Ukraine Just Lost Another F-16

Two of the ex-European jets have been destroyed since August

Ukrainian F-16s. Ukrainian air force photo

Ukraine lost a Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter and its pilot, Capt. Pavlo Ivanov, on or just before Saturday. It’s the second loss of an F-16 and pilot since the single-engine, supersonic fighter—85 of which a Belgian-Danish-Dutch-Norwegian consortium has pledged to Ukraine—entered front-line service in Ukraine back in August.

It’s heavy blow for the battered Ukrainian air force, but not a fatal one. Ukraine is losing F-16s at an annualized rate of just a few per year. And while that rate surely will increase as more of the surplus European jets arrive in Ukraine—thus exposing more airframes to risks including crashes and Russian action—the Ukrainian air force is on track to induct more than enough F-16s to sustain operations for the next few years, at least.

Still, Kyiv is asking a lot of its F-16s—and can’t easily duplicate their capabilities. The Ukrainians are surely extremely eager to preserve the F-16 force for as long as possible.

Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky announced the loss on Saturday. “Capt. Pavlo Ivanov was tragically killed during an F-16 combat mission,” Zelensky wrote. “The guy was only 26. My condolences to his family and to all of Pavlo’s brothers-in-arms.”

It’s not clear what brought down the F-16. “We are establishing all the circumstances,” Zelensky explained.

A Ukrainian MiG-29 pilot. Ukrainian air force photo

Enduring fleet

Ukraine has probably taken delivery of fewer than 20 F-16s. Another 18 are in Romania for training. The 1980s-vintage, but heavily upgraded jets—improved to the F-16AM/BM version in the early 2000s—initially flew air-defense missions over Ukrainian cities, firing AIM-9 and AIM-120 missiles at incoming Russian drones and cruise missiles.

Later, the F-16s began flying ground-attack missions with precision-guided bombs. Meanwhile, they also used their sophisticated radar receivers and jammers to surveil for, and suppress, Russian air-defenses—often on behalf on less-well-equipped Ukrainian air force aircraft including Sukhoi Su-24s, Su-25 and Su-27s and Mikoyan MiG-29s. The only other Ukrainian jets that can match the F-16’s electronic capabilities are the dozen or so Dassault Mirage 2000s Ukraine is gradually receiving from France.

“F-16s, Mirages and MiGs, all our combat aviation, heroically carry out missions, defending our state and supporting ground operations,” Zelensky wrote. Despite losing around 100 Sukhois and MiGs, the Ukrainian air force is still at its pre-war strength of around 100 combat aircraft. It has made good its losses by restoring grounded airframes and taking on surplus European aircraft.

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