Ukraine’s F-16 Jets Crush Russian Missile Attack; Shoots Down Most Of Deadly Kh-101 Missiles: Reports

By
Sakshi Tiwari
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Ukraine’s F-16 Fighting Falcons are engaged in protecting the country against  Russian aerial attacks. According to the latest reports, the U.S.-origin jets shot down most of Russia’s ‘deadly’ Kh-101 missiles.

The Ukrainian Air Force published a video of an F-16 scrambling for air defense during a Russian missile attack on September 20.

The aircraft is seen firing an AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile to take down what may be a Kh-101, a low-observable Russian cruise missile with a reported operational range of 4,500 kilometers.

The Russian Air Force regularly uses it to attack Ukrainian cities.

“Ukrainian Air Force in action during Russia’s massive strike on our territory. On video: F-16 pilots, air defense systems, and mobile fire groups. The lion’s share of downed Kh-101 cruise missiles today is credited to Ukrainian F-16 pilots,” it wrote on the social media site X.

The service also expressed gratitude to Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway for delivering the F-16 fighter jets to the war-torn country.

On the night of September 19-20, 2025, Russia launched a massive aerial assault on Ukraine, involving 619 aerial threats, including 579 Shahed-type drones, 40 missiles, including Kh-101 cruise missiles and Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, etc.

Ukrainian F-16s played a pivotal role in this defense, with some reports suggesting that Ukraine shot down 29 of 32 Russian X-101 cruise missiles in the attack.

More recently, on September 22, another video surfaced on social media showing a Ukrainian F-16 downing a Russian Shahed drone with its M61A1 Vulcan 20mm auto cannon instead of its AIM-9L Sidewinder missile.

The Vulcan’s high rate of fire and integration with the F-16’s advanced avionics, including the AN/APG-68 radar, allow for precise targeting of small, agile drones at close range. This capability is critical for engaging low-speed, low-altitude threats that may evade radar-guided missiles or require visual identification.

Notably, the move has been described as a major cost-saver by military observers, days after questions were raised over the use of a costly Sidewinder to destroy a relatively inexpensive Russian Shahed, valued at $20,000. The new approach of using the auto cannons maximises resource efficiency in a resource-constrained environment.

The F-16’s prowess has been on display lately as it is regularly scrambled to repel the recurring barrages of missiles and drones launched from Russia. Notably, these latest F-16 achievements come months after some reports claimed that a Ukrainian F-16 managed to down a Russian Su-35S Korenevo, Kursk Oblast, on June 8, 2025. 

According to Ukrainian reports, such as the Kyiv Insider Telegram channel, the Russian ace fighter was tracked from a distance of 200 to 300 kilometers by a Swedish-supplied Saab 340 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft. Once the coordinates of the aircraft were established, the F-16 pilot used an AIM-120 AMRAAM missile to shoot down the Su-35, with the Russian pilot ejecting safely.

The F-16 has primarily been used for air defense patrols. The aircraft has been used to intercept Russian aerial threats, including cruise missiles, drones, and fighter jets.

However, by March 2025, Ukraine was known to be using F-16s for offensive missions instead of just defensive ones, such as attacking Russian military installations, headquarters, and positions in Kursk Oblast.

These operations involved coordination with Ukraine’s Soviet-era MiG-29s and Su-27s, leveraging the F-16’s superior payload capacity and advanced Western munitions like JDAM glide bombs and Small Diameter Bombs.

File Image: F-16.

Ukraine has lost four F-16s so far. The first F-16 crashed shortly after delivery in August 2024, followed by three additional incidents, the most recent of which occurred in late June 2025. It also lost its first French Mirage 2000 in July, as reported by the EurAsian Times. Although Ukraine has blamed technical malfunctions for these crashes, Russian sources assert that they were downed by its forces.

Sergey Shmotyev, the Director General of the Fores, earlier said 12 Russian soldiers who helped shoot down the first F-16 fighter in the ‘special military operation’ zone have received 15 million rubles ($195,000). Thus, indicating that not all F-16s were lost to tech issues.

Meanwhile, in July 2025, the Ukrainian MoD also developed new mobile maintenance and operations modules for the aircraft, making them less vulnerable to destruction on the ground by Russia.

Ukrainian Drones Go For The Kill 

Ukrainian drones struck a pair of Russian Be-12 seaplanes in Crimea on September 21. The operation was conducted by the Prymary (Phantoms) special unit of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU).

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense published a video of the attack, emphasizing that such an attack had been launched for the first time in history.

“The warriors from the DIU destroyed two russian Be-12 Chayka amphibious aircraft. Be-12s amphibious aircraft are equipped with expensive equipment for detecting and combating submarines. This is the first-ever strike on a Be-12. The warriors also struck another russian Mi-8 helicopter,” said in a statement published with the video on X.

The video, recorded from the kamikaze drone, shows two seaplanes, one of which has the Bort number 08, being struck in an attack on an airbase near Sevastopol, the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet (BSF).

The Ukrainian MoD has claimed that all three aircraft were destroyed, but that could not be independently verified. Russia has yet to acknowledge the audacious attack at the time of writing this report.

The Be-12 is a Soviet-era turboprop-powered amphibious aircraft designed in the 1950s primarily for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and maritime patrol duties.

It remains one of the few amphibious aircraft still in limited military service, with a storied history of military and civilian applications. It was designed to counter NATO submarines, particularly those of the US Navy.

However, as US submarines gained longer-range missile capabilities, allowing them to operate farther from Soviet coasts, the Be-12’s ASW role diminished.

Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Be-12s based at Kacha Air Base in Crimea (where they were likely hit in the latest attack) have been used for maritime patrols.

Beriev Be-12 - Wikipedia
Beriev Be-12 – Wikipedia

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has played a significant but unsung role. Most notably, it has assisted in the search for Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), sometimes known as “drone boats,” in the Black Sea.

On multiple occasions in 2022 and 2023, Be-12s were observed patrolling off Crimea, with reports of them dropping depth charges to destroy sea mines or USVs.

The destruction of these seaplanes would be a significant setback for Russia, as the fleet is already very limited.

The satellite imagery showed seven to eight Be-12s at Kacha, with two in disassembled condition, suggesting that only four to five were operational. Ukraine’s drone strikes may have reduced this number to almost half.

 

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