For the first time in history, an F-16 fighter jet destroyed six cruise missiles during a single mission, with two of them taken down using the aircraft’s cannon. This remarkable feat was achieved by a Ukrainian pilot during a large-scale Russian missile attack in December of last year. The official Facebook page of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the event.
Notably, the F-16 was equipped with only four air-to-air missiles of medium and short range. The pilot first launched two medium-range missiles at distant targets, successfully intercepting them. He then closed the distance to approximately two miles to fire another pair of short-range missiles at closer targets.
“I approached the second pair, locked onto the missiles, and noticed interference from Russian electronic warfare systems, but it didn’t help them much. First launch—target destroyed. Second launch—also a hit! The joy was overwhelming because I could see all the hits on the enemy missiles with my own eyes! There was still some fuel left in the external tanks, so the mission continued…” said the F-16 pilot.
After that, he received instructions to move to a holding zone and allow a colleague in a Su-27 to engage the remaining targets. However, the pilot noticed another missile on the radar heading toward Kyiv and reported his readiness to intercept it. There was one catch—the F-16 had run out of missiles, leaving only the high-rate-of-fire aircraft cannon as its remaining weapon.
“I understood that the chances of hitting a missile traveling at over 650 km/h were slim,” the pilot admitted. “First, I needed to locate it in the sky, align at the same altitude, and fire with a lead from no more than 500 meters away. Getting any closer was extremely dangerous—if the 450 kg warhead detonated, it posed a serious risk to the aircraft.”
However, similar scenarios had been practiced during recent training sessions in the United States. As a result, the pilot flawlessly executed the maneuver, despite having only used the F-16’s aircraft cannon in such situations on simulators.
“I did everything as the instructors in the U.S. taught me, just as I practiced on the simulator. A few bursts from the cannon—and an explosion… then another one! A secondary detonation, I thought,” the pilot said. “But as confirmed by objective control data, there were actually two missiles! They were flying in a ‘stack,’ close to each other.”
The enemy often uses this tactic, where multiple missiles appear on the radar as a single target. “That day, I probably set a record. However, the result is what truly matters! I’m glad I succeeded and dedicate this achievement to all my comrades who took their final flight, never getting to see F-16s in the Ukrainian skies,” he added.
The Head of the Communications Department of the Ukrainian Air Force Command, Yurii Ihnat, noted that Ukrainian F-16s cannot effectively counter Russian technologically advanced fighter jets in aerial combat, as Ukraine received older and less sophisticated modifications of the aircraft. These jets lack the powerful radars found in the latest models and do not have long-range missiles. “Today, young Ukrainian pilots prove every day that they are the best—whether in the cockpit of a Soviet or an American fighter jet!” he added.
Previously, Ukrainian artillery units set a world record for artillery range, hitting a target at a distance of 70 kilometers using conventional field artillery.
Source: united24media
