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Defence & Security News - (Turkey)
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| Turkey shot down an unidentified UAV coming from Syria | |||
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Turkey has shot down an unidentified UAV coming from Syria that crossed into its national airspace. According to Turkish Media, the air vehicle had violated the airspace at a depth of three kilometres. Turkish Air Force fighter jet pilots patrolling in the area located and warned it three times, as per the rules of engagement. Since there was no reply they shot it down.
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 A Turkish Air Force F-16 (Source: Turkish Air Force) |
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Officials from Washington have told Reuters that the aircraft could have been a Russian one but have made clear that it is too early to say anything about its identity. Turkish government officials have told to Reuters that it was a drone and they are trying to identify its identity. So far the only reason that Russia is considered as the possible operator of the UAV is due to its two violations of the Turkish airspace in the past days. However, no one could exclude the fact that it may be operated by Iranian or Syrian forces. Due to the dissemination of various weapons operated by a large number of rebel groups it would be premature to make any allegations on the platform's origin. Officials from the Russian Ministry of Defence stated that all of the fighter aircraft operating in Syria have returned to their bases safely and all of the Russian drones are operating as planned. The Russian Air Force is active in the area and in the first week of October, Russian fighter jets had shadowed US MQ-9 Reaper UAVs that were flying over Syria. United States and Russia are in bilateral talks over air safety procedures in the Syrian airspace, in an effort to avoid any accidents. The discussions are still ongoing and according to US sources they have marked a significant improvement that would eventually lead to a memorandum of understanding. |
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