Reporting by Oqab Malek; Translation by Rana Abdul
(Zaman Al Wasl)- A well-informed source said Syrian regime air force leadership has decided to terminate Suhkoi 22 M3 from the Squadron 685 and will incorporate the rest of aircraft to Squadron Sukhoi 22 M2 in Squadron 54 in al-Dumeir airport north of Damascus following a proposition by Aircraft Engineering Administration.
The source attributed the decision of termination to technical reasons related to the preparedness of both squadrons after collapse of their fighting capabilities due to overuse which ruined the equipment during the past five years. The squadron became a burden in its stationed brigade.
The source, a pilot officer in regime forces spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons said the leadership of regime air force see that merging the two squadrons to include functioning aircraft from both squadrons will decrease their technical burden. The result after merge will be positive. The four Sukhoi 22 squadrons with the two Sukhoi 24 squadrons are considered the mainstay of the regime air force.
He added that other reasons pushed the regime to do the merge like shortage of functioning aircraft in the two squadron due to lack of functionality.
The lack of functionality resulted from unavailability of spare parts for this type of aircraft since these aircraft were coordinated in Russia 20 years ago. The regime did not produce spare parts of this type before the Syrian revolution despite owning a factory to restore aircraft.
Also, another reason is the wearing out of the rubbery fuel tanks which can be filled with more than a ton of fuel and installed behind the pilot compartment. The regime did not produce these tanks locally although it had the technical potential to do that since the crisis of worn out tanks appeared in 1995.
The regime did not use national expertise to restore engines of the R-29-bs300 type installed on the aircraft. This type of engines stopped being produced or restored in Russia for more than 20 years.
-Aircraft turned into spare parts-
The officer revealed that regime hopes by doing the merge that the functioning aircraft number will rise to 10 despite that some of these aircraft has perhaps more 10 hours to function.
He added the total number of hours in these ten aircraft does not exceed 1300 flying hours at best.
According to the officer, the regime aims through the merge to save some of the pilots and technical officers to incorporate them in the Sukhoi 22 M4 squadron in al-Shuayrat airport or to move technical officers to maintenance section.
The source confirmed these two types of aircraft are about to wear out despite the merge. They were overused to bomb opposition areas especially Su 22 M3 from al-Shauyrat. The two squadrons lost 10 aircraft due to wearing out, expiry date, unavailability of engines and spare parts. The aircraft themselves will be turned into spare parts if needed.
(Zaman Al Wasl)- A well-informed source said Syrian regime air force leadership has decided to terminate Suhkoi 22 M3 from the Squadron 685 and will incorporate the rest of aircraft to Squadron Sukhoi 22 M2 in Squadron 54 in al-Dumeir airport north of Damascus following a proposition by Aircraft Engineering Administration.
The source attributed the decision of termination to technical reasons related to the preparedness of both squadrons after collapse of their fighting capabilities due to overuse which ruined the equipment during the past five years. The squadron became a burden in its stationed brigade.
The source, a pilot officer in regime forces spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons said the leadership of regime air force see that merging the two squadrons to include functioning aircraft from both squadrons will decrease their technical burden. The result after merge will be positive. The four Sukhoi 22 squadrons with the two Sukhoi 24 squadrons are considered the mainstay of the regime air force.
He added that other reasons pushed the regime to do the merge like shortage of functioning aircraft in the two squadron due to lack of functionality.
The lack of functionality resulted from unavailability of spare parts for this type of aircraft since these aircraft were coordinated in Russia 20 years ago. The regime did not produce spare parts of this type before the Syrian revolution despite owning a factory to restore aircraft.
Also, another reason is the wearing out of the rubbery fuel tanks which can be filled with more than a ton of fuel and installed behind the pilot compartment. The regime did not produce these tanks locally although it had the technical potential to do that since the crisis of worn out tanks appeared in 1995.
The regime did not use national expertise to restore engines of the R-29-bs300 type installed on the aircraft. This type of engines stopped being produced or restored in Russia for more than 20 years.
-Aircraft turned into spare parts-
The officer revealed that regime hopes by doing the merge that the functioning aircraft number will rise to 10 despite that some of these aircraft has perhaps more 10 hours to function.
He added the total number of hours in these ten aircraft does not exceed 1300 flying hours at best.
According to the officer, the regime aims through the merge to save some of the pilots and technical officers to incorporate them in the Sukhoi 22 M4 squadron in al-Shuayrat airport or to move technical officers to maintenance section.
The source confirmed these two types of aircraft are about to wear out despite the merge. They were overused to bomb opposition areas especially Su 22 M3 from al-Shauyrat. The two squadrons lost 10 aircraft due to wearing out, expiry date, unavailability of engines and spare parts. The aircraft themselves will be turned into spare parts if needed.
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