Air War over Syria - Su-24M: Russian Aerospace Group September 2015 - March 2016

The primary remit of this volume is to document the bombing operations against Islamic State (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and other opposition groups by the Sukhoi Su-24M strike aircraft detachment of the Russian Aerospace Group in the Syrian Arab Republic from 30 September 2015 through mid-March 2016. While the volume is not intended to be a descriptive monograph for the Su-24 strike aircraft, a basic description of the genesis, development and fielding of the weapon system is provided, as are relevant chapters that focus on the initial combat operations phase of the Russian Aerospace Group, Syrian Democratic Army offensive operations from September 2015 to March 2016, a chronological look at the Russian Aerospace Group operations from late October 2015-March 2016, with specifics of Su-24M operations when available, the combat loss of a Russian Su-24M on 24 November 2015, and its aftermath. It is beyond the scope of this volume to attempt an in-depth analysis of the Syrian conflict, which was in its fifth year before the Russian intervention in 2015. However, a brief outline of the situation on the ground in certain areas is provided where relevant to the Russian campaign as well as a brief outline of the differences in the Russian and western dominated anti-ISIS coalition approach to the attempt to defeat ISIS forces, which, in early 2017, remained entrenched in much of Syria. All technical information concerning the aircraft and weapons systems, along with the majority of the graphic material, has been furnished by the respective Design Bureaus and the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Within the text there are variations in written orthography of place names such as Latakia, which is also laid-down as Lattakia, or Raqqa which is also laid-down as Raqqah in some texts. Predominantly references to Islamic State are laid down as ISIS.