picture 172491

Heavy use, exposure to the Syrian sun and sand, and the salt of the nearby Mediterranean Sea usually bleached the medium grey colour on top surfaces and sides of all the Su-24Ms at Hmeimim AB. In turn, the longer the intervention went on, the more mission markings were added by their ground crews: already by mid-2016, several aircraft were showing up to 40 of these (standing for over 400 combat sorties flown). Bort ‘49 White’ (top artwork) is representative of the second batch deployed in Syria, while Bort ‘11 White’ was sighted later in 2016. Although capable of carrying much heavier loads, the type flew most of their sorties armed with only four bombs of 250 or 500kg. The examples here are shown carrying BetAB-500s (top) and RBK-500AO-2.5RTs. (Artworks by Tom Cooper)