Islamic State looking to field captured Syrian jets

Gareth Jennings, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

16 October 2014

  

A pair of L-39 light attack jets seen at the Al-Jarrah Airbase when it was captured earlier this year. The Islamic State is understood to be training pilots to operate captured Syrian aircraft, such as these. Source: Ahrar al-Sham

The Islamic State is training fighters to fly three combat jets the group has captured from the Syrian Arab Air Force, it was claimed on 17 October.

The militant Sunni group is "flying the planes over the captured Al-Jarrah military airport east of Aleppo", Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters. He added that Saddam-era Iraqi pilots are acting as trainers for the Islamic State.

Although the report does not name the aircraft types being used, the Syrian group Jaish al-Islam captured a number of Aero L-39ZA Albatros trainer/light attack jets when it overran Al-Jarrah (also known as Al-Jirah or Kshesh) Airbase in May 2013. The Islamic State reportedly took the base from Jaish al-Islam in January.

It is not clear what munitions, if any, were captured along with the aircraft, but the L-39 is equipped with a centreline single 23 mm GSh-23 two-barrel gun, and can carry an assortment of bombs and rockets on four underwing hardpoints. It can also carry AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on its outboard weapons pylons.

COMMENT

While Islamic State fighters have cut a swathe across Syria and Iraq, capturing a wide range of military equipment ranging from small arms to main battle tanks, up until now the group has not been able to employ airpower, except for a few small-scale remote controlled reconnaissance drones. Should it successfully be able to train pilots and field these aircraft it would represent a significant boost in its capabilities.

As difficult as it might appear for a militant group to employ these captured jets in a meaningful way, such a development is not without precedent. During the Afghan civil war in the 1990s the Taliban showed that it was capable of flying captured MiG-21 'Fishbed', Sukhoi Su-22 'Fitter', and even L-39 fighters using pilots and maintainers that had once been in the service of the previous communist government. Also, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) enjoyed great success in bombing Sri Lankan government and military installations with two propeller-diven Zlin Z 143 aircraft. Despite operating in a highly defended environment, these light aircraft were able to evade Sri Lankan Air Force fast jets and ground-based air-defence systems for years before they were finally destroyed in a last ditch suicide attack during the closing stages of the civil war in 2009.

Given the obvious threat that such a development would bring to the current situation in Syria and Iraq, the United States will no doubt be looking to neutralise it before the Islamic State is able to use these aircraft in an offensive capacity.