F16 Fighter Jet Piloted by Ukrainian Pilot Crashes, What Happened ?

Ukraine received 10 F16 jet fighters. Now make it 9 but Ukraine is expecting more

 but I don't know if there would be any sent to Ukraine until they know if this was a Pilot error or a defective plane. Keep in mind the pilot flying this jet was an Ace, experienced, and highly regarded. He was not hit by any missiles and even though there was ground fire, that fire was not enough to hurt, and an f16 with the protection they carry and the way an experienced flyer deals with that. A shooter would have a better chance of winning the LOTTO in NYC than hitting any part of a flying f16 in the ground fire available in that region. The jets are U.S.-made arriving in January of 1979. Very old planes that have been fixed with the electronics of a NATO modern age flying. I don't think Ukraine will say where that particular jet was imported from but we will eventually find out. Another jet coming down the same way this one did will mean it was the jet. Had fire or a missile would have jit the jet, the pilot would have probably had time for an ejection. This plane was flying low but the reason most have something the pilot did not expect. Ukraine is flying the remainder of the MIG fleet planes from the Soviet Union which should be about 70. Those planes are older than the MIGs even though not by a lot but those are jets that have not been improved since the parts were in Russia. I can't tell you how sad I felt for the Pilot. I have been gun-ho for Ukraine to get what Biden Promised along with some NATO Countries. But is not time to cry we can do that later. Now is the time to cut Putin's availability to shoot missiles and drones at Ukraine whenever his backside scratches him ( I only use 4 letters when really pissed and Im on my space?). I hope Biden agrees to let Ukraine use the weapons already given anywhere in Russia that attack the Territory of Ukraine. I don't think that is asking for a lot. But I know Biden is never been a risk taker, that is why he got his dream too old to fulfill two terms and the single term he got was because he was made Vice President by President Obama. His way of doing things got us the Most Corrupt Justice in many generations and that is Non-Justice Thomas.

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By Adam Gonzalez, Publisher

 

By: The New York Times

A Ukrainian F-16, recently supplied by NATO countries, was destroyed this week while defending against a sweeping Russian aerial assault, and the pilot was killed, Ukraine’s military said on Thursday.

The loss is a blow to the government in Kyiv, partly because only about half a dozen of the planes have been delivered and only a few pilots have been trained to fly them.

The timing of the crash was unfortunate as well, coming after a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region had lifted the national mood this month after a long spring and summer of Russian battlefield gains in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine received its first batch of F-16s this summer after the country’s leaders argued to the White House and allies in Europe for many months that they were essential to the war effort. While the United States and other allies have provided Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars of military equipment, the fighter jets have taken on outsize importance as a symbol of Western support. 

However, military experts have cautioned that the jets are unlikely to make an immediate difference on the battlefield, even though they are versatile and equipped with advanced radar systems and a variety of weapons. Their primary value, the experts said, will be their role in defending Ukraine in the coming years.

The plane was lost after Ukraine scrambled its air defenses while trying to intercept more than 200 missiles and drones fired by Russia on Monday, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called one of the largest attacks of its kind since the war began 30 months ago.

The F-16s were involved in the effort and had “demonstrated their high efficiency,” shooting down four cruise missiles, Ukraine’s general staff said on Facebook on Thursday. But “communication was lost with one of the aircraft. It was later determined that the aircraft had crashed and the pilot was killed.”

The military said that it had opened an investigation into the crash, which was reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal. A Western official said the Ukrainians were looking at pilot error or mechanical failure as the cause for the crash, rather than enemy fire. The military general staff did not disclose the identity of the pilot who was killed, but Ukraine’s Air Force said that it had lost a pilot named Oleksiy Mes on Monday during the assault on the country.

“Oleksiy saved Ukrainians from deadly Russian missiles. Unfortunately, at the cost of your own life,” the Air Force’s western command said in a Facebook post that addressed the pilot. 

A news website in the city of Lutsk in northwestern Ukraine, Volyn News, reported that a large funeral was held in the city on Thursday for the pilot. It posted photographs of the event and said that Ukrainian Air Force jets performed a fly over in honor of the pilot. The website said his call sign was Moonfish. Ukrainian combat pilots, a select group, are considered heroes by many in Ukraine for the risks they have taken to fight the invasion, and Mr. Mes’ death will likely be widely mourned.

The arrival and deployment of the F-16s has been a subplot in the war. From the earliest days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Mr. Zelensky had called on NATO to supply his country with the most advanced and powerful conventional weapons, arguing that Ukraine was fighting for all of Europe as well as Western values.

Each time President Biden and other leaders acceded to Kyiv’s requests, Ukrainian leaders expressed gratitude while also making new demands. The fighter jets, which can be used to attack Russian forces but are also valuable for their ability to shoot down incoming missiles, became the most high-profile item on Ukraine’s list.

When they finally arrived, Mr. Zelensky posted a triumphant video on his social media page and was photographed sitting in one.

Ukrainian officials declined to say how many planes had been delivered in the initial batch, but European countries, which have promised 45 of the jets, were expected to deliver only six this summer. 

Romania had set up a school to train Ukrainian pilots — an arduous process, given the planes’ complexity — but by March it was clear that only 12 pilots would be ready by the summer. The pilots also received training in Denmark, the United States and Britain.

Their arrival in early August to supplement the country’s fleet of Soviet-era aircraft had given a lift to national morale at a time of significant developments in the war.

For much of the year, Ukrainian forces have been on the defensive in the country’s east in the face of a Russian onslaught that has steadily, if slowly, made progress. Russian troops seized control of two cities in Donetsk region early in the year after months of fierce fighting, and in recent weeks they have put the city of Pokrovsk, an important transport hub for Ukraine’s military, under increasing pressure.

By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Eric Schmitt