Russian Tu-22M3 strike bombers can go back to the Iranian Hamadan airbase at any time.
Photo: AP Photo / WarfareWW
Iranian senior military officials said that a group of Russian combat aircraft leaves the Hamadan airbase. However, the Tu-22M3 strike bombers can go back to Iran at any time, the FAN news agency reported on Monday, citing a military expert and editor of the magazine ‘Arsenal Otechestva’, Victor Murakhovski.
On August 22, Tehran announced termination of use of the Hamadan airbase by the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) for striking the Islamic State (IS) terrorists in Syria. Official representative of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Bahram Ghasemi, stressed that the Russian VKS’s operation is completed.
“It’s not an air base, as media report, but a forward-based airfield, which is not intended for use on a regular basis. A group of aircraft has flown, carried out operational missions, and flown away to its point of permanent deployment. If it is needed next time, the same process will take place. And words about the fact that Russian Aerospace Forces will not return to the Hamadan are a very bold statement. And about violation of various UN resolutions – the Russian Federation does not base there, so there are no reason for accusations,” the military expert said.
In this way, it becomes clear that the Russian side is ready to return to the use of the Iranian airbase as soon as possible and quickly and preemptively strike at the terrorist organizations’ forces and their ‘opposition friends’ in Syria.
Currently, US military experts are trying to figure out future actions of the Russian Defense Ministry, as well as actions that can be expected from a new military coalition in Syria. The Pentagon is especially worried about an issue of placing Russian long-range air power. There is an assumption that soon Tu-22M3 can be deployed on the Turkish Incirlik airbase, however, this assumption is quite far from truth.
“I think that the statement about the Incirlik airbase is nonsense because here we should understand that a forward-based airfield requires some logistics from the Russian side, in particular, air weapons have to be imported from the Russian Federation. But we have no agreements on this issue with Turkey, and have never had such agreements,” the expert concluded.
