the USAF was phasing-out large quantities of older aircraft, reducing their strength by over 1,000 F-4C/D/Es. But even if old, these aircraft were desirable to countries like Turkey who already had F-4 fleets. The U.S. did not have enough RF-4s to sell to meet international demands, so when the German Air Force phased out their remaining 88 RF-4Es during 1992–93, 32 were delivered to the THK in 1992–94. All of these went to 113 Filo, Eskişehir. Later, when 173 Filo passed their F-4Es to 172 Filo, they equipped with RF-4Es. By the end of that reorganization, Filo 171 became a ground attack unit, 172 interception and 173 reconnaissance. That delivery completed the THK F-4 fleet. Operational use Many of the Turkish Phantoms are used as ground attack aircraft, a role they performed well due to the systems installed. The first Phantoms delivered to the THK had Southeast Asia camouflage colors and TISEO equipment, consisting of a wing-mounted television camera with zoom capacity for spotting targets outside of normal visual range. The F-4s acquired from US Air Force stocks were former 110th and 141st Tactical Fighter Squadron aircraft (Missouri and New Jersey Air National Guard squadrons, respectively) and arrived painted in "Egyptian One" camouflage, an air-superiority paint scheme consisting of two different shades of blue, despite being best-suited for ground attack. The last batch delivered had AVQ-23A Pave Spike laser designation pod compatibility. In September 2010, U.S. Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Tamara Parker confirmed a combined Chinese-Turkish exercise that ran from 20 September through 4 October at the Konya air base in Turkey's central Anatolia region. According to Reuters, a portion of the exercise included mock aerial combat between Turkish F-4s and Russian-built Su-27s of the Chinese military. It was reported that the Turks defeated the Chinese aircraft in air combat exercises. On 22 June 2012, the Turkish government announced that Syrian forces had shot down a Turkish RF-4E from 113 Filo with two crew members over the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Hatay Province, which borders the Syrian Latakia Governorate. The aircraft is reported to have been conducting a reconnaissance flight off the Syrian coast. The Turkish release suggested that the Turkish government did not immediately view the Syrian action as provocative, and it acknowledged that Syrian assets were assisting efforts to find the aircraft and crew. The Syrian Armed Forces made a statement carried by the official Syrian