[Regnum] The crew of the Russian An-30 aircraft successfully prevented a collision with an F/A-18 fighter-bomber of the US-led international coalition in the skies over Syria. This was reported on August 18 at a briefing by the deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria (CRPS), Captain 1st Rank Oleg Ignasyuk.
According to Ignasyuk, a dangerous approach of a coalition F/A-18 fighter-bomber with an An-30 of the Russian Aerospace Forces occurred over the Et-Tanf region of Homs province at an altitude of 6,700 meters. The Russian crew was making a scheduled flight over Syria.
“The pilots demonstrated high professionalism and took the necessary measures in a timely manner to prevent a collision,” Oleg Ignasyuk reported.
Also, over the past 24 hours, 18 violations of the rules for using the airspace of the Syrian Arab Republic by the “coalition” aircraft were recorded: three pairs of F-15 fighters, a pair of Typhoon fighters, two pairs of F/A-18 fighter-bombers and three pairs of A-10 attack aircraft.
It is noted that on August 17, the Ministry of Defense recorded six cases of violations by the “coalition” of the provisions of the deconfliction protocols regarding drone flights not coordinated with Russia.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, on July 14, the MQ-9 Reaper UAV of the US-led coalition came dangerously close to a Su-35 multi-role fighter of the Russian Aerospace Forces in the skies over Syria, Ignasyuk reported.
A similar incident occurred on July 12, when an American drone came dangerously close to a Russian Su-35 in the As-Sukhna area of Homs province. The fighter pilot managed to prevent a collision.
Before this, the deputy head of the Center for Strategic and Strategic Studies in Syria, Yuri Popov, reported a dangerous approach of the Russian Aerospace Forces An-30 to the “coalition’s” Typhoon fighter.