and were relying on precarious air-drops
of supplies. In January 2016, after IS
ghters launched a ground o ensive
and captured a large army barracks
on the edge of the city, the Mozdok
operation was remobilized. Eight
Tu-22Ms deployed back to the base,
and from January 22 seven raids were
mounted on the perimeter of Deir ez-
Zor over a two-week period. Packages of
up to six ‘Back res’ each dropped sticks
of up to 24 OFAB-250-270 munitions to
‘carpet-bomb’ IS ghters as they pressed
the city’s defenses.
Russian strategic bomber operations
then paused for ve months until
Mozdok was again reactivated to
help an ill-fated Syrian Army advance
eastwards from Palmyra to try to punch
through to Deir ez-Zor. Six waves of
Tu-22M3s were launched against
targets in central Syria up until mid-
August, dropping OFAB-250-270 and
FAB-500M-62 dumb bombs as well
as RBK-250 cluster bombs. However,
Mozdok was now in the midst of a major
upgrade, including the construction
of a new runway, which meant it then
had to be closed to enable the work
to progress.Russia turned to Iran as a temporary
means of keeping the ‘Back res’ close to
the ght. On August 15, four Tu-22M3s
arrived at the Islamic Republic of Iran Air
Force (IRIAF)’s 3rd Tactical Fighter Base
(TFB.3) at Hamadan/Nojeh. Soon after
their arrival, the ‘Back res’, loaded with
OFAB-250-270s, ew in two separate
two-ship formations to bomb targets
in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir ez-Zor
provinces, escorted by pairs of Su-30SM
and Su-35S ghters.
When the details of the deployment
were leaked by the Russian Ministry of
Defense there was considerable disquiet
in the Iranian parliament about foreign
forces being based in the country. As
a result, the detachment was curtailed
after the Tu-22M3s ew their last
mission on August 18.
An interesting feature of the summer
2016 campaign was the emergence
of pre- and post-strike video imagery
collected by Russian drones. The
choreographing of the bomber attacks
with unmanned assets to enhance
their accuracy was a new tactical
development for Russia. This technology
would be used to even greater e ect
a few months later as the battle for
Aleppo reached its climax, when‘Forpost’ unmanned systems were used
to nd targets for cruise missile strikes
by bombers. Two Tu-95s ew from an
Arctic air base, over the eastern Atlantic
and past the west coasts of Scotland
and Ireland before heading into the
Mediterranean. After ying through the
Straits of Gibraltar and past Sicily and
Crete, they launched a handful of Kh-101
ALCMs at targets west of Aleppo.
Amid further deterioration in the
situation around Deir ez-Zor, six
Tu-22M3s struck the area on January 21,
2017, each bomber unloading a stick
of between 12 and 24 OFAB-250-270
bombs. Further raids were revealed
by Moscow on January 23, 24 and 30,
each involving six Tu-22M3s ying from
Mozdok. Another Kh-101 strike was
made against Raqqa in February 2017,
this time from Tu-95s ying southwards
over Iran and Iraq. This process was
repeated in July when Tu-95s red three
more Kh-101s at targets in Hama province.Striking Abu Kamal
By November 2017, IS was imploding. Iraqi
troops had captured Mosul, US-backed
Kurdish ghters had taken Raqqa and
Syrian troops had nally lifted the siege
of Deir ez-Zor. The last IS ghters had
retreated down the Euphrates Valley and
staged a nal stand around the town of
Abu Kamal, near the border with Iraq. At
this point the Reinforced Air Wing was
again activated at Mozdok, this time with
eight Tu-22M3s, designed to deliver the
coup de grâce against IS. This would be
the most intense period of strategic air
and missile attacks since the four days of
strikes in November 2015.
On November 1, six ‘Back res’ got
airborne from Mozdok and ew south
over Iran and Iraq to hit targets near Abu
Kamal, again using ‘dumb’ iron bombs.
Moscow said the bombers hit ‘strongholds,Above left: A
screen-grab from
the November
24, 2017 mission
during the fi nal
phase of the
assault on Abu
Kamal.
Russian MoD
Below: The fi rst
Tu-22M3s to
arrive in Iran
were ‘16 Red’
(RF-95144),
‘42 Red’ (RF-
34038), ‘43 Red’
(RF-34039),
and ‘57 Red’.
Supported by
two Il-76MD
transports, the
bombers landed
at the Iranian air
base TFB.3 on the
evening of August
15, 2016.
via Babak
TaghvaeeCOMBAT REPORT // RUSSIAN LONG-RANGE AVIATION
48 March 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
44-51 Russian Bombers C.indd 48 19/01/2018 15:09