Three F-16s and a Patriot battery teamed up to kill Russia’s best fighter

The Ukrainian air force shot down a Russian air force Sukhoi Su-35 fighter over eastern Ukraine on Wednesday. If unofficial Russian sources are to be believed, the Ukrainians sprang an elaborate trap to take down the twin-engine, supersonic Su-35, which is arguably the best fighter type in Russian service.

Russian channels claimed three Ukrainian air force Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters drew the Su-35 into an ambush involving a Ukrainian air force Patriot surface-to-air missile battery on the ground. The Russian pilot reportedly ejected and was rescued.

It's unclear from Russian claims whether the F-16s or the Patriot ultimately shot down the Su-35. Regardless, the Ukrainians' teamwork is impressive. Both the F-16 and the Patriot suffer serious limitations in battle with Russian jets.

The F-16's missiles and radars lack the range to match the best Russian missiles and radars. The Patriot is an effective system, but the Ukrainians have far too few missiles to shoot at every possible target.

Together, however, F-16s and Patriots can win. One may detect while the other shoots. Or the fighters may distract an aerial target while the battery on the ground launches a missile.

Russian sources begrudgingly confirmed the Ukrainian air force's claim that it took out an Su-35. The Ukrainians "actually put up a decent fight today," The Voivode Reports conceded.

According to The Voivode Reports and another Russian channel, Fighterbomber, one F-16 flew low toward Russian positions, simulating the flight profile for jets attacking with precision glide bombs. Two more F-16s flew higher, ready to fling AIM-120 radar-guided missiles at any Russian fighters attempting to intercept the glide bomber.

Clever tactics

While it's now normal for F-16s to escort friendly glide bombers, what happened on Wednesday was different. The F-16s flying top cover had help. "A Patriot system was used to provide target illumination from the ground," The Voivode Reports claimed.

The F-16s have their own on-board radars, of course, in the form of the APG-66 with an 83-km range. But the AN/MPQ-53 and AN/MPQ-65 radars associated with the ground-based Patriot system range around twice as far.

According to the Russian channel, the Ukrainians hauled their Patriot battery to within 60 km of the disputed gray zone, extending the system's detection range well into Russian-controlled territory. With the assist from the Patriot, the F-16 pilots could see the Russian pilot coming from farther away—and possibly take a shot at the Russian before he could take his own, most likely with an R-77 radar-guided missile.

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For three years, Russia glide-bombed Ukraine in escorted pairs. Now Ukraine is glide-bombing Russia the same way.

It's also possible the Patriot battery itself swatted the Su-35 as the Russian jet was tangling with the three F-16s. In either case, the Ukrainians had the edge. "Unfortunately, we acted in a stereotypical way, but the Ukrainians didn't," Fighterbomber lamented.

The Russian air force still has more than 100 Su-35s plus hundreds of other fighters. The Ukrainian air force has far fewer fighters, although more—including modern, ex-Swedish JAS-39 Gripens—are on the way. So the air war over Ukraine is still a tossup.

But the overall numbers don't always determine the winner in a particular aerial clash. Sometimes clever tactics make all the difference.