Syrian Air Force Totally Explained

Everything about The Syrian Air Force totally explained

The Syrian Air Force (Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al Arabiya as-Souriya) is the Aviation branch of the Syrian armed forces.

Markings

The roundel used by the Syrian Air Force has the same basic design as that used by the Egyptian Air Force. It consists of three concentric circles, with a red outer, white middle and black inner. The unique part of the Syrian roundels is the presence of two green stars in the white circle, which is reflective of the two stars on the national flag. The fin flash is also an image of the flag.

History

The end of World War II led to a withdrawal of the United Kingdom and France from the Middle East, and this included a withdrawal from Syria. In 1948, the Syrian Air Force was officially established after the first class of pilots graduated from flight schools in Britain.
   The 1950s saw Syria and Egypt attempt to unify as the United Arab Republic, this was reflected in the Syrian Air Force with growth in personnel and aircraft. However, this union wouldn't last. With the ascent to power of the Baath Party and Hafez Al-Asad, Syria began looking to the Soviet Union for help and built closer ties with the USSR. This in turn led to a massive influx of Soviet equipment to the Syrian Armed Forces, including the Air Force.
   The Syrian Air Force, despite its training and capabilities never fared well against Israel. In the Six-Day War, the Syrian Air Force was defeated rapidly, losing two-thirds of its forces with the rest retreating to bases in remote parts of Syria. This in turn helped the IDF in defeating the Syrian Army on the ground and led to the loss of the Golan Heights.
   The Yom Kippur War provided initial success for both Syria and Egypt. Though again Israel scored far more casualties in the air than it endured. Following this conflict, the Syrian Air Force continued to remain in the Soviet sphere of influence, whereas Egypt abandoned Soviet aid, and began building its Air Force with American, French, and Chinese equipment. During this war the Pakistani Air Force sent 16 pilots to the Middle East in order to support Egypt and Syria but by the time they arrived, Egypt had already been pushed into a ceasefire. Syria remained in a state of war against Israel. Eight (8) PAF pilots started flying out of Syrian Airbases; they formed the A-flight of 67 Squadron at Dumayr Airbase.
   The Pakistani pilots flew Syrian MiG-21 aircraft conducting CAP missions for the Syrians. Flt/Lt. A. Sattar Alvi became the first Pakistani pilot, during the Yom Kippur War, to shoot down an Israeli Mirage in air combat. He was honored by the Syrian government. Other aerial encounters involved Israeli F4 Phantoms; Pakistan Air Force didn't lose a single pilot or aircraft during this war.
   The Pakistani pilots stayed on in Syria until 1976, training Syrian pilots in the art of air warfare.
   Despite Syria's continued supply of Soviet equipment its Air Force again fared badly during conflicts with Israel over Lebanon in the early 1980s, losing over 80 planes while the Israeli Air Force lost only a handful, and none to Syrian Air Force fighters.
   Since then, the Syrian Air Force has continued to rebuild with Soviet equipment. However the full extent of this rebuilding isn't known. Nor are the exact numbers of planes or what types of aircraft are in the Air Force. This is due to the amount of secrecy maintained by the Syrian government in regard to its military. It is known though that the Syrians have proccurred MiG-29s and Su-24s which should give its Air Force a great boost, though rumours regarding the recent purchase of some Su-27s appear to be unfounded. As of 2007, the Syrian air force is taking deliveries of 8 examples of MiG-31E from Russia and some MiG-29M2. In September 2007, the Syrian Air Force proved unable to intercept or stop the Israeli Air Force in Operation Orchard

Aircraft Inventory

! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Aircraft ! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Origin ! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Type ! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Versions ! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Numbers In Service (External Link

) ! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Comments |

- ! ignore="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Fighter Aircraft |

- | Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum | | Multirole Aircraft | MiG-29 total
MiG-29A
MiGSMT
MiG-29UB | 62
42
14
6 | Plans to upgrade to MiG-29SMT, and acquire a squadron of MiG-29M2. |- | Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31E Foxhound | | Interceptor | MiG-31E | 0 | 8 to be purchased |- | Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 Flogger | | Fighter | MiG-23 | 173 | Includes BN versions. Plans to upgrade. |- | Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat | | Interceptor | MiG-25 | 38 | to be phased out |- | Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed | | Fighter | MiG-21 | 142 | plans to upgrade them, possibly with India MiG-32.de

- ! ignore="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Ground Attack |

- | Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer | | Ground Attack | Su-24 | 20 | |- | Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter-F | | Attacker | Su-22 | 50 | |

- ! ignore="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Trainer Aircraft |

- |- | Aero L-39 Albatros | | Trainer | L-39 | 23 | |- | MBB 223 Flamingo | West Germany | Trainer | MBB 223 | 35 | |- | MFI-17 Mushshak | Pakistan | Trainer | MFI-17 | 6 | |

- ! ignore="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Transports |

- | Antonov An-26 Curl | | Transport | An-26 | 4 | |- | Ilyushin Il-76 Candid | | Transport | Il-76 | 4 | |- | Dassault Falcon 20 | France | VIP transport | | 2 | |- | Dassault Falcon 900 | France | VIP transport | | 1 | |- | Tupolev Tu-134 Crusty | | VIP transport | Tu-134 | 4 | |- | Yakovlev Yak-40 Codling | | VIP transport | Yak-40 | 6 | |

- ! ignore="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Attack Helicopter |

- | Mil Mi-24 Hind | | Attack Helicopter | Mi-24 | 36 | |- | Aérospatiale SA-341 Gazelle | France | Attack Helicopter | SA-341 | 42 | |- | Mil Mi-2 Hoplite | Poland | Attack Helicopter | Mi-2 | 20 | |

- ! ignore="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Transport Helicopter |

- | Mil Mi-8 Hip | | Transport Helicopter | Mi-8 | 55 | |- | Mil Mi-17 Hip-H | | Transport Helicopter | Mi-17 | 45 | |}

Missiles

Air-to-air

Air-to-surface

Euromissile HOT

Surface-to-air

275 Lavochkin SA-2 Guideline launchers

143 Isayev SA-3 Goa launchers - under upgrade

48 Almaz SA-5 Gammon launchers

200 SA-7 Grail

60 SA-8 GeckoFurther Information

Get more info on 'Syrian Air Force'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://syrian_air_force.totallyexplained.com">Syrian Air Force Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.