Since its Syrian air campaign began last September, Russia has carried out thousands of sorties against terrorist targets, crippling Daesh’s infrastructure. Those operations have been carried out by Moscow’s state-of-the-art Su-24s, Su-34s, and Tu-22M bombers.
Now Russia has its fleet of new Su-35s on 24/7 standby at Hmeymim airbase.
"The planes will be kept in a state of constant readiness, with a pair of Su-35 ready to take off at a moment’s notice to provide assistance to other aircraft," a representative of the Russian Aerospace Forces battlegroup in Syria told reporters.
"A pair of Su-35 jets is capable of increasing other planes’ 360-degree detection radius up to 400 kilometers."
A multirole aircraft, the Su-35 can be used for both escort and bombing runs.
"At present, we have a task to use these jets as effectively as possible. These jets can carry all kinds of bombs," the representative said.
The Russian Aerospace Forces are operating at the behest of the legitimate government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Syria has been mired in a bloody civil war since 2011.
