Sukhoi Su-34 were delivered on 18 July 2014. 18 aircraft were delivered in 2014, and 20 planned to be delivered in 2015. It is intended to replace the Sukhoi Su-24 and the Tupolev Tu-22M3. Sukhoi has delivered the first batch of Su-34s to the Russian Ministry of Defense under the 2015 order on 21 May 2015. On 16 July 2015, the Sukhoi Company handed over another batch of Su-34 frontline bombers to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The transfer took place in the framework of the Unified Military Hardware Acceptance Day in the Sukhoi Company's branch — V.P.Chkalov Novosibirsk
2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown commander said missiles fired from Russian warships in the Mediterranean were also hitting the area. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that as soon as the pilot was rescued the groups responsible for the attack had been killed by Russian bombing and Syrian government rocket artillery. A Turkish supply convoy, reportedly carrying small arms, machine-guns and ammunition, was bombed by what is believed to have been Russian airstrikes in the northwestern town of Azaz, in north-western Syria. Claimed as an aid convoy by the Turks, no organization has as yet confirmed that the convoy belonged to them. At least