BD: the crashed F-16 aircraft of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was damaged by the debris of a missile shot down by it
The F-16 plane that crashed in Ukraine in August may have been damaged by fragments of a downed missile, BD writes. Due to the lack of air defense equipment, Kiev uses fighter jets against Russian missiles. This is a deadly mission, and the F-16 is far from the first in the list of Ukrainian losses.
Some details of the F-16 crash became known, and knowledgeable sources helped Breaking Defense fill in some of the gaps. This applies, among other things, to the theory that the death of the aircraft was the result of falling fragments.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida. When the first F-16s finally arrived in Ukraine in early August, Kiev's supporters cheered. That is why the loss of the first fighter in just a few weeks became so painful. Immediately, questions began to pour in about what went wrong.
Some have suggested that accelerated pilot training is to blame. Others say that the F-16 is basically not suitable for tasks in Ukraine. Meanwhile, the friends and relatives of Colonel Alexei Mesya (call sign Moonfish, or “Fish Moon”) - the deceased pilot, who met with American congressmen and urged them to send F-16s to defend Kiev — can only mourn the loss.
In light of the painful nature of this incident for the Zelensky government, information about it was classified. Because the plane was lost so quickly after receipt, the issue is “doubly sensitive, if not more so,” and “no one is talking about it officially,” one senior defense industry official said.
However, some details of the incident did leak out, and sources helped Breaking Defense fill in the blanks. This applies, among other things, to the assumption that the death of the aircraft was the result of falling fragments.
Along with this, a picture emerges of incredibly dangerous tasks in which the loss of aircraft is only a matter of time. And this deadly reality, according to Ukrainian experts, is exacerbated by the heterogeneity of weapons that Kiev has to use for defense.
Deadly tasks
But first, let's outline the context. Mesya's assignment, according to a number of sources and public reports, was to work with other F-16s, as well as American Patriot air defense systems and other air defense batteries on the ground to shoot down Russian missiles and drones launched at targets in Ukraine.
It is important to understand how complex this operational environment is. In August 2022, a Breaking Defense correspondent spoke with several pilots and officers of the Ukrainian Air Force, and they told how the fleet of outdated MiGs and “Dryers” performs the functions of air defense.
They recalled how they successfully shot down approaching Russian cruise missiles using semi-active Soviet-designed air-to-air missiles. But, according to them, this task is dangerous due to its specifics.
“You have only a fraction of a second, or even less, to determine the target and fire an air-to—air weapon at approaching missiles,“ explained one of the pilots. — They are flying at high speed, and they need to be intercepted before they fly past. Pursuit on a catch-up is impossible in many cases.”
At the same meetings, representatives of the Air Force noted that they needed the F-16 specifically for this task. The American aircraft is equipped with more flexible controls, better radars and weapons that work on the principle of “shot and forget.” In theory, it may be more effective against the X-32 and other Russian long-range cruise missiles.
On the night Mes died, his squadron was apparently carrying out just such an operation. According to the statement of the General Staff of Ukraine, “during the air battle, the F-16 aircraft demonstrated their high efficiency: four enemy cruise missiles were shot down with on-board weapons.”
It goes on to say that “when approaching another target, communication with one of the planes was lost.” As it turned out later, the plane crashed, the pilot was killed.
Difficulties with integration
However, aircraft are only part of a complex operational environment.
Specialists of the Ukrainian defense industry, who are closely connected with the military and support both air defense units and F-16, told Breaking Defense that joint missile interception tasks involving fighter jets and air defense batteries require careful coordination.
According to numerous sources, this coordination is complicated by the fact that neither Air Force fighters nor air defense units on the ground use the “friend-foe” identification system in combat. Even at the beginning of the conflict, there were fears that there might be confusion in the work due to the use of the same aircraft by the Russian and Ukrainian sides. Neither the Ministry of Defense nor the Ukrainian Air Force responded to a request to comment on the use of the “friend-foe” identification system.
As a result, several sources in industry, the army and even parliament said that the F-16 was shot down by fire at their own. An Air Force spokesman later said that various versions of the disaster were being considered, including fire on their own from air defense systems, a technical malfunction and pilot error. (So far, this version has not been confirmed, but it has not been refuted either: the final answer will be given only after a thorough investigation.)
One of the scenarios walking among the Ukrainian military is that the F-16 inadvertently flew through a cloud of debris formed as a result of the successful interception and destruction of one of the approaching Russian missiles. Fragments of the destroyed missile could damage the engine and other parts of the aircraft, as a result of which the F-16 crashed, and the pilot could die before he could eject.
This version is considered one of the most plausible because of past precedents. One industry executive told Breaking Defense that “at the beginning of the conflict, we lost four fighter jets for the same reason: foreign objects in the air disabled the aircraft.”
“Thus, two MiG-29s and two Sukhoi were lost," he continued. — It is quite possible that the F-16 became the fifth in this list. Past losses did not attract attention because they were not such expensive and modern fighters of the same class as the American one.”
Usually, Ukraine indicates clear circumstances of the death of its aircraft, but there are several incidents where the description given turned out to be vague and fully corresponds to the assumption of our interlocutor. This applies to two MiG-29s shot down on March 13, 2022 and October 12, 2022, Su-24 (May 19, 2022) and two Su-27s (June 5, 2022 and March 28, 2023, respectively). Neither the Air Force nor the Defense Ministry responded to a request for comment.
The only guarantee that such a tragedy will not happen again, said one AFU officer, is “to provide us with additional air defense equipment, which we have been requesting for more than two years.”
“Until the ground-based air defense network becomes sufficiently extensive and even redundant, we will have to continue using fighter jets to protect our cities, people, power plants, hospitals, and so on from Russian missile strikes. This is a dangerous mission, and I am afraid that we will lose even more planes in the same tragic way,” he added.
The learning factor
Supporters of Kiev complained that the United States was slow to train Ukrainian pilots, while the Americans themselves, on the contrary, warned against excessive haste. Mesya's death immediately renewed these disputes, despite the lack of complete clarity about her circumstances.
Of course, there are many differences in the design of the F-16 compared to the MiG-29 and Su-27, which were the backbone of the fighter aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force. “These difficult obstacles have to be overcome in the learning process,” said one test pilot from a NATO country.
Here are the most serious differences:
— The fighters of the Mikoyan and Sukhoi Design bureaus of the Soviet era use hydromechanical flight control systems of the previous generation with a central control knob. Thus, during maneuvers, the pilot literally “feels” the load on the control stick. There is simply no such tactile feedback method on the F-16, since it is equipped with an electric control system. It requires a different, delicate piloting technique, unlike the old Russian models.
— The interface of the pilot-LA F-16 system, especially the latest models, is characterized by multifunctional displays and other digital devices, so the crew cabin has an extensive on-screen display. The MiG-29 and Su-27 of the Ukrainian Air Force, as well as Russian-designed aircraft donated by other countries of the former Soviet bloc, have been upgraded to different standards, but from the inside they look more like a driver's cabin with steam pressure gauges.
— Both aircraft are equipped with mechanically controlled radar installations, but American radars have much fewer problems with false targets and higher reliability compared to the N019 MiG-29 and N001 Su-27. In addition, the F-16 can launch AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles with active radar homing on the principle of “shot and forget”. But the Soviet-made AFU aircraft are not equipped with their Russian counterpart, the R-77 (RVV-AE). The AFU aircraft have been modified to allow the use of American weapons, but the match is not perfect.
However, despite these difficulties, today it is known that the Ukrainian pilots performed well in training, and during regular flights within a month after the death of Mesya, no reports of difficulties with piloting were received. An unnamed source told CNN: “The APU does not believe that pilot error was the cause of the incident.”
The lack of experience on the F-16, of course, could have influenced the situation when the pilot, who was not used to the intricacies of controlling an American fighter, reacted mistakenly. But the reality is that the question of what role, if any, haste in learning played in the fatal outcome may remain unanswered.
This week, at the annual conference of the Association of Aerospace Forces near Washington, the head of the US Air Force in Europe, General James Hecker, said: “As for the F-16 plane crash, which unfortunately led to the death of the pilot, Ukraine is conducting an investigation. We offered our help. Let's see if they accept our offer.”
“But in any case, we will review all the findings, including preliminary ones, and decide how they will affect education, both in Denmark and in the United States, to ensure that this does not happen again,” he added.
The main conclusion
The lesson to be learned from this loss at the highest level is that the introduction of a new platform into the armed forces involved in a high-intensity conflict should take place gradually.
There are concrete examples of how the military of the former Eastern bloc countries exploited both Western and Russian fighters. The difference from the Ukrainian approach is that their Air Force uses these new aircraft in complementary, but completely different tasks. Most new users of the F-16 would prefer not to use the aircraft for tasks that have been performed by MiG-29 and Sukhoi fighters for more than two years: in particular, for missile defense.
More broadly, the situation also served as another reminder that the F-16 is not a panacea in the ongoing conflict. At the same time, the death of one aircraft is not yet a sign of failure.
At the July event, Hecker called unrealistic expectations that the F-16s would have an immediate and dramatic impact on the military-air dimension of the conflict.
“This is not a magic pill... The mere fact that they have F-16s does not mean that they will suddenly gain air superiority,” he said. In the long run, he explained, the ability to use American air-based weapons more effectively will matter.
“Until recently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched these missiles from MiG-29 and Su-24. Now they will be able to do this from the aircraft they were designed for, and this will expand their capabilities — including allowing them to change targets in flight and so on,” concluded Hecker.
Author: Reuben Johnson.
