The majority of the planes on Russia`s only aircraft carrier have been flown to a base in Syria after they had difficulties launching at sea, a defence source said yesterday, according to The Times.
”The lack of a catapult system on board the Admiral Kuznetsov has hampered the ability of pilots to operate at sea, forcing them to carry fewer weapons and less fuel when they take-off from a specially built ramp,” The Times wrote on Wednesday, November 30.
In addition, only a limited number of Russian pilots have the required level of training to take-off or land on a carrier, according to Igor Sutyagin, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.
The aerial photos made on November 20 and published by the IHS Jane`s magazine, 8 Russian Su-33 and one MiG-29 are seen at the Russian base in the Syrian province of Latakia. Previously those jets were known as belonging to the Admiral Kuznetsov`s wing.
The Russian fleet arrived in the eastern Mediterranean earlier this month.
As was reported earlier, airstrikes hit the rebel-held neighborhoods in eastern Aleppo in the middle of November for the first time in weeks, as Russia announced the start of a major operation in the Syrian provinces of Idlib and Homs involving its aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.
