Russia says jet shot down near Turkey-Syria border

[Igel]

153. Not the first time.

And the warnings don't have to come only upon entrance into Turkish airspace. When you have a history of violations and see another plane on course to enter your airspace, you warn them.

"If you continue on your present course you will enter Turkish airspace. Please alter your heading to ...." If this is true, it means either the Russians weren't listening or didn't care about violating Turkish airspace. (Notice that these two amount to the same thing. If the Russians weren't listening, perhaps the pilots were instructed to have their radios off. Perhaps they were ordered to stay on course. Who knows? Until NATO releases any radio intercepts that the Russian air command in Syria had with the Sukhoi it's an open question.)

Notice that flying fast aircraft close to an irregular border in order to bomb close to that border is inherently risky. Missiles can cross borders fairly easily and the borders aren't marked with big glowing lines on the ground (avionics and heads-up displays can superimpose them, but I don't know the Sukhoi's capabilities and don't much care to). You're moving fast, and at 400 mph cover a couple of miles in less than 30 seconds. Little spits of land jutting out make for problems. You can be careful and possibly not have easy access to your target, or you can nail your target and "accidentially" cross the border.