According to Greek media outlets, Greek and Turkish
jets engaged in a brief dogfight over the Aegean Sea after Turkish aircraft
violated Greek airspace “several times.”
As we already
explained in the aftermath of the Russian Su-24
shootdown by a Turkish Air Force (TuAF) F-16 over the
Syria-Turkey border last month, the skies surrounding the disputed islands of the Aegean Sea are
often the theater of incidents between the HAF (Hellenic Air Force) and the
TuAF.
In fact Greece claims 10 miles of air
space around a chain of Greek islands lined up along the Turkish west coast,
part of those are in very close proximity to the mainland, while Turkey
recognizes only six miles (that is to say the extent of the Greek territorial
waters, recognized by each other): even though the Greek authorities often
report unauthorised military flights directly over the Greek islands, the
majority of the close encounters and alleged violations (2,244 in 2014) take
place within the four-mile radius between the boundary of the territorial
waters (as said, recognized by both parties) and the 10-mile radius which
Athens considers its sovereign airspace (while Ankara considers
international one).
The latest such incidents (the first since early
December) occurred on Dec. 29.
According to Ekathimerini.com,
Greek and Turkish jets engaged in a brief dogfight over the Aegean Sea after a
formation of six Turkish aircraft “flanked by two CN-235 aircraft that were not
in formation” violated Greek national air space nine times.
Noteworthy, two Turkish jets were armed.
It’s not clear where the violations took place but
according to the Greek media the TuAF jets were chased by HAF interceptors in
all cases.
In the past some of these mock dogfights did not
end well. In Jun. 1992 a Greek Mirage F1 crashed during an aerial engagement
with a Turkish F-16. In February 1995, a TuAF F-16 crashed after being
intercepted by Greek Mirage F1s. In Oct. 1996, a HAF Mirage 2000 fired an R.550
Magic II and shot down a Turkish F-16D that had violated the Greek airspace.
On May 23, 2006, two HAF F-16s intercepted a TuAF
RF-4 escorted by two F-16s: the subsequent dogfight resulted in a midair
collision between a TuAF F-16 and a HAF F-16: whilst the Turkish pilot ejected
safely, the Greek pilot died in the incident.
Image credit: Alan Wilson / Wiki. H/T
Isaac Alexander for the heads-up
http://theaviationist.com/2015/12/30/aegean-sea-dogfight/
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