Ukraine's Fighter Pilots Adopt Western Tactics, Learn to Hunt in Packs
More Ukrainian air force pilots are flying and fighting in complex teams
Something has changed in Ukraine’s skies. Russian air defenses that once dominated the battlefield are being picked apart with surgical precision—not by lone-wolf pilots, but by something entirely new.
The Ukrainian F-16 pilots fighting to hold back 50,000 Russian troops in Sumy Oblast aren’t fighting alone anymore. More and more, the air force’s jets fight as teams.
A dramatic video that circulated online on Monday depicts a Sukhoi Su-27 from the Ukrainian air force’s 39th Tactical Aviation Brigade blowing up a Russian air-defense vehicle somewhere along the 700-mile front line of Russia’s 39-month wider war on Ukraine.