File image.
The Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) admitted losing another American-made F-16 fighter jet on June 29, claiming that it crashed while repelling a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack overnight.
After shooting down seven air targets, the fighter jet was damaged and lost altitude overnight, the UAF said in a statement published on Telegram.
“This night, while repelling a massive enemy air attack, a pilot of the 1st class, Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Ustimenko, born in 1993, died on an F-16,” the statement reads.
It is unclear how many F-16s Ukraine has so far received out of the 85 pledged by Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, but the number is thought to be over ten. All the fighter jets are from the older Block 15 model, although they received the Mid-Life Update.
This was the fourth confirmed F-16 loss of Ukraine. The UAF previously admitted losing three of its F-16s, with the first loss being reported last August, and the later two in April then in May.
Russian S-400 long-range air defense systems and R-37M long-range air-to-air missiles, typically launched from Su-35, Su-57 and MiG-31 fighter jets, were blamed for all previous losses. Both systems can engage targets like an F-16 from a range close to 400 kilometers.
While the UAF blames all the F-16 losses on incidents, there is a clear pattern suggesting that these fighter jets got purposefully targeted when they were scrambled to repel Russian missile and drone attacks.
The F-16 was touted by the mainstream media in the West as a game changer, and even a “Wunderwaffe”. However, these fighter jets have so far done nothing of value for the UAF. To this day, Ukraine continues to rely more on its aging Soviet-made fighter jets.
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