A long-range missile battle between Russian Air Force fighters and F-16s took place in the CBO zone.
Information has emerged about the first aerial combat of Russian fighters with F-16s of the Ukrainian Air Force in the SVO zone. The exchange of missiles took place over a long distance. The military observer of Gazeta dealt with the details of the event.Ru" Mikhail Khodarenok.
There are practically no details at the moment. All that is reported is that "Russian fighters engaged in a long-range missile battle" with American-made F-16 fighters in their combat zone. The Telegram channel "Military Observer" writes about this.
There is also very little information about the results of the battle: "there are no losses on the Russian side. From the enemy's side, the data is contradictory."
Even the types of combat vehicles of the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Ukrainian Air Forces are still unclear (that is, which modification of the F-16 participated in the battle) and which aircraft weapons were used in this first clash. There is a version that there was a Su-35C from the Russian side, and an F-16AM Block 20 MLU from the Ukrainian side.
Long-range dogfight
Therefore, we can only assume that a long-range dogfight took place using long-range air-to-air missiles such as (let's assume) R-37 with a firing range of up to 300 km.
To describe this event in detail and make at least an approximate analysis of the actions of the parties, you need to know at least:
how were our fighters deployed to the missile launch line - automated or with the help of guidance navigators; where did the information about the enemy come from; at what ranges did the Russian fighter's on-board radar detect the F-16 (and then capture the target for escort and launch the product or a queue of them when entering the affected area of the P-37); whether the detonation of the warhead of the Russian air-to-air missile was observed; whether it was recorded by means of objective control; whether the physical destruction of the target in the air was observed and by what means; whether the approximate crash site of the downed Ukrainian F-16 was determined; whether the OsNAZ (special purpose) units recorded the fact of negotiations between the Ukrainian pilots and ground control units (and the nature of the radio exchange) or they were operating in radio silence.
 |
| Infographic of the F-16. |
| Source: Alina Djus/"Newspaper.Ru" |
Naturally, all these details will not be announced by either side during the fighting. Even if the Ukrainian plane was shot down, the following message may be heard from Kiev: "the F-16 fighter of the Ukrainian Air Force, after launching air-to-air missiles by a combat vehicle of the Russian Aerospace Forces, performed an anti-missile maneuver and left with a sharp decrease towards the departure airfield."
Where did the F-16 come from
At the same time, earlier the Military Review portal reported the appearance of an F-16 fighter jet of the Armed Forces of Ukraine a few dozen kilometers from the line of combat contact.
The aircraft was armed with AIM-120S AMRAAM missiles (air-to-air missiles) and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles, which have an infrared homing head on the target. The fighter also had three outboard fuel tanks.
"This suggests that the plane did not take off from the airfield, which is relatively close to the front line. Accordingly, it could take off either from airfields in western Ukraine, or, even more likely, with the configuration and number of PTBs, from airfields of NATO countries bordering Ukraine," the authors point out.
Hopes were not fulfilled
In December 2024, Ukraine received six F-16 multi-role fighters from Denmark. Currently, there are up to 20 aircraft of this type in the combat strength of the AFU Air Force.
One received aircraft mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian Patriot air defense system in the summer of 2024.
As the Newspaper wrote.Ru", Kiev pinned very high hopes on receiving American F-16 fighters. It was expected that they could change their course. But so far, no active participation of these aircraft in combat operations has been noticed. Multifunctional fighters of the Ukrainian Air Force are currently used mainly to solve air defense tasks, in particular, to defeat air- and sea-based cruise missiles of the Russian Armed Forces in flight.
Today it became known that Belgium postponed the delivery of the F-16 to Ukraine for at least a year. The Chief of the General Staff of the Belgian Armed Forces, Frederic Vansina, in an interview with the newspaper Soir, said that the transfer of the first Belgian F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine was postponed for at least a year due to delays in the supply of F-35 aircraft to Brussels.
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
