Russia is using the air campaign in Syria as an opportunity to gather intelligence on U.S. forces and gain operational experience on their latest hardware on the U.S. Air Force’s stealthy fifth-generation F-22 Raptor.
Reports say that the Russian expeditionary force largely follows traditional Soviet doctrine and consists of a mix of combat aircraft, air defenses and a heavily armed ground security element.
“While it appears the Russians are following their standard doctrine with regard to the deployment/employment of their ground and air assets, it’s certainly not out of the question to use their newer air-to-air assets as a form of ‘operational testing’ in the real world environment,” The National Interest Magazine quoting one senior U.S. Air Force intelligence official wrote. “In a sense, we’re doing the same thing with our F-22s.”
Not only fifth-generationF-22 Raptor but Sukhoi Su-30SM and Su-34 is likely an important aspect of the Russian deployment, “It may be a way for them to ‘characterize’ the F-22’s radar emissions on their radar warning receivers (RWR) in a real-world environment,” the senior Air Force intelligence official said.
“Not traditional intelligence collection per se, but could be a way to see how their RWRs receive and display an F-22’s radar emissions,” The National Interest Magazine reported.