Currently the only real-war missions are (low-level) air-to-ground attack sorties in the remaining terrorist area of Idlib for which the Su-57 Frazor is not the primary weapon of choice.
The Russian Air and Space Force (RuASF) has deployed for the second time to Khmeimin Air Force Base, Syria, two Su-57 Frazor stealth fighters. According to Krasnaya Zvezda, the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense the primary goal of the redeployment is a renewed demonstration of the latest Russian combat aircraft acting under “real-war conditions”.
Of course this is done with the intention to attract potential foreign buyers.
As explained by Scramble Magazine, the “real-war conditions” are massively decreased as there are less to none air-to-air threats: actually, Russia has no intentions to attack western Coalition aircraft involved in Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) or Israeli aircraft. Currently the only real-war missions are (low-level) air-to-ground attack sorties in the remaining terrorist area of Idlib for which the Su-57 is not the primary weapon of choice.
During the previous deployment, which took place in 2018, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Su-57 fighter jets had carried out more than 10 sorties in Syria “to confirm the declared capabilities of this advanced jet in real combat conditions.”
During that deployment the Frazors were joined by four Su-35s, four Su-25s and 1 A-50U.
Noteworthy the new Su-57 deployment coincides with intensive operations aimed at a large-scale reconstruction and improvement of the infrastructure of the Khmeimim air base, which has been going on since early May 2019.
As told by Russian senator Frantz Klintsevich, these reconstruction works meant Russia would transform Khmeimin from a temporary structure to a permanent base.
Moreover, in effort to further bolster its presence in Syria, the Russian military pushes ahead with their efforts to improve the infrastructure at the Naval Base at the port of Tartus. The plan is to expand this naval logistics base into a fully developed naval station.
In this way, Syria becomes a permanent gateway for operations of Russia in the Mediterranean as well as northern Africa.
Photo credit: Alex Beltyukov – RuSpotters Team via Wikipedia
