US plane operated drone attack on Russian airbase in Syria

Russia’s defense ministry said that a US plane took part in the drone attack on the Russian base of Hamimim in western Syria last year.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Thursday that a US Poseidon-8 reconnaissance aircraft coordinated an attack on the Hameimim air base in Syria in January.

“Thirteen drones moved according to common combat battle deployment, operated by a single crew. During all this time the American Poseidon-8 reconnaissance US plane patrolled the Mediterranean Sea area for eight hours,” he noted.

“When the drones met with the electronic countermeasures of the Russian systems, they switched to a manual guidance mode, he said. “Manual guidance is carried out not by some villagers, but by the Poseidon-8, which has modern equipment. It undertook manual control,” the deputy defense minister noted.

Unmanned drones targeted the Russian base in July, destroying several air crafts, the Russians identified the firing direction from south-western part of Idlib, which is controlled by the opposition.

“Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described as “very alarming” the evidence the drones that attacked Russia’s Aerospace Force in Syria last January were operated from a US plane. Peskov did not rule out that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump might discuss this issue.” TASS agency reported.

The UAVs are small in size and can be controlled by a smartphone, both for aerial photography and for limited military targets.