Russian military jet downed by Turkey

[Fisherking]

There's no reason to suspect this, really. It's possible the Turks took a pot shot at them out of pique but the Americans are backing the Turkish version viz the warnings to it seems unlikely this was a set up. If it was a set up then it was one daring the Russians to be as stupid as possible.

The interchange took 17 seconds. The plane was in Turkish airspace for 6 or 7 seconds. The Turkish pilot would not have fired without high level clearance. He had to just be loitering at the right place at the right time to get a lock on his target, or he shot it down after it left... 10 warnings a lock and a shoot down in less than 20 seconds, with coordination between ground, air, and political contacts. Would you believe it had it been a British Aircraft shot down...or anyone else for that matter?



I don't know that you can say "You are approaching Turkish air space" intelligibly 10 times in 10 seconds.