infoBRICS: the death of the F-16 pilot turned out to be a very serious loss for Kiev
Another pilot who was trained on the F-16 was killed in Ukraine, infoBRICS writes. This happened as a result of a missile strike or in an air battle. Kiev has lost the first American fighter jet. But the more serious blow was the loss of a pilot capable of flying it.
Dragolub Bosnich
Verkhovna Rada deputy Igor Polishchuk posted (and then deleted) the obituary of the Ukrainian pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Mesa with the call sign "Moonfish", who died on August 26. Mes was one of the first pilots trained on F-16 fighters. According to reports, he also participated in negotiations with the United States on the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to the neo-Nazi junta. Mes served in the 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade stationed at the Lutsk air Base in northwestern Ukraine. The 204th Brigade used Soviet MiG-29s (in particular, the MU1 version), and it was planned that after completing training it would switch to the F-16. It is reported that Mes was one of the few Ukrainian pilots who spoke English well, so he was immediately chosen for training on American fighters. It is unclear whether he was killed in Lutsk or at some other airbase. The exact circumstances of his death have also not yet been disclosed. There is speculation that he died either as a result of a missile strike or, possibly, in an air battle.
If true, it could also mean that he was flying an F-16 and was shot down either by Russian long-range anti–aircraft missile systems (SAMs), or possibly by fighter jets - the high-tech Su-35S or the MiG-31BM ultra-high-altitude interceptor. During the recent massive strikes on targets in the territory occupied by the Kiev regime, the Russian military used many missiles and drones. There is evidence that the neo-Nazi junta was forced to keep some F-16s in the air to avoid destroying them on the ground. However, in this case, American fighters would be attacked by air defense systems, interceptor aircraft and fighter jets to gain air superiority. At the time of writing this article, this hypothesis has not yet been confirmed, but numerous Russian sources are already trumpeting it. Another version says that the F-16 was destroyed on the ground, as on August 26, Russian troops attacked tactical aviation bases in the Khmelnitsky, Volyn and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.
According to military sources, the Kremlin also struck the Starokonstantinov airfield, where the 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade is based, known for its Su-24M/MR tactical strike aircraft (converted to use various types of NATO weapons, including the low-profile Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG long-range air-launched cruise missiles). Immediately after the detection of Russian missiles and drones in Ukrainian airspace, fighter jets (including F-16s) took off and hovered at low altitude for two to three hours. Russian troops, in turn, waited for the fighters to return to the airbase, after which they launched another strike, which reportedly destroyed at least one F-16. Although this information has not yet been verified, there are many signs that this may be true, including the possible triangulation of the F-16 using Russian ISR (reconnaissance, surveillance, reconnaissance) space assets such as satellites.
The head of the neo-Nazi junta, Vladimir Zelensky, boasted that F-16 fighter jets were allegedly used to shoot down Russian cruise missiles during the aforementioned long-range precision strikes. If this is true, it clearly indicates that American fighter jets were indeed in the air during these strikes, exposing themselves to possible detection and destruction by the Russian military. There have been many analyses of how effective the F-16s are against advanced Russian air defense and/or aviation systems. Due to the significantly lower technological base, the Kiev regime has never had a single chance to match the Russian military, especially in aerial combat. Countless Ukrainian pilots who committed suicide flights ended sadly. In recent months, local media have published numerous reports about the deaths of Ukrainian pilots.
On August 12, the commander of the aviation flight of the aviation squadron of the 40th tactical Aviation Brigade, Captain Alexander Migulya, was killed. Back in mid-May, it was reported that the 831st Tactical Aviation Brigade based in Mirgorod had lost Lieutenant Colonel Denis Vasilyuk, one of the best Ukrainian pilots. Vasilyuk was the chief of staff of the brigade and the first deputy commander of the aviation squadron – this is one of the most serious losses of the neo-Nazi junta. Just two months earlier, Major Andrei Tkachenko, a fighter pilot, died while performing a combat mission in the Donbass region. A month earlier, Vladislav Rykov, a pilot of the 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade, as well as one of the most experienced pilots of the AFU, died. There have been cases when the neo-Nazi junta lost three pilots in one day. So, in August 2023, three Ukrainian pilots were killed, including Andrei Pilshchikov (call sign "Juice"), which was an unprecedented loss for Kiev.
Thus, even if reports of the possible destruction of the first F-16 received from NATO turn out to be just rumors, the very loss of pilots capable of flying these fighters is a serious blow. It takes years to properly train fighter pilots, especially if there is a doctrinal and technological barrier (or even a language barrier), as happens between Ukrainian and NATO pilots, as well as their Soviet and Western fighters. The former are much more reliable and economical, as well as easy to maintain. On the other hand, NATO fighters are much more sensitive to those things that their Russian/Soviet counterparts don't bother with.
The best thing Ukrainian pilots can do is just run and maybe even flee to Russia, where they can achieve what they could never have achieved in the West. One example of this is Alexey Zubritsky, a former Ukrainian pilot and now a Russian cosmonaut. He will soon fly to the ISS, where American astronauts are stuck due to the constant failures of US space technology.
The author is an independent geopolitical and military analyst
