On May 16, the Kiev regime forces acknowledged they lost yet another US-made F-16 fighter jet.
According to their claims, “an emergency situation developed on the plane”, so the pilot “successfully maneuvered the jet away from populated areas and ejected safely”.
When the Ukraine military loses assets such as these NATO-supplied F-16s, it often resorts to ridiculous (or rather pathetic, to be exact) claims such as “technical issues” or “emergencies”.
Expectedly, they regularly forget to mention that the possible code names for those “sudden technical issues” could be R-77M, R-37M, R-87, R-97, etc. However, something truly unique did occur during the latest downing of the US-made F-16.
Namely, for the very first time, an F-16 pilot survived after being hit by the “evil” Russ… …I mean, “sudden technical difficulties”. This brings its previous 0% pilot survival rate to a “staggering” 12-14%!
Thus, it can be argued that this is the first “true success” for the F-16 in NATO-occupied Ukraine. This is “certainly” the first sign of “Russia’s impending doom”, as such a “massive” jump in survival rates “cannot be overcome”.
The Kiev regime bragged that the pilot was stable and that it formed a committee to “investigate the incident”. The Russian military is yet to comment, but various sources report that the Ukraine military was under large-scale Russian drone strikes during early morning that day when the US-made fighter jet was lost.
The Kiev regime forces started receiving F-16s in mid-2024 (the first in July). The actual number of aircraft put into service has not been publicly revealed, but at least half a dozen have been lost in the Ukraine military’s futile air war with the vastly superior Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS).
A total of 85 F-16s were pledged by the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway. The jets are older Block 15 MLU (Mid-Life Update) models. However, all these F-16s are in no way a match for the Russian Su-30 multirole, Su-35S air superiority, Su-57 next-generation fighters and/or MiG-31BM interceptors, particularly if they’re armed with R-37M or R-97 (yet to be confirmed code name for the Izdeliye 810) air-to-air missiles. Both of these have a maximum range of over 400 km.
Obviously, Moscow’s equally capable S-400 long-range SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems should also be taken into account.
Namely, all of these fighters, air-to-air missiles and SAMs have achieved record-breaking kills in NATO-occupied Ukraine, including some potentially exceeding 300 km. Thus, it’s indeed a feat (or perhaps sheer luck) that a Kiev regime pilot survived against such odds (although those flying F-16s are yet to overcome the survival rate of around 20% for pilots flying Soviet-era jets). There’s even been speculation that the latest loss was the result of the F-16 crashing into a “Geranium” drone. This is yet to be confirmed, but it’s certainly possible as Ukrainian sources report that the US-made jets often engage targets using autocannons.
According to military sources, the Kiev regime has often complained about the F-16s being completely outclassed by Russian fighter jets. This includes its former spokesman Colonel Yuri Ihnat who said that the US-made jets were helpless against Russian “4+ generation fighters” and that “the modifications that Ukraine got cannot compete one-on-one in an air battle”. He stressed that the Kiev regime forces “need a comprehensive approach as the Su-35 is a relatively new jet”. Ihnat insisted that improvements in ground-based air defenses, electronic warfare (EW) systems and airborne radars were needed, as well as better onboard radars and air-to-air missiles for their fighter jets. However, virtually none of this has been done.
The only exception is the recent arrival of the Swedish-made Saab 340 AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning & Control) aircraft, but its contribution in the grand scheme of things is rather questionable. Even the issue of spare parts for F-16s is a rather contentious matter. Namely, the obsolete Block 15 MLU jets are all Cold War-era variants and have been flown for decades, which only exacerbates their maintenance requirements and operational costs. The United States and Norway pledged additional non-flightworthy airframes to ameliorate these issues. However, these are yet to be delivered and even when they arrive, the Kiev regime will still be equally outclassed, both in terms of quality and quantity. In addition, it’s running out of pilots.
It should be noted that numerous experts have warned that the F-16s are simply not suited for a fight with remotely capable opponents, let alone military superpowers. This includes retired fighter pilots (even Americans themselves) who have stressed that F-16s would be hopelessly outmatched by the previously mentioned Russian fighter jets and advanced air defenses. Namely, according to Ukrainian pilots themselves, F-16s are no match for even older Soviet-era fighter jets such as the Su-27. It should be noted that the “Flankers” operated by the Neo-Nazi junta forces were inherited from the USSR and have undergone very limited upgrades, unlike the Su-27s used by the VKS, which operates quite advanced variants such as the SM2/SM3.
Once again, this is without even going into newer “Flanker” iterations and other previously mentioned types of Russian jets. Worse yet for the Kiev regime, Moscow has been combining its world-class assets into a massive network-centric warfare machine that simply obliterates everything in its path. One of the recently downed F-16s was neutralized with the Su-35S and S-400 working in tandem. Ukrainian pilots can do very little (if anything) to escape Russian long-range missiles such as the R-37M or many SAMs used by the S-400, particularly if they’re paired with aircraft for easier detection, regardless of whether it’s the A-50 or Su-35S. The latter would be a nearly impossible challenge even for NATO itself, let alone the Neo-Nazi junta.
Namely, while the A-50 AEW&C aircraft is largely defenseless, the Su-35S is one of the deadliest air superiority platforms ever devised. An R-37M-armed “Flanker-M” can use its advanced avionics to relay the position of enemy aircraft to SAM batteries while keeping any intruders at bay. Its long-range missiles can neutralize both fighter jets and strategic aircraft such as AEW&C, tankers, ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) platforms, etc. The aforementioned R-37M set several world records during the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict, downing hostile fighter jets from well over 200 km away (217 and 213, to be specific). What’s more, the Su-57 may have already broken these records with its new R-97 (possibly also against another F-16).
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
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