Ukrainian F-16 pilot destroyed six cruise missiles in one flight. This is historic record - Air Force
On 13 December, during a massive missile and drone attack, a Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot destroyed six enemy cruise missiles in one combat flight.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by Yurii Ihnat, head of the Communications Department of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
He reminded that on 13 December, the enemy launched almost 200 drones, as well as dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles. The main target of the Ukrainian fighter jet were cruise missiles, which are difficult to intercept.
"The guidance navigator brings me to the enemy targets, a group of eight cruise missiles is on course. I approach to the appropriate distance, see obstacles, which means that the missiles have their own electronic warfare - the so-called ‘personal electronic warfare’. The F's sight is quite powerful, and if the target is already in the scope, then even under the influence of electronic warfare, it will not escape the on-board radar. I flew up to a convenient distance, reacquired the targets, launched the missiles in turn and... hit - both targets were destroyed," said the F-16 pilot.
Under the wings of the F-16, the Ukrainian pilot has only four "air-to-air" missiles: medium and short-range. The long-range missiles were the first to be used, and then the pilot had to get close to about two miles to use the short-range missiles.
"I flew up to the second pair, grabbed the missiles, saw that they were also ‘echoing with Russian EW’, but it didn't help them much. The first launch hit the target, and the second one did too! There was no limit to my joy, because I saw all the hits on the enemy missiles with my own eyes! There was still some fuel left in the outboard tanks, and the combat work continued. The guidance navigator gives me a command to go to the duty area to let my brother-in-arms on the Su-27 work on targets," the F-16 pilot continued.
The Ukrainian pilot used all four "air-to-air" missiles on board the F-16 to shoot down the four cruise missiles. However, when the pilot spotted another target, he decided to use the aircraft's cannon.
"Shooting down cruise missiles with a cannon is very risky because of the high speed of the target and the danger of detonation. But I did what the instructors in the US had taught me, and I managed to hit it. As it turned out, two missiles flying next to each other were destroyed at the same time," the pilot said.
Ihnat notes that this was a unique case: for the first time in history, an F-16 pilot destroyed six cruise missiles in one flight, two of them with an aircraft gun. After successfully completing the mission, the pilot was greeted with applause at the airfield. His success aroused admiration not only among the Ukrainian military but also in the United States.
"Yes, we have received not very new Efok modifications from our partners (after all, like other ground weapons), we do not have powerful radars and long-range missiles on these aircraft to compete in air battles with Russian technological aircraft alone, but young Ukrainian pilots prove every day that they are the best, whether in the cockpit of a Soviet or American fighter!
Just imagine what a formidable deterrent force in the centre of Europe will be made up of war-hardened Ukrainian pilots when the Air Force receives, say, F-35s!" Ihnat said.
As a reminder, 200 Ukrainian aviators received basic flight, ground and language training in the UK before training on the F-16.
