Syrian missile system locked on to Turkish F-16 near border

ANKARA

A radar lock is considered a hostile act as it amounts to interference with a plane’s navigational systems, indicating that a missile is ready to be fired at it. DHA photo

Syrian air missile batteries put a Turkish jet conducting a border patrol under a radar lock on March 19, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement.

“Eight F-16 jets were performing an air patrolling duty on the Turkish-Syrian border, in the southern province of Hatay, when an SA-17 missile system deployed in Syria harassed one of the F-16 planes by putting it under a radar lock for three seconds,” the statement said.

A radar lock is considered a hostile act as it amounts to interference with a plane’s navigational systems, indicating that a missile is ready to be fired at it.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Air Force scrambled eight F-16 fighter jets after a Russian surveillance plane IL-20 flew parallel along its Black Sea coast.

The Russian plane remained in international airspace, according to a statement on the website of the military General Staff. The incident is the third of its kind this month amid ongoing tension in the Crimean peninsula which joined Russia earlier this week.