2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown

2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown

A Russian Sukhoi Su-24M at Khmeimim airbase, similar to that shot down
Incident summary
Date	24 November 2015
Summary	Shot down by Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet
Site	Syria–Turkey border
Crew	2 + CSAR helicopter with unknown crew
Fatalities	1 pilot, 1 marine (during rescue operation)
Survivors	1 weapon systems officer
Aircraft type	1 Sukhoi Su-24M 1 Mi-8AMTsh CSAR helicopter (during rescue operation)
Operator	Russian Air Force
Registration	83
Flight origin	Khmeimim airbase

A Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M attack aircraft near the Syria–Turkey border on 24 November 2015. According to Turkey, the aircraft—whose nationality was unknown at the time—was fired upon while in Turkish airspace because it violated the border up to a depth of 2.19 kilometres (1.36 miles) for about 17 seconds after being warned to change its heading 10 times over a period of five minutes before entering the airspace. The Russia Defence Ministry denied the aircraft ever left Syrian airspace, counter-claiming that their satellite data showed that the Sukhoi was about 1,000 metres (1,100 yd) inside Syrian airspace when it was shot down. The US State Department said that the US independently confirmed that the aircraft's flight path violated Turkish territory, and that the Turks gave multiple warnings to the pilot, to which they received no response and released audio recordings of the warnings they had broadcast. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pointed out that Turkey had the right to defend its airspace.Russian president Vladimir Putin said that the US knew the flight path of the Russian jet and should have informed Turkey; two US officials said that Russia did not inform the US military of its jet's flight plan.

The Russian pilot and weapon systems officer both ejected from the aircraft. The weapon systems officer was rescued; the pilot was shot and killed by Syrian rebel ground fire while descending by parachute. The shooting of an ejecting aircraft pilot is in contravention of Article 42 of the 1977 additional protocol of the Geneva Convention. A Russian naval infantryman from the search-and-rescue team launched to retrieve the two airmen was also killed when a rescue helicopter was targeted by the rebels.