Ukraine's F-16 Pilots Succeed With Own Tactics As NATO's Prove Vulnerable

Ukrainian pilots love their F-16s. The jet's technology and weaponry, as well as its maneuverability have exceeded expectation, as has the Ukrainian Air Force performance using them against Russian targets on the ground and in the air. 

But some of that success is due to the fact that the already experienced Ukrainian pilots realized the training they received from NATO forces was inappropriate for the war against Russia. So they have developed and adapted their own tactics for confronting missiles and drones as well as attacking hardened first world army targets the likes of which most NATO pilots have never seen. The result of that adaptation has been an increasingly successful - and lethal - deployment of this weapons system. JL

Peter Suciu reports in The National Interest:

Though Ukrainian pilots have praised the F-16, they have criticized NATO tactics for relying too much on air superiority—a luxury that Ukraine does not have. "As we came from training, we faced reality: the tactics we were taught abroad were not entirely suitable for the war we are fighting because those tactics are based on wars our partners fought in the past. And this war is fundamentally different.” In Ukraine, aviators don’t have control of the sky and need to worry about Russia’s air defense systems and fighters. In addition, Ukraine’s F-16s are employed in a role few Western pilots encountered in the past, destroying cruise missiles and drones. And its ground attack missions are often against much more hardened defenses than NATO countries have faced. As the Ukrainians have adapted their tactics, they have produced results. 

Though Ukrainian pilots have praised the F-16 itself, they have criticized NATO tactics for relying too much on air superiority—a luxury that Ukraine does not have.

The US-made F-16 Fighting Falcon has been one of the most widely adopted fixed-wing combat aircraft of the modern era. The F-16 first flew more than 50 years ago, and although the United States Air Force is no longer acquiring the aircraft, Lockheed Martin—which acquired General Dynamics’ aviation business in the 1990s—continues to produce the Fighting Falcon for foreign military sales.

In August 2023, the first donated Fighting Falcons arrived in Ukraine. While it was the aircraft President Volodymyr Zelensky specifically requested from the West, it hasn’t quite lived up to the hype for Kyiv’s defenders. Ukrainian aviators faced numerous challenges, including learning English, unlearning the Russian-designed cockpit layouts of the Sukhoi and Mikoyan aircraft they had been initially trained to fly—and, most notably, being trained in previously unknown NATO-style fighter tactics.

 

The F-16 Fighting Falcon’s Specifications

• Year Introduced: 1978
• Number Built: 4,600+
• Length: 47 ft 8 in (14.52 m)
• Wingspan: 31 ft (9.45 m)
• Weight (MTOW): 37,500 lbs (16,875 kg)
• Engine(s): One Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220 afterburning turbofan (23,000 lbf thrust static sea level)
• Top Speed: 1,319 mph (2,122 km/h) / Mach 1.73
• Range: 1,260 mi (2,027 km)
• Service Ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,240 m)
• Loadout: One General Electric M61A1 20mm six-barrel cannon; up to 15,200 lbs on nine hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles (AIM-9 Sidewinder on wingtip rails; alternatives include the MATRA Magic 2 or Rafael Python 3)
• Aircrew: 1 (F-16A) or 2 (F-16B)

Ukraine Is Developing New Tactics on the Fly… Literally

Although Ukrainian pilots generally love the F-16, it has become apparent that some of their combat training in the West wasn’t ideally suited to the combat operations the pilots faced over Ukraine. Now many of the same pilots are independently developing tactics to address the realities of the ongoing conflict.

On Monday, a Ukrainian pilot—wearing a face covering and sunglasses to obscure his identity—shared his story about how fighter tactics needed to be adjusted after he returned home. The video has been widely viewed on YouTube.

 

"As we came from training, we faced reality: the tactics we were taught abroad were not entirely suitable for the war we are fighting,” the anonymous pilot stated. “Because those tactics are based on wars our partners fought in the past. And this war is fundamentally different.”

Like many of the Ukrainian aviators sent to train on the F-16, the Ukrainian pilot in the video is a combat-experienced veteran. He warned that established Western aviation doctrine doesn’t translate to the situation in Ukraine.

One crucial difference? Throughout the past 30 years, Western pilots have largely had air superiority or air supremacy, and have built it in as an assumption as part of their doctrines. The situation is vastly different in Ukraine, where aviators don’t have control of the sky and need to worry about Russia’s air defense systems and fighters.

In addition, Ukraine’s F-16s are employed in a role few Western pilots encountered in the past, destroying cruise missiles and drones. Likewise, its ground attack missions are often against much more hardened defenses than the US and other countries have faced.

 

“We had to sit down and figure out how to destroy cruise missiles, attack drones, and how to fight the enemy close to the front lines,” the Ukrainian pilot added.

Because Russia has more fighters to deploy, the Ukrainians need to evade enemy aircraft while accomplishing their missions. The pilot explained that Russians often stay in “standby mode, waiting for our groups to fly in at high altitudes.”

 

As the Ukrainian F-16s can’t press an advantage, they have to fly lower to avoid threats from surface-to-air missile systems. That makes it harder for the enemy radars and weapons to lock on to the Fighting Falcons, and the Ukrainians have learned to sometimes intentionally “expose themselves” to get the Russians to waste a missile while allowing the other aircraft to accomplish their strike mission.

“The biggest challenge for us was the enemy air threat, which kept us from getting to the target. We worked in a group of three planes and forced the enemy to launch two missiles from different directions,” the pilot continued. “As a result, we gave our strike plane the chance to destroy the target and let the whole group return safely to the airfield—back to our families and squadron.”

 

Ukraine’s Adapted Tactics Are Working Against Russia

As the Ukrainians have adapted their tactics, the results speak for themselves. The Ukrainian-based Militarynyi reported that as of last November, the Fighting Falcons provided to Kyiv had intercepted more than 1,300 Russian missiles and drones. One F-16 was even credited with downing six Russian cruise missiles in a single sortie, with two destroyed by the aircraft’s cannons.

The F-16s have also continued to conduct strike operations and have destroyed more than 300 ground targets, including Kremlin vehicles, Russian command posts, ammunition depots, drone control centers, and multiple logistics facilities.

Perhaps NATO pilots could learn a few lessons from the Ukrainians!