This was a planned and coordinated intercept by Turkey. The real failure was Russian ground radar inability to pick up the Turkish bandits and warn Fenser of the threat boggies approaching from their 3 O’clock or 6 O’clock position. The Vipor’s got within 5-10 miles and once they had missile tone they uncaged the seeker head and took a boresight shot without radar lock. From now on their will be SU-27’s or Mig-29’s within operational CAP of those strike aircraft and they will not be caught with their pants down again. Turkey got in a sucker punch and picked to big of a fighter to mess with.
This was a planned and coordinated intercept by Turkey...
I wonder what else was happening in that area. Arms delivery? I guess we will never know.