Forums → WEPR → Russian Jet shot down - Syrian Crisis General Discussion

There is some controversy about this . As you are probably well aware right now, Turkish F-16s shot down a rusian military Jet over the Syrian border. Out of the 2 pilots, one may have survived while the other has most likely been killed by Syrian rebels. The rescue chopper was also hit by the rebels and forced to make emergency landing in a friendlier zone nearby.

The exact location of the Russian jet when it was shot down is a subject of much speculation. The current generally accepted theory is that the jet may have briefly flown over Turkey, but there was no airspace violation and the plane was shot down over Syria.

Whether there was a warning, or not was also a subject of much discussion. Turkish authorities reportedly claim that their pilots warned the Russian Jet at least once before locking on and shooting it down.

Here is where it gets complicated. Normally, during a violation of airspace and if the plane violating said airspace does not heed to the instructions it is given via radio, fighters are scrambled for interception. Standard procedure. However it seems highly unlikely that the Russian Jet did not respond to being intercepted like that. It is very unclear what happened but any 'sane' pilot would probably heed the warning of a fighter that is right behind and locked onto him, even if no airspace violation took place.

Russia is already hitting back hard in terms of economy. Some sources claim that all the benefits Turkey reaped from the Russian embargo are now gone and that move will inevitably harm the Turkish economy.

What are your thoughts on this? What do you think on the surrounding mystery? Did Turkey actually harm itself as some analysts claim?