Has the Ukrainian F-16 Got First Blood?

A number of pro-Kremlin milbloggers picked up on claims made early on Saturday that a Russian Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO: Fullback) fighter-bomber had been shot-down about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the front line over Ukraine.

It was reported that a Ukrainian F-16 had engaged the Russian aircraft as it was in the process of dropping “Korrektiruyemaya Aviatsionnaya Bomba (KAB)” aerial glide bombs. The reports were soon picked up on Ukrainian military social media channels including PS01 and @front_ukrainian who suggested that the Russian crew failed to survive.

The Su-34 is a multirole twin-engined, twin-seater, all-weather supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber, that first came into service with the Soviet Air Forces in the 1980s.

The first dozen or so upgraded F-16s arrived in Ukraine in August. They are said to be equipped with NATO standard avionics and capable of firing almost all Western missiles, including the AIM-120 radar guided advanced medium-range air to air missile (AMRAAM) and the AIM-9 heat seeking Sidewinder missiles.

Both the Russian and Ukrainian Ministries of Defense have thus far failed to issue an official statement about the alleged loss, but the torrent of claims leaves little doubt that the Su-34 was lost. Should the involvement of the F-16  be verified, it would be the first confirmed shootdown by the “Viper,” as the jet is called by its pilots.

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The Ukrainian military regularly reports that Russian forces are resorting to ‘meat assaults,’ sending wounded or poorly trained fighters into battle as cannon fodder.

Of late there has been a growing tendency of normally pro-Moscow milbloggers to become critical of those who they deem responsible for failures that result in losses. This is the case here where the “VDV for Honesty and Justice” Telegram channel said, “Soon there will be more such losses. NATO has sent F-16s out to hunt.”

Later on Saturday afternoon the same blogger wrote: “The excuses are starting… [from those] close to the Chief Grandfather... who say the Su-34 crashed on its own and the enemy had nothing to do with it… of course, it’s better for them to lie than to think about how to solve the problem of NATO-Ukrainian F-16s hunting our aircraft.”

While it has been reported that the F-16s have been previously deployed against Russian missile and drone attacks, this would mark the first time the US-made aircraft has scored an aerial victory against a manned aircraft.

The final confirmation may have already been provided by the Fighterbomber milblogger who is said to have close ties with the Russian Aerospace Forces who simply posted a black and white photo of a Su-34 with the words: “Earth is sky brothers…”