Reuters – Aug 29, 2024
An F-16 fighter jet used by Ukraine crashed on Monday, Kyiv’s military said, the first such loss reported since the long-awaited arrival of the U.S.-made planes in the country was confirmed this month.
The jet came down and its pilot died while it was approaching a target during a Russian airstrike, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Thursday in a statement on Facebook.
The F-16s had “demonstrated high efficiency” and downed four Russian cruise missiles, it added. “Connection with one of the aircraft was lost while it was approaching the next target. As it turned out later, the plane crashed, the pilot died,” the statement added.
Ukraine has not given detail on the size of its new fleet, though the loss is likely to have left a significant dent. The Times of London has cited a source familiar with the matter as saying Ukraine had six of the jets.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed on Aug. 4 his pilots had started flying F-16s, hailing the moment as a major milestone in the fight against the invasion Russia launched 29 months ago.
He said on Tuesday F-16s were used to repel a major Russian attack a day earlier of more than 200 missiles and drones, which targeted the energy sector.
Monday’s crash did not appear to be the result of Russian fire, and possible causes from pilot error to mechanical failure were still being investigated, a U.S. defense official told Reuters.
Military analysts have said the arrival of the small number of planes, while significant, is unlikely to be a turning point in the conflict.
Russia has had time to prepare defences to try to nullify the F-16s’ impact, and Ukraine has had to survive with a depleted air force that is a fraction of the size and sophistication of its enemy’s.
Ukraine’s Air Force Western command posted on Facebook an obituary of a pilot, Oleksiy Mes, saying he died while repelling Monday’s attack, but did not say he was an F-16 pilot.
CNN said Mes had a call sign Moonfish and reported in 2023 he was training for F-16 missions.
Kyiv has been urging allies to supply modern jets since the start of Russia’s invasion to bolster its small and old post-Soviet fleet.
Russia-Ukraine war | Reports: Ukraine’s top pilot killed in F-16 crash | WION Pulse
WION – Aug 29, 2024
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Looks like the Russians used electronic warfare to bring this 40yr old plane down.
The Russians did the same to 14 Nazi Migs.
Why do I say this, because the Nazi didnt eject, and that’s because everything ceased to work. Again, very similar to the Migs, which were hundreds of miles from the front lines.
Regarding the loss of a Ukrainian F-16 a quote from a comment by Galina B on Larry Johnson’s Sonar 21:
‘Marianna Bezuglaia, a member of the ukro-gov-t posted today that it wasn’t a “pilot error” – at least not that pilot of F-16 – but a PATRIOT missile that shut down the jet during the latest Russian attack. She says it was due to the complete chaos and disconnect between the military units and commanders.’
https://sonar21.com/ukraine-loses-17-of-its-f-16-force-and-other-bad-news-for-ukraine-that-is/
Rotflmfao no kidding.
Russia is a White country and can hardly lose against the racial chaos of merry K
R-37M is a bona fide threat to even the most advanced F-16
piloted by highly trained pilots.
Even as Russia’s air force is actually a midget as compared to US-NATO.
Air Forces comparison
Total aircraft 22,308 4,814
Fighters / interceptors 3,275 809
Ground attack aircraft 1,195 730
Transport aircraft 1,493 453
Special aircraft (e.g reconnaissance) 931 145
Tanker aircraft 655 19
Total helicopters 8,950 1,547
Conspicuously missing is the AWACS
US – 31
Russia – 3
this is good news for the survived civilians !
Brought down by friendly fire ..
MiG-29 has a manual ejection system (“command ejection”) if needed.
So too MiG-25, MiG-31, Su-27 and F-16.
@ERIK BLESSING
hahahahahahahahahaha !