Did Russia Shoot Down an F-16—And Santa Claus?
The news of the downing of the F-16 came just a day after an Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer jet crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing at least thirty-eight of the sixty-seven people on board. It has been alleged that the airliner was shot down by a Russian air defense system.
The Kremlin claimed on Thursday that it shot down an American-made F-16 Fighting Falcon. The multirole combat aircraft was allegedly struck by a Russian air defense system over southeastern Ukraine. Kyiv has not confirmed the loss of the F-16, which if true would be the first Western-made and Western-supplied fixed-wing aircraft to be lost in the conflict, which has been raging since February 2022.
"An F-16 aircraft was shot down in the Zaporizhzhia region at its launch site," Russian state news agency RIA Novosti announced via the Telegram social messaging app on Thursday.
Tass also reported, "Chairman of Russia's Civic Chamber Commission on Sovereignty, Patriotic Projects and Support of Veterans Vladimir Rogov [said] that the F-16 aircraft was downed in the Zaporozhye Region when preparing for a missile strike on the region."
Russia had previously claimed in September that it had shot down a Fighting Falcon, but that was later proven to be false. However, Kyiv did confirm in August that an F-16 was lost while attempting to shoot down a Russian cruise missile, and there have been reports since then that it may have been a friendly fire incident involving one of Ukraine's U.S.-supplied MIM-104 Patriot air defense systems.
Bounty Paid!
According to Bulgarian Military (not to be confused with the Bulgarian Armed Forces), Sergey Shmotyev, CEO of the Russian energy firm Fores, had said he would pay a 15 million ruble ($145,000) reward for the first Fighting Falcon that was downed. It is unclear if it would apply to the aircraft that was reported to have been shot down on Thursday or a future F-16.
This isn't the first such bounty that Russian oligarchs have offered to the country's military—while the Kremlin has also put bounties on Western-made hardware including the German Leopard 2 and American M1 Abrams main battle tanks (MBTs). The firm had put a bounty on the fighter in July.
The F-16 in Ukraine
In August 2023, U.S. president Joe Biden approved the transfer of the F-16 from multiple NATO members. One year later, in early August 2024, Ukraine received the first ten Fighting Falcons.
NATO members Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway pledged to provide around ninety of the fourth-generation aircraft.
However, Ukrainian aviators have largely received a "crash course" of sorts, with the training on the F-16s reduced to several months instead of the years that Western pilots have received. That fact may have led to the loss of one of the F-16s just weeks after it arrived in the country. Efforts have been made to increase the training the Ukrainian aviators are receiving on the F-16.
The American-made multirole fighter has been employed to successfully down Russian missiles and drones fired at Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. In addition, in October, a Ukrainian Air Force F-16 was also credited with shooting down a Russian Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name Fullback).
Airliner and Santa Sleigh Down!
The news of the downing of the F-16 came just a day after an Azerbaijan Airlines' Embraer jet crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing at least thirty-eight of the sixty-seven people on board. It has been alleged that the airliner was shot down by a Russian air defense system.
And on Friday, a Russian blogger released a propaganda video that showed Santa Claus being shot down over Moscow with assistance from De Moroz—a Slavic version of Saint Nicholas or Father Christmas. The video ends with Ded Morz telling a Russian serviceman, "We don't need anything foreign in our skies. Happy New Year!"
Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
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