Friendly Fire in Ukraine — How Can a Patriot Shoot Down an F-16?
Aren’t there guardrails in place to ensure this doesn’t happen? Like Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Interrogators?
Last week, a Ukrainian F-16 fighter jet crashed during a Russian missile attack, resulting in the tragic loss of its pilot.
Ukraine’s military confirmed the crash on Thursday, following a period of lost communication with the aircraft.
The F-16, part of a mission intercepting Russian cruise missiles, went down under circumstances yet to be fully explained. However, the Telegraph is reporting that the Ukrainian F-16 was brought down by a friendly Ukrainian Patriot air defense system.
Despite the loss, the F-16s managed to down four Russian missiles during the operation.
The pilot, Oleksiy Mes, was declared killed in action and will, no doubt, be remembered along with the other Ukrainian heroes who sacrificed their lives in defense of their home over the past two and a half years.
Mes, known by his callsign “Moonfish,” was a respected figure in Ukraine’s air force and a prominent advocate for acquiring these advanced fighter jets.
He once traveled to Washington to advocate for the F-16s alongside another pilot known as “Juice,” and by all accounts, Moonfish was…
