Russian Su-35 "sky ghost" encounters US fighter in Syria

A month after the US Central Command criticized a “surge” in Russian military flights in Syria, the agency has released two videos showing an encounter between a US fighter jet and a Russian Su-35 fighter jet.

The videos are said to have been recorded by US fighter jets using sensors mounted on their bodies. Images from the videos show Russian Su-35 fighter jets fully equipped with weapons approaching US fighter jets in the skies over Syria.

Video of Russian Su-35 "Ghost of the Sky" encountering US fighter jets in Syria

"On April 18, 2023, US Air Force fighter jets took off from air bases in the region and intercepted Russian fighter jets. During the intercept, the Russian pilot made unprofessional maneuvers within 600 meters of the US aircraft, violating routine de-escalation protocols," the US Central Command said in a statement.

The second video, recorded by an F-16 fighter on April 2, shows the encounter between a Russian Su-35 and a US fighter.

US releases video of Russian Su-35 approaching US fighter in Syria

"On April 2, 2023, a Russian Su-35 aircraft conducted an unsafe and unprofessional approach to a US F-16 aircraft. The aircraft was operating in airspace considered jointly controlled by the US-Russian coalition over Syria," the US Air Force stated.

"These aggressive actions by Russian pilots demonstrate poor performance, which could lead to miscalculation and unintended escalation," the US side accused.

Russia has not yet commented on the above information.

Bóng ma bầu trời Su-35 Nga chạm trán tiêm kích Mỹ ở Syria - 1 — Su-35 fighter jet (Photo: Eurasiantimes).

The Sukhoi Su-35 is a 4++ generation, long-range, multirole, twin-engine, heavy-class fighter aircraft developed by Russia based on the Su-27 Flanker design from the Cold War era with the goal of confronting the US F-15 Eagle fighter, which had absolute air superiority at that time. The first prototype of this aircraft was launched in 1992 at the Farnborough International Air Show, UK. The first Su-35s were equipped with the Russian Aerospace Forces from 1995.

In the mid-2000s, using advanced technology, Sukhoi began to modernize the Su-35S variant to upgrade its range, structure, weapons carrying capacity, engine, stealth, electronic warfare capabilities and firepower. With its outstanding combat capabilities, this fighter was dubbed the "sky ghost" by the Russian media.

The Su-35S is capable of coordinating the operations of other aircraft in the air, meaning it can perform the functions of an airborne early warning and control aircraft (AWACS).

In normal tracking mode, while scanning, the Irbis-3 radar can scan 120 degrees on both sides and detect targets of 3 square meters in size within a range of 200km. Thanks to that, the Su-35S has the ability to see from above, lock on to targets from hundreds of kilometers away, then launch R-77-1 missiles to attack enemy aircraft.

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