Russian jet shot down by Turkey was AMBUSHED, says defence expert

By JOEY MILLAR

THE RUSSIAN plane shot down by Turkish forces last month was targeted in a cold-blooded ambush, according to a defence and aviation expert.

Pierre Sprey, an American defence analyst involved in the development of the F-16 fighter jet, has revealed that he thought it was clearly a "pre-planned operation."

He pointed to the height of the Turkish F-16 jets as proof of the premeditated attack.

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The downed Russian plane crashes into the ground

Mr Sprey said: "They certainly weren't doing anything that would point to a routine air patrol along the border.

"They were not loitering up at high altitude –say twenty to thirty thousand feet – to conserve fuel, which is where you would normally be loitering if you were simply doing a routine border patrol. 

"They were loitering quite low, at about 7,500 to eight thousand feet … below the coverage of the Syrian and Russian radars down around Latakia."

He concluded: "The evidence looks pretty strong that the Turks were setting up an ambush."

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One of the pilots parachutes to the ground

The Russian Su-24 bomber was shot down as it returned to an air base following a military operation in Syria. 

According to the Turkish government, the Russian aircraft had crossed into their territory and refused to change direction despite receiving ten warnings in five minutes. 

However, the Russian military has responded by saying that their jet had not crossed the border and said it was one kilometre outside of Turkish airspace when it was shot down. 

They also claimed that they had not received any warnings, something Mr Sprey believes could be true. 

He said: "Now it so happens that Su-24s have no radios onboard for receiving UHF-frequency signals, a fact which is well known to American, NATO and Turkish intelligence.

"Those warnings may have been deliberately transmitted only on the international civilian frequency so that the Su-24s would never hear them."

The two Russian pilots both ejected from the plane after it was struck and parachuted to the ground. 

One of the pilots, Oleg Peshkov, was killed by gunfire as he descended. 

The other was captured by rebel forces but saved after a search-and-rescue mission, during which another Russia was killed. 

Both deceased men were posthumously awarded military honours, while Russian president Vladimir Putin described the incident as "a stab in the back by terrorist accomplices."

Relations between the two nations are now icy, with the Russian foreign minister saying that his country would "seriously reevaluate" its links with Turkey.