Friendly Fire or Defective Old Plane? How Ukraine Lost Its First F-16 Jet and Famed Pilot
F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft releases a flare
One of the first Ukrainian F-16 jets crashed on August 26, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed on Thursday.Ukrainian MP Maryana Bezuglaya claimed the F-16 was hit by Ukraine’s Patriot anti-aircraft missile system “due to a lack of coordination between units.”
When Were the First F-16s Delivered to Ukraine?
The first batch of six of the promised 80 F-16s arrived in Ukraine at the beginning of August. It’s unclear who exactly provided the first batch: Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway earlier vowed to provide the Kiev regime with them. US President Joe Biden first authorized NATO’s European allies to send F-16s to Ukraine in August 2023.
How Much Does the F-16 Cost?
The US-made F-16 that was delivered to Ukraine can cost up to $60 million depending on the configuration and possible upgrades, according to some estimates. As per the Wall Street Journal, many of the F-16s promised to Ukraine are second-hand and have decades of flying time already. 
MilitaryUkrainian General Staff Confirms Crash of NATO-Gifted F-16 FighterYesterday, 18:26 GMT
What’s Known About the Crash?
According to US officials, the jet wasn’t shot down by the Russian military. Sources close to the Ukrainian military claim the crash’s reason is “unknown.” The plane was piloted by Oleksiy “Moonfish” Mes, one of Kiev’s first pilots to be trained on the US-made F-16. He died during the crash. Mes had undergone months of training in Denmark, as per Forbes. US officials, cited by the WSJ, said Ukrainian pilots got an “accelerated training course” to learn to operate the F-16s and lacked flying hours.
What Do Ukrainian General Staff and the Pentagon Say?
The Pentagon said it cannot confirm the F-16 was downed by the Patriot system. The Ukrainian general staff stated that “a special commission… has been appointed to determine the causes of the crash.”
Analysis’The Only Answer is to Destroy Them’: How Russia Plans to Handle Ukraine’s Western-Supplied F-16s1 August, 16:26 GMT
