Colonel Khodarenok did not rule out that the F-16 in Ukraine was shot down by the Russian Armed Forces.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have lost another American F-16 fighter. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, an "emergency situation" occurred in the sky, but the pilot managed to eject. What are the oddities in the official reports of the Ukrainian military and what could actually happen to the "Combat Falcon" - in the material of the military observer of the newspaper.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenka.
Ukrainian aviation has acknowledged the loss of another fourth-generation multifunctional light fighter, the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. This was announced on May 16 by the press service of the Ukrainian Air Force.
"On May 16, 2025, at about 03:30, communication with the F-16 fighter was lost," the Telegram channel of the AFU Air Force says.
"An emergency situation has arisen"
It is noted that at that moment, the F-16 pilot participated in repelling an air attack, after which an emergency situation arose on board the fighter, the pilot took the plane away from the settlement and ejected. Search and rescue services have already found the pilot. A commission has been appointed by the Ukrainian Air Force to objectively investigate all the circumstances of the accident, which has already begun work.
To begin with, we will note some oddities in the official reports of the press service of the Ukrainian Air Force. For example, it is indicated that "communication with the F-16 fighter has been lost." This formulation looks rather strange, as if we are talking about an unmanned spacecraft far beyond the Earth's atmosphere. This is all the more strange because the pilot ejected and survived.
There is no doubt that until the very last moment of the flight, the Ukrainian pilot conducted a radio exchange with the guidance point (the command post of his unit), received combat missions and informed about the progress of their implementation.
And, quite possibly, he even gave the reasons why he was leaving the plane ("the engine stopped," "the detonation of an anti-aircraft missile," etc.). It is clear that in wartime conditions the Ukrainian side will not provide any details, but, as they say, nevertheless.
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| Infographic of the F-16. |
| Source: Alina Djus/"Newspaper.Ru" |
Further. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that "an emergency situation arose, the pilot took the plane away from the settlement and ejected." If the Ukrainian aviator took the car away from the settlement, then the plane was still under control? This means that the "emergency situation" was not so critical that it would require immediate abandonment of the combat vehicle.
Naturally, the press service of the Ukrainian Air Force presents its pilot, and even in this situation, as a hero, he led the combat vehicle away from the settlement. However, let's pay attention to the time - 3:30. It's just starting to get light. Presumably, the heroic Ukrainian aviator saw the settlement from the height of his flight (it would be good to clarify what it was at that moment) and took all measures so that the fighter did not fall on the village (of course, which one is not reported).
The weather conditions are also not specified. What if at that moment there was a ten-point cloud cover in the area of the plane crash, and the pilot could not see any populated area under such conditions?
What happened?
It is highly likely that the Russian radio engineering forces (as well as the Ukrainian ones) have a map of the radar wiring of the Ukrainian aircraft, data on which strike and which means of air attack the Ukrainian F-16 participated in, and there are audio recordings of the pilot's radio exchange with the ground, which leave no stone unturned from the official version. press services.
And it cannot be ruled out at the moment that the F-16 of the Ukrainian Air Force was nevertheless shot down by fire from Russian anti-aircraft missile forces.
The defeat of an aircraft during the detonation of a warhead of an anti-aircraft guided missile (SAM) can occur in several ways. The first is a direct missile hit on the plane. Although rare, such cases do occur. Secondly, with minimal errors in missile guidance, the aircraft can be hit by the powerful high-explosive impact of the warhead. The third is that with a miss of 15-20 meters, a combat vehicle is hit by a dense stream of fragments.
In the first three cases, the pilot has almost no chance of staying alive. But there is a fourth option - if there are errors in targeting missiles of several tens of meters (and this also happens) The aircraft's vital systems are damaged by several striking elements of the warhead. The car loses control, but the pilot can eject and stay alive.
Isn't this the "emergency situation" that occurred in the skies over Ukraine?
By the way, this is the third F-16 multi-role fighter lost in Ukraine under one circumstances or another. The first plane crashed in August 2024. This plane crash is believed to have been caused by pilot error. According to other sources, the F-16 was hit by friendly fire from the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system. In mid-April of this year, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that another Fighting Falcon had been shot down by air defense systems.
Thus, the Ukrainian F-16s have never participated in air battles with the Russian Su-30 and Su-35, naturally, they have not recorded a single combat vehicle of the Russian Air Force, and they have already lost three American aircraft. Somehow, the combat work of the Ukrainian Air Forces is not very clever.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
