On 24 November 2015, a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M attack aircraft near the Syria–Turkey border. According to Turkey, the aircraft was fired upon while in Turkish airspace because it violated the border up to a depth of 2.19 kilometres for about 17 seconds after being warned to change its heading ten times over a period of five minutes before entering the airspace. The Russia Defence Ministry denied that the aircraft ever left Syrian airspace, claiming that their satellite data showed that the Sukhoi was about 1,000 metres (1,100 yd) inside Syrian airspace when it was shot down.

The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. It traces its origins to June 1911 when it was founded as the Aviation Squadrons by the Ottoman Empire. It was composed of the Army Aviation Squadrons founded in 1911, and the Naval Aviation Squadrons founded in 1914 which used seaplanes. The Air Force as a branch of the Turkish Armed Forces was founded by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 23 April 1920.