s a very uncomfortable situation.
Russian aircraft also include Su-34 jets. Some aircraft are equipped with air-to-air weapons, while others carry air-to-ground munitions. Weapons include bombs and radar-guided heat-seeking missiles.
This disclosure comes following an incident last week where two Russian Su-27 fighter planes flew aggressively over a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper aircraft. They poured fuel on it and collided with it, forcing America to sink the drone in the sea.
Grynkewich stated that he doesn’t believe the Russians are motivated to use weapons against the U.S. military forces in Syria. It just increases the chance of miscalculation . Given events like the MQ-9 accident in the Black Sea it’s not behavior I would expect from a professional Air Force.
Although the U.S. military used the deconfliction telephone line that it shared with Russia to protest its actions, it has not changed Russian behavior. Grynkewich said that the Russians told the U.S. during calls they didn’t recognize all of At Tanf’s airspace as U.S. or that they were responding to coalition activity in this area.
