Turkey says that they have shot down an unidentified aircraft after it strayed two miles into Turkish airspace and did not respond to three warnings. It is not perfectly clear at this time who the aircraft belonged to or if it was manned or unmanned, although some reports say it was unmanned.
Russia has violated Turkish airspace multiple times since starting their Syrian bombing operation just over two weeks ago and is known to be operating a fleet of drones over of the country. These unmanned aircraft have been used for for finding targets for their attack aircraft to strike and for spying on rebel forces movements for the Assad regime’s forces to exploit. The U.S. also operates unmanned aircraft over the country on a continual basis.
We will keep you updated as the story unfolds.
Update 4:45PST: Multiple reports and images show the Turkish Army surrounding a small damaged unmanned aircraft that appears to be Russian in origin. We do not have 100% confirmation that this is the aircraft in question but it seems to be.
Photo via Turkish Air Force
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