Russia's electronic spies have become a key part of Moscow's surge into Syria. The signal spooks are searching for targets and following up on air strikes.On Sept. 30, Russian fighter-bombers and ground attackers began launching aerial attacks across the embattled country. On Oct. 7, the Kremlin announced that four warships in the Caspian Sea had lobbed nearly 30 cruise missiles-which zipped through Iranian and Iraqi airspace to reach their final destinations-as part of the ongoing offensive.
And since the beginning, the Kremlin's spy planes and other intelligence gathering systems appear to have been keeping watch.
"Earlier featured footage of #ISIS vehicles destruction is now confirmed by militants radio talks and other reconnaissance sources," reads the caption of an official Russian Ministry of Defense video showing an Su-24M Fencer carrying out a strike-seen below-uploaded to YouTube on Oct. 5. "Near Kafar Aouid two Su-25 engaged an ISIS field camp, where radio recon proved presence of foreign militants," Russian authorities posted on Twitter the next day.
While Moscow has not identified its reconnaissance platforms, pictures of Russian Il-20M Coots flying over the battlefield have popped up on social media. Based on the Ilyushin Il-18 turboprop airliner, these four-engined planes are rough equivalents to the U.S. Air Force's family of RC-135 aerial spies.