MiG-21 & MiG-23.

This is coolbert:

More alarmist headlines! Those advanced combat warplanes as captured by ISIL now operational? Being flown on training missions. So it is alleged.

"Group says ex-Iraqi pilots training Syria fighters"

"BEIRUT (AP) — Former Iraqi air force pilots are training extremists from the Islamic State group to fly three warplanes captured earlier from air bases belonging to the Syrian army, a Syrian activist group said Friday."

"The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the planes, seen flying over the Jarrah air base in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province this week, are believed to be of the MiG-21 and MiG-23 variety."

. . . .

"Islamic State members were being trained by Iraqi officers who had joined the group and who were once pilots under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein."

My understanding has been that from the time of enlistment until a pilot ready to fly a modern advanced combat warplane a minimum of three years required! And that does not mean combat ready. That merely suggests and ability to solo, take off and land a modern jet and nothing more than that.

ISIL does not expect a lot more from their combat aviators than that? These would be aircraft and pilots designated for SUICIDE MISSIONS IN THE MANNER OF 9/11?

coolbert.