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"We were able to hear everything that was going on, these (communications) were on open channels," Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said in a video call with reporters.
He added it was not immediately clear on which side of the Turkish-Syrian border the Russian jet had been flying, and it would take some time to analyze data before arriving at that determination.
Turkish Ambassador to the United Nations Halit Cevik said in a letter to the Security Council that two Russian planes had flown a little more than a mile into Turkish airspace for 17 seconds.
A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the timing but said it remained unknown if Turkey had fired on one of the jets as it was in Turkish airspace, or after it had crossed back into Syria.
The Pentagon says no US forces were involved in the Turkish downing of the Russian jet.
The United States has a strong presence in Turkey and regularly flies warplanes out of the air base in Incirlik as it conducts bombing runs against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.
Pentagon officials have previously condemned the actions and tactics of Russian pilots after Russian jets twice violated Turkish airspace last month.
In Tuesday's incident, the Turkish army said the plane was shot down by two Turkish F-16s after violating Turkish airspace 10 times within a five-minute period.
Russia insists the jet was inside Syrian airspace and condemned the downing as "a very serious incident."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called for urgent measures to de-escalate tensions.
Pilots alive?
The two pilots who ejected from a Russian war plane downed by Turkey on the Syrian border are believed to be alive and Turkish authorities are seeking to recover them, a government official said on Tuesday.
"Turkey has information that the two pilots are alive and right now Turkey is trying to recover them," the official told AFP, after reports that at least one of the pilots could have died after parachuting down inside Syria.
In Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov just said "there is no official information" about the fate of the pilots from the downed plane.
CNN-Turk television said Syrian Turkmen forces fighting the Damascus regime had captured one of the pilots while Syrian opposition sources told AFP one had been killed by rebels and the second was missing.
In a separate incident, sources told AFP in Beirut that a Russian helicopter in the same area in Syria was destroyed by rebels on the ground after being forced to make an emergency landing following damage from rebel fire.
A Syrian military source told AFP that a unit of Syrian regime special forces saved the dozen-strong Russian commando team and brought them back to the regime stronghold of Latakia.
Turkey pilots warned Russian jet 10 times before shoot-down: US
The US military on Tuesday backed up Turkey's claim that Turkish pilots had warned a Russian jet 10 times -- but failed to get a response -- before shooting it down.
"We were able to hear everything that was going on, these (communications) were on open channels," Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said in a video call with reporters.
Asked if he could confirm reports 10 warnings were issued by Turkish pilots without response, Warren said: "I can confirm that, yes."
He added it was not immediately clear on which side of the Turkish-Syrian border the Russian jet had been flying, and it would take some time to analyze data before arriving at that determination.
The Pentagon says no US forces were involved in the Turkish downing of the Russian jet.
The United States has a strong presence in Turkey and regularly flies warplanes out of the air base in Incirlik as it conducts bombing runs against Daesh targets in Syria and Iraq.
Pentagon officials have previously condemned the actions and tactics of Russian pilots after Russian jets violated Turkish airspace last month.
In Tuesday's incident, the Turkish army said the plane was shot down by two Turkish F-16s after violating Turkish airspace 10 times within a five-minute period.
Russia insists the jet was inside Syrian airspace and condemned the downing as "a very serious incident."
The Turkish presidency said in a statement that the plane was a Russian Su-24 fighter jet, while Turkish media said one pilot had been captured by rebel forces in Syria.
Moscow confirmed that one of its planes had been shot down, but said the pilots' fate remained unclear.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday recommended against Russians travelling to Turkey for any reason, citing the threat of attacks.
"The critical mass of terrorist incidents on Turkish soil, according to our estimates, is no less of a threat than in Egypt. For this reason of course we do not recommend that our citizens travel to Turkey for tourism or any other reason," Lavrov said in televised comments from Sochi after Turkey downed a Russian warplane on the Syrian border
Putin calls downing of jet 'stab in the back'
President Vladimir Putin called Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet a stab in the back administered by "the accomplices of terrorists," saying the incident would have serious consequences for Moscow's relations with Ankara.
Speaking in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday before a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, Putin said the downed plane had been attacked inside Syria when it was 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) from the Turkish border and had come down 4 kilometres (2.49 miles) inside Syria.
That contradicted Turkey's assertion that the aircraft had been warned multiple times that it was straying into Turkish airspace before it was shot down.
"Today's loss is linked to a stab in the back delivered to us by accomplices of terrorists. I cannot qualify what happened today as anything else," said a visibly furious Putin.
"Our plane was shot down on Syrian territory by an air-to-air missile from an F-16. It fell on Syrian territory 4 kilometres from the Turkish border. It was flying at 6,000 metres 1 kilometre from Turkish territory when it was attacked."
Putin said Russian pilots and planes had in no way threatened Turkey, but had merely been carrying out their duty to fight Daesh militants inside Syria.
"We established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by Daesh have been arriving on Turkish territory," he said, saying that was how militants had been funding themselves.
"And now we get stabbed in our back and our planes, which are fighting terrorism, are struck. This despite the fact that we signed an agreement with our American partners to warn each other about air-to-air incidents and Turkey ... announced it was allegedly fighting against terrorism as part of the U.S. coalition."
If Daesh militants earned hundreds of millions of dollars from trading oil and enjoyed the protection of the armed forces "of entire governments" no wonder, said Putin, they behaved so boldly.
"We will of course analyse everything that happened and today's tragic events will have serious consequences for Russo-Turkish relations," he said.
Turkey is one of the most popular holiday destinations for Russians, and the two countries enjoy active diplomatic relations.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to visit Turkey on Wednesday, in a trip arranged before the incident, while Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to visit Russia for talks with Putin in December.
Putin expressed anger at Turkey's decision to convene a meeting of NATO to discuss the incident, suggesting Ankara should instead have swiftly tried to contact Moscow.
"It's as if we shot down a Turkish plane rather than them shooting down one of ours. What do they want? To put Nato at Daesh's disposal? We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today."
Plane violated airspace 10 times: Turkey
The Turkish army said that the plane had violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five minute period and was shot down by two Turkish F-16s. However Russia insisted that the plane was inside Syrian airspace.
"A Russian Su-24 plane was downed under the rules of engagement because it violated the Turkish airspace despite the warnings," the Turkish presidency said.
Reports said two pilots had ejected from the plane and Turkish television pictures showed two white parachutes descending to the ground.
The CNN-Turk channel said Syrian Turkmen forces fighting the Russian-backed regime of President Bashar al-Assad captured one pilot.
Russia meanwhile confirmed that one of its planes had been shot down.
"Presumably as a result of firing, an Su-24 plane of the Russian forces crashed in the Syrian Arab Republic," Russian news agencies quoted the defence ministry as saying.
The Russian ministry said the fate of the pilots was not yet clear.
Turkey's Dogan news agency broadcast footage of what it said was Russian helicopters flying over Syrian territory in an apparent search for the lost pilots.
One Russian pilot dead, second missing
One Russian pilot of a plane downed by Turkey over northern Syria on Tuesday is dead and a second is missing, rebel and opposition activist sources told AFP.
The sources said the first pilot was killed by opposition forces who shot at him as he landed after ejecting from the plane.
Several videos circulating online and shared on opposition social media sites purported to show the dead pilot surrounded by rebels from different factions.
Jet exploded in the air
The fighter jet exploded in the air and the fireball fell on a mountain on the Syrian side of the border, television pictures showed.
Footage posted by the state-run Anatolia news agency showed plumes of smoke rising behind a mountain a few kilometres from the Turkish border.
Turkish reports said the incident happened in the border area between Turkey's southern Hatay province and an area in northwest Syria populated by the Turkic-speaking Turkmen minority.
The incident came as Russian and Syrian jets are carrying out a heavy bombing campaign against targets in northern Syria.
The Turkish government has expressed anger at the bombing campaign, saying it is aimed at buttressing the Syria regime and has displaced thousands of Turkmen Syrians.
Russia however insists that the air campaign is aimed against Daesh (IS) jihadists.
Amid fears of a diplomatic crisis, key Nato member Turkey said it would take the issue to the United Nations and Nato.
"Necessary initiatives will be taken at Nato, UN and at the level of countries concerned by the foreign ministry upon instructions from Mr Prime Minister," a statement from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's office said.
Russian fighter jets entered Turkish airspace in two separate incidents in October, prompting Ankara to summon the Russian ambassador twice to protest both violations.
Turkey and Russia have long been at loggerheads over the Syrian conflict, with Ankara seeking Assad's overthrow while Moscow does everything to keep him in power.
The Turkish military in October also shot down a Russian-made drone that had entered its airspace. But Moscow denied the drone belonged to its forces.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to visit Turkey on Wednesday in a bid to smooth ties and find a joint approach to finding peace in Syria.
Along with Saudi Arabia and the United States, Turkey and Russia are taking part in talks in Vienna that aim to narrow differences on the Syria conflict and have taken on an extra importance after the Paris attacks.
A Turkish foreign ministry official told AFP Lavrov's visit would go ahead as planned. "There is no change in the programme," said the official.
Nato allies will hold an "extraordinary" meeting Tuesday at Ankara's request to discuss Turkey's shooting down of a Russian fighter jet along the Syrian border, an alliance official said.
"At the request of Turkey, the North Atlantic Council will hold an extraordinary meeting at (1600 GMT). The aim of this extraordinary NAC is for Turkey to inform Allies about the downing of a Russian airplane," the official told AFP.
The North Atlantic Council consists of ambassadors from the 28 Nato member states.
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