The shootdown of a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber aircraft by Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jets occurred near the Syria–Turkey border on 24 November 2015. The pilot and weapon systems officer both ejected, one of whom was rescued, while the other was killed by Turkmen rebels. A marine from the search-and-rescue team launched to retrieve the two airmen was also killed when the rescue helicopter crashed.

According to Turkey, the aircraft was shot down in Turkish airspace, which it violated up to a depth of 2.19 kilometres (1.36 miles) for about 17 seconds, after being warned to change its heading 10 times. Russia denied the aircraft ever left Syrian airspace, counter-claiming that Russian Ministry of Defence satellite data showed that the plane was about 1,000 metres in Syrian airspace when it was shot down.

The shootdown was the first destruction of a Russian or Soviet military aircraft by a NATO member state since the 1950s. Reactions to the incident included aggressive rhetoric from Russia and an attempt to temper the situation by NATO afterwards.

Victims

Both pilots ejected after the aircraft was hit. It was reported that one of the pilots was captured within Syria by Turkmen Syrian opposition fighters and an alleged videotape of his body was circulated. The deputy commander of a Turkmen rebel brigade in Syria, later identified as Alparslan Çelik - a Turkish citizen and Grey Wolves member, claimed his forces shot dead the two pilots as they descended with parachutes, but a Turkish official reported that both pilots were alive and in the custody of opposition forces. Russian officials confirmed that one pilot, Lt. Col. Oleg Anatolyevich Peshkov, was shot dead. The shooting of an ejecting aircraft pilot is in contravention of the Geneva Convention's Article 42, which states: "No person parachuting from an aircraft in distress shall be made the object of attack during his descent." The other pilot was rescued. RT journalist Roman Kosarev, who himself was under attack on the same day in Latakia, was the first to interview the rescued pilot.

Search and rescue

Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency showed the initial video footage of the aircraft crashing and the two pilots parachuting down. Russian helicopters were reportedly conducting low-altitude combat search and rescue flights in the area to look for the pilot. One of these helicopters was reportedly shot down by unnamed opposition fighters. Two Mil Mi-8 helicopters were sent on the mission to find and recover the pilots from the crash site. One of these helicopters was damaged by the small-arms fire of Syrian Turkmen Brigade militants, resulting in the death of a Russian marine, and forced to make an emergency landing. The Free Syrian Army's First Coastal Brigade claimed that they subsequently destroyed the already abandoned helicopter using a U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW missile.

Aftermath

The Russian Defence Ministry broke off military contacts with the Turkish Armed Forces and sent an air defense system-equipped cruiser to the Mediterranean to destroy potentially dangerous targets for Russian aircraft operating in Syria. The Russian military also said that future air strikes in Syria would see fighters escorting Russian bombers. Russia will deploy the S-400 missile next generation surface-to-air missile systems to the Hmeymim airbase in Syria where the Russian Aerospace Forces group is stationed, according to Defence Minister General Sergey Shoygu.