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Chris- That video yesterday, where you shared some of your personal experiences and how you dealt with seeing death in war was absolutely amazing. Thank you for the open honesty. You are part of the reason this country is already great.
When you read of F16s getting downed in the coming months, understand they are war machines, in an environment that is hostile, fighting near-peer competitors. It does not mean they are inferior, or have bad operators, or that Ukraine does not know how to use them. I simply means it lost a fight in an environment where it is tough to survive..
When East and West Germany finally reunited, our Bundeswehr (German Military) took over around 63 Mig 29 Jets and they flew and trained together alongside Panavia Tornado, Phantom F4s and even Eurofighters until they were retired. Must sound weird to most Western Countries but in Germany having the Bundeswehr use both American, German and Soviet Russian Vehicles, Weapons, Jets etc. was rather normal! Prost & Cheers from Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
Engineered AIM-9X for around 10 years a few decades ago - I can say with some authority that reverse-engineering the 9X seeker will be a daunting task if one were captured intact. That roll-nod seeker is at least 10 times as complex as the previous AIM-9M, and required new production techniques to manufacture most of the IR optics. Also, some of the latest IRCCM capabilities are software-based, and anti-tamper algorithms are installed which make reverse-engineering more than difficult.
Not to mention Russia is out of high tech computer parts and I'm not a tech genius but I'd hazard a guess and say even if they manage to reverse engineer it they'd struggle to produce them
@@colincipriani4753 Quite true. It took us nearly 7 years to develop the production process for the Seekerhead optics and mechanics alone - it was based on our engineering of the UK ASRAAM seekerhead; about 5 years of production process development prior to the awarding of the 9X Dem/Val contract. Then there's the electronics.........
@@colincipriani4753 russian weapons are still almost completely made of western components. If sanction were as efficient as you think, we would have lived in completely different world. No one is even scared of sanctions anymore; Iran just openly sends ballistic missiles to russia. Sadly, the only efficient sanctions by US and EU are against Ukraine: blocking grain export, not allowing to strike back, etc.
i would say that it is close but no cigar sir. a more correct way of saying it would be; Flying an F-16 without an AWACS or support radars is like turning off your nightvision and using only the flashlight.
Most countries flying them don't have awacs. Most countries war plans include that the land fixed radars are blown up as well. Would it be better to have? Sure, but its not designed just for that.
@@lassikinnunenI mean most of those who fly them generally aren't combating a near peer adversary, so they don't mind as much, but in a combat situation a lot of them would tap out the AWACs capabilities of their allies.
@@lassikinnunen did you somehow not read the rest of the text perhaps? I clearly stated "or support radars" We did not have them here either.. We do have both mobile and fixed land, along with seaworthy platforms. The fixed systems are more or less redundant in a war scenario sir. do you have wings?
even if they had one. Russia has missiles that can engage them from 100s of km. they probably wont hit a jet at that range, but they will hit a tanker or an awacs
The Ukrianians are going to have a steep learning curve. Gaining operational experience in a shooting war is going to be tough, and there will be losses. Rest in Peace Moonfish!
This is a tragi c comedy. 6 F16s Against Russian Air force. 88 more due to arrive over ....wait for it... a period of years. How are they doing? Well what they can. Do the Russians feel threatened. Not so youd notice. Theyve turned into bounty hunters. and all described by your average infantryman. Well.. I was once upon a time a better than average Marine. And to me it looks like a s..t show made of equal parts of timidity parsimony dilatoryness cowardice red tape and red tape on the part of Western politicians and less than competant military personnel.
Yes, after 60 - 70 y. of combat. they will be like Russians. But maybe USA will not exist. Even Israel will be in ruins. And what about EU ? Also like Hiroshima and Chernobyl ? So where you live ? On the Moon ?
Another yt ukraine blogger who's a pilot mentions one significant difference between western aircraft is the horizon gauge. In russian aircraft, the wings move in relation to the fixed horizon on the guage. On western aircraft, the horizon moves in relation to the fixed wings. In an active situation, this detail could be huge for a pilot experienced in the opposite system.
I agree that new Ukrainian pilots should be taught on the new western standards however for experienced pilots and given the simplicity of swapping a display I do not understand why a weapon system as expensive and valuable as a fighter jet cannot be customized to the pilots preferences. It's not like one system is inherently better than the other nor like switching between the two displays would be difficult nor require modification of the data to any of the other flight systems behind the scenes. It's like complaining about American assets using imperial units it should be a simple task to switch a display to metric irrelevant of the units used behind the scenes since the interface can quickly and efficiently be switched based on the operator's preferences. It's also not like the system would need to be switched back and forth frequently we can marry a pilot to an aircraft allowing the pilot to be intimately familiar with their personal system.
Actually that's a false statement. And it's easily disproven by a simple Google search. Yes some of the older aircraft had displayed such as that, but they've been using Western displays for many years. Where do you think they get their commercial aircraft from? It's not an issue
@@tango_uniform seriously though it’s sad that a pilot died, our planes are good, the f16 is a fast nimble little fighter but they are part of a larger machine. The fact that America would smoke any other country in the air isn’t because our planes are some super duper indestructible miracle machines, it’s training, maintenance, support, tactics. If the u.s. had an air war against Russia within a week they would effectively not have an Air Force anymore, not because their planes are weak, but because they don’t have the support infrastructure we do, plus they are still using Soviet tactics some of which developed in ww2.
@@resurrectiongarage1506actually it's not even the tactics that would do in the russians, as they've gotten away from the ground control intercept years ago. The main difference is the technology that they're using is so far behind that most of their aircraft would be shot down before they were even aware that they were being targeted. Also the United States has the first second and fourth largest Air Force in the world. And any Russian aircraft would simply be overwhelmed
I see two reasons why. First, age. Second, looming threats have increased his anxiety from reflecting on his experiences. Did you see his recent video on see his first casualty? It's enlightening on his mindset right now imo.
I think it's because of his recent video talking about his experience in Iraq. It was an emotional one for sure, and he must've done this video with a different mindset
I have a friend who has been for years a dedicated flight sims user. He has the whole setup of gadgets, instruments and surround screens. He is a qualified commercial jet pilot and has experience of helicopters. Not a novice. He sat me at his setup and put me through takeoff of an F16 and I was completely overwhelmed. The idea of young pilots being rushed through all the operations of this fighter sounds frightening. I expect losses just through inexperience.
And that's just with a simulator with no actual states. Can't even imagine trying to learn to fly a real one in as short a time frame as the Ukrainian pilots are, especially trying to learn while in a shooting war.
@@Calvin_Coolage It cannot be done. I have a friend who was an actual pilot of F-16 for HAF and also another working as a head of ground crew with specialty in engines and also scanning the airframes for microcracks. It takes at least 3 years of training. And that came from people who fly against ACTUAL OPPONENTS intercepting and dogfighting Turkish jets almost daily, not Air Forces who are used to fly against seagulls like the Danish and Dutch ones, or even the US who are used to complete air superiority and they just fly bombing runs on third world forces.
Never comment. Just wanted to let you know out of all the subscriptions I have you do a great job I'm making to the point no BS videos love it and will continue to watch
@@dopecat15 this is obvious lie. "Moonfish" was one of the best Ukrainian pilot and of course he knew how to properly take off without crashing. There are pretty reliable statements from UAF is was FF by Patriot.
Moonfish got very likely shot by his own patriots. Former French Navy Pilot ATE Chuet did an analysis of the case, and for him, given the specifics, its the most likely reason. His explanation is the following : when you're doing interceptions of drones and missiles, you have to get close and match their speed and altitude for a little while The issue it causes is that radar operators then basically see you as a second missile. And in his opinion, completely avoiding any friendly fire in such scenarios takes an amount of joint training and experience that the average Ukrainian operator doesnt have To highlight his point, he also gave this example : during Desert Storm, friendly fire happened in numerous instances among the coalition for the exact same reasons. Which prompted a drastical increase in joint aerial training between NATO members since then
Its ironic that both sides, Russians and Ukrainians prefer to declare an incident of friendly fire than to credit the enemy. I mean its understandable that both sides are basically identical in their mindset, since culturally and ethnically are the same, but i dont think that the image of incompetence is preferable to that of defeat, which in a war is to be expected.
@@joek600 Unless further developpements happened since i've seen his video, Ukraine didnt actually declare friendly fire, just that they lost both pilot and the plane. ATE makes multiple hypothesis in his video, and thinks malfunction/optical illusion is the 2nd most likely. But not first, given that the pilot wouldve most likely ejected himself, and that these are just less likely overall judging from his own experience He doesnt think its very likely to be Russian fire, since he was very far from the frontline when it happened, and that hitting a fighter plane in flight at such a distance is extremelly unlikely regardless of the weapon system used. The last hypothesis he gave was the base being bombed as the plane was taking off, since Ukraine reportedly leaked it during an interview about the F16 and it got geolocated by OSINT specialists. But yeah for him its the less likely scenario
that's what likely happend. ukr crazy parlament member accused ukr anti air forces to be incompetent and asked for general to resign. they had 6 planes and 6 pilots. now they only have 5 each
Agree that the SAAB AEW aircraft is probably extremely significant and the F16s will likely be much more effective as SEAD than Air to air (but you never know)
The F16 was shot down in a friendly fire accident according to recent reports. It happens in war. Fog of war. RIP to the pilot and condolences to the family. We hardly knew him.
Oh damn. I thought he ran out of missiles and tried taking down something with the gun, which would require him to be dangerously close to an explosive target.
The map shows the entire Kurst Oblast, which is in fact actually slightly larger than Crimea. However, the area invaded by Ukraine is just a tiny 5% sliver near the border.
@@stevem2323 You mean the tiny corner of Kursk Oblast, about 0.4 percent of all Russian territory? Meanwhile, Russia controls over 22 percent of Ukraine, a country being aided by the "number one military force in the world" and NATO.
BTW, the story about K-13, the Soviet clone of Sidewinder. The Soviets copied it initially, but they never liked it. Any further developments were not of K-13, but indigenous development. R-73 has nothing to do with AIM-9.
The F-16 trained pilots, not the airplanes, are a resource that is missing most in Ukraine. Deconflicting the airspace between ground-based air-defenses and one's own pilots when under attack is quite difficult and requires very detailed coordination. Ukraine has probably only a few men who were trained in it. It is thus highly likely that a Patriot or some other air defense system took the F-16 down. It is a huge problem and lying about it makes it worse.
But holy shit, isn't the IFF on the F16 operating on the same wavelength as the Patriots?? Sure, having a Ukr Patriot engage, lets say a Ukr MiG 29, yeah makes sense in the fog of war. However one would believe an advanced system such as the Patriot wouldn't show the targeted plane as a mere "blip" on the screen
There's also a language barrier as there's no Ukranian documentation or course. So they had to pick from English speaking pilots, and run others through language school in between flight missions before f16 training could begin.
@@_Twink surely the US has a lot more resources, and it would be much faster to translate the manuals into Ukrainian or Russian. The manuals could be translated in parallel. And the translations can be stored in the US, and would not get shot down and die.
@danielch6662 I'm just typing the problem US MOD cited for the lengthy and low volume pipeline for pilots. It's a lot of technical jargon, I think it's a little more work then running it through Google translate and a proofread. They're also trying to focus on pilots with experience. Meanwhile, they can't spare many experienced pilots at 1 given time while still maintaining effective air operations.
As we’ve seen time and again, a system is only as good as its users, and I hope they enjoy similar success with the Falcons as they have with the Bradleys.
That's a good way to say it! As a German Veteran and now working as Historian focusing on War in Munich, i'm always flabbergasted whenever i see either pro-Ukrainian or pro-Russian Media makke a huge Deal out of "Hey an American Bradley was destroyed and a German Leopard!" or "Hey, we destroyed a Russian SU-27 and a T90!" Whenever i read this, all i think is "Yeah, so? That's what happens in War." It sometimes seems like especially News Media has this weird Idea that whatever Side they support has "invincible Tanks, Jets etc." So both Sides end up making a big Deal about destroying or even just capturing the others Side Tanks, Jets etc. No. This is War. In War everyone reasonable and especially everyone who is a Veteran knows that their Tanks, Jets, Helicopters etc. will end up being destroyed or captured sooner or later. Especially on UA-cam you see a lot of "Haha, "my Side" destroyed/captured one of the others Side!" like it's a big Deal in a War like this Prost & Cheers from Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
@@chartreux1532pro-Russians are mocking western equipment losses for a good reason. Did you see Arestovich (former Zelenskyy advisor) talk about expectations of counteroffensive? He said Zelenskyy literally was expecting Russians troops to start fleeing the minute they saw a column of Western equipment coming at them because it was so superior.😂. We know the rest of the story. Yet this keeps repeating over and over - yet the brainwashed Ukros keep believing in invincibility of western gear.
Thanks to your "spelling error" I am now going to pronounce Ukraine as Uk-rain from now on. You are responsible for whatever social backlash I receive.
@@magnumxlpiit's from when it was a USSR state. It's no longer "the Ukraine region", it's just Ukraine. (This is from memory on break at work, it's a lot more complicated than that)
I spoke to a danish F-16 pilot who was part of the development of the MAW system you mentioned, he said it was still highly classified, and very very capable. So I hope that these systems from our older jets will help the future Ukranian pilots see and avoid threats that would otherwise go undetected. Like IR missiles which don't trigger the RWR since there is no radar present!
The reason that those planes were shot down by the Serbs was due to old fashioned espionage. There was a French officer who passed the flight plans of those planes over to the Serbian spies right outside Aviano air base. Those Serbian spies then passed the information over to the Serbian forces manning the air defenses. With the flight plans in hand all the Serbs had to do is wait for the planes to arrive. Another source of Intel the Serbian spies gave to the Serbian aa defense units was that night no prowlers (aircraft specifically designed to hunt, jam and destroy enemy air defenses) were seen taking off from. Aviano Airbase. The french spy at NATO also confirmed. With no threat to their Air Defense systems the Serbs were free to have their weapon systems ready to lock on to the target. Normally if prowlers are around AA operator would keep their radars and as weapons active for short time intervals to prevent the prowlers from destroying them. At any rate, Even the stealth planes are useless if the enemy knows your exact flight plans.
@@bilic8094yeah the F-117 with literally the luckiest shot in the world and attributable to Absolute stupidity by Mission planners. They literally ran the same routes night after night, and a farmer with a high-powered rifle could have gotten just as lucky
Love how the territory controlled by Russia in Ukraine is clearly drawn and accurate. While the Kursk invasion is the whole Kursk region. Making their invasion seem more deep than it is. Don’t get me wrong, they took a lot of ground… but not even like a 1/6 of Kursk has been taken…
The vast majority of your presentation is EXCELLENT! HOWEVER, the brief clip with a cockpit view of an aircraft in final approach for an aircraft carrier landing…having NOTHING TO DO with land based F-16 aircraft.
Bahahahahhahaha at 4:35 = "Pilots in the comments tell me how jacked you are about my analogy" Pfffffffffffffff I actually spat water on my screen irl!
All the 4 original F-16 NATO partners (Netherlands, Belgium, Norway & Denmark) received the MLU update, they're comparable to the majority of BLOCK 50 F-16s in US service, so not necessarily less capable than US F-16s.
Great summary. Personally on the F-16 Program since GDFW (A/B) and the FSD/EPG days. Note the A/B's are actually better at Air-to-Air than C/D due to thin sheet metal Wings. Pity we didn't go forward with the 16S300 AIM9 pylons; 3 each instead of 1 under wing. "Training" will be key BTW ...
Yup, I remember how they were trying to spin it and blame Russia, even though the missile came from the Ukrainian military's side. Also find it really funny when Zelenskyy claims Russians are shelling a nuclear power planet in Zaporozhye which is under Russian control. 😂
@@dopecat15 Yes, Ukraine is bombing constantly the nuclear power trying to provoke a disaster, while European media says that's Russia who's attacking.
There is absolutely nothing surprising about saturation attacks wearing down and overcoming missile defence systems. We've known this strategy works since at least 2002 if not earlier.
That and you can only cover so many areas.. its not like ukraine has air defense systems covering all of ukraine.. the same way the US doesn't have air defense systems covering the entire us because its not viable and ukraine doesn't have many air defense systems anyways
Ukraine would never be able to shoot down so many russian aircraft, given the ineffeciency of its outdated equipment and the inexperience of their soldiers. Also, Russia hasn't deployed this many aircraft during the entire war.
It’s worth remembering the F-16 has been in production for the last 46 years and there’s several different mk’s or generations of F-16. An old F-16 A/B block 15 is very different to a new F-16 block 70/72 Is Ukraine is getting the hand me downs that NATO doesn’t want or can afford to get rid of? An Army equivalent would be saying “We’re giving Leopard tanks to Ukraine” then give them the old Leopard 1’s.
@@notmenotme614 they did gave them Leopard 1, the very same people who made fun of the T-55s, this whole info war is like a grotesque Monty Python skit. Btw the F-16s given by the Danish and Dutch are super old airframes that had to be replaced anyway.
What you neglect to consider is the replenishment of the pilots, and the best time to make 30-40 year old experienced combat pilots was, you guessed it, 30-40 years ago. Outside of managing to draw NATO in to a broader conflict, which presents an existential risk for all of us, Ukraine are in a no win situation and are being slowly attrited by a larger adversary with more of everything than they will ever have, especially people.
@@doublehelix7880 I guess that it is ONLY anti-missile, because there was a test of intercepting hypersonic warhead (not missile). It succeded, somehow.
they're really not that capable.. if that was the case russia wouldn't have lost nearly 700+ aicraft in total.. compared to 70 something... for ukraine which has far fewer numbers.. The s300 and s400s are very much mediocre sam systems
Dog fights have gotten so much more complicated these days, along with air to ground missions. Not easy and often quite deadly. Great documentary on what's happening.
When the F-16 was designed it was meant to be a light weight cheap dog fighter and strike air craft designed to be exported. Our front line heavy expensive air superiority fighter was the F-15 which later added strike capability. The F-22 and F-35 were meant to replace the F-15 and F-16. Although the F-16 has been upgraded over the time it is not a state of the art airframe and we have at least 3 aircraft that are more capable thus I don't see the F-16 as being a game changer.
F16s were designed to be lightweight and barebones because low weight allows F16s to accelerate quickly and maintain power/momentum during dogfights. The F15 is designed to be a multirole aircraft that can do some of everything pretty well.
They're no silver bullet, but even a small number of F-16s can have an outsized impact on a battlefield. They're possibly the best aircraft in the world for SEAD operations, for example.
It’s not the US building the F16 in 2024. It’s Ukraine going from Soviet Era migs to the F16. We know it’s not a raptor or lightening II, Hope this helps.
@@nicholasespinoza9610 Actually the f-16 was not allowed to be exported, for that reason they developed the Tigershark but eventually it was decided to proceed and make F-16 available to the foreign markets.
I played Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour just a few days ago. Wish we had the Comanche and Aurora bomber, man those would be cool to see in-person
There's constantly AWACS from different armies near the border from the west, so they should have plenty information from outside sources. But of course It's different when you have some inside your borders on your full control.
I work with the Saab 340. It’s small and cozy, but it has payload capacity and endurance, and a short to medium range airborne radar application makes sense for the airframe
I wasn't surprised to hear an F-16 downed already. They're an amazing plane, don't get me wrong, but after 3 were shot down in Dessert Storm's Package Q our military more closely integrated all domains of war to ensure our equipment like the F16 had more at it's disposal for their survival. Fast forward to Iraqi Freedom I don't think we had a single F16 actually shot down the entire time. One crashed while strafing, but I don't think anything hit it to cause the crash. Ukraine has comparatively little infrastructure to protect their birds, let alone no AWACS capabilities, and they're going against a near peer, and their pilots don't have thousands of hours in the plane like we had. Their attrition rate in Ukraine will be much worse than anything the Fighting Falcon has come up against in its 50 year history.
Or… not. Russian aircraft readiness and pilot training is dismal. Russian air defense has been destroyed by Ukraine. Ukrainian air defense is at least 80% effective. If the Ukrainians fly well, they won’t be too bad off.
@@bowencreer3922 Russia has plenty of air defense systems to go around. The reason why air superiority is still contested to this day is because both sides have a ton of SAMs. It doesn't take much to shoot down a bird either. For example one of the F16s in DS was shot down by a shoulder fired missile called the Igla, needle, developed by Russia, and the other two were shot down by SA-3 and SA-6 radar guided SAMs, also by Russia. These radar systems have been replaced by the S-300/400/500 while the Igla shoulder launcher is still used with updated missiles to this day. Russia may not have air defenses in the form of birds in the sky, but they have always had an extremely capable SAM doctrine. They had 16-18 regiments consisting of 3 battalions each of S-400s alone before 2020, with another 10 regiments activated by 2022 that were mixed with S-300s. Ukraine hasn't hit anywhere close to that amount even with their recent US ATACMS attacks that started October last year. Factor in the two possible S500 battalions that have only recently been fielded in Donbass and Crimea each and are relatively unknown in capability. The F16s need to be careful in these regions, especially without much of any support infrastructure to augment them.
@@gb1178 alright, I'll bite. They have limited AWACS capabilities that effectively can't help an F16 in flight. They aren't Ukraine's, they are France's, their flight path stays out of Ukraine and circles in Romania for a few hours. They can see strong signatures like Russian AWACS on the other side of Ukraine, but they can't see smaller signatures in Eastern Ukraine well enough to reliably assist a fighter package while in contested areas or in Russian territory. Their Intel is not immediately given to Ukrainian cockpits like it is with NATO piloted fighters. Intel is passed along to Ukraine but not quickly enough to rely on in air updates, mostly for briefings. They really don't have AWACS capabilities. At best it's sigint that augments satellite imagery while also being close enough to pick up signatures heading to Kyiv and can reliably warn them that close, but can't see far enough from Romania to give reliable real time information near places like Kursk, Luhansk, or Donetsk. Like I said, they don't have the multi domain integration needed to properly augment the F16. A month in and 1 of 6 is already down. Could be a fluke, I bet not.
Because being distracted by an uncomfortable seat during a multi-hour mission in an active warzone, while aboard the aircraft known to the enemy as "Target #1", is a good way to lose a VERY expensive Radar Bird. As a result of this, those chairs probably cost slightly more than a nice car. Not the seats of a nice car, the whole car... Plus, Swedish. Once you get past IKEA, Swedish design is not cheap. Damn good? Yup. Cheap? Nope, not at all...
people who have no idea what they are talking about, but think they know everything, are the dumbest and most annoying people ever The plane was shot down by a Ukrainian air-defense, and it was not done on purpose of course. But inform yourself before talking out of your ass in the future
it's a distinct possibility, but let us wait for the official report. could also have been mechanical failure, pilot error or other unfortunate reason for this accident. one thing is almost certain though: it's wasn't shot down by Russians.
Yeah right, the Russian MoD announced they struck Ivano-Frankivsk on August 26th during one of the largest missile barrages to date in this war, they struck a hanger housing 2 F16s and 2 pilots that were trained abroad. Once again.. The Russian MoD announced on AUGUST 26TH, they struck an F16 believed to have been within its hanger along with its pilot. Ukraine supporters love to cope that the plane shot itself down when the reality is the plane never even left the airfield LOLLLL
So was the F16 loss due to pilot error and in experience, mechanical failure or shot down by a Russian missile? Bad enough losing a plane but losing a pilot is worse, that Ukraine can ill afford.
Good times when your neighbor decides they own your land and you disagree violently. Though, you could make the argument that fighting to keep your land yours is something instead of nothing. Would you willingly give up your home, government, and potentially freedom to invading foreign troops? I wouldn't. I'd die fighting. It's worth it.
@@poplar2065 I don't have a side in this conflict, but yes fighting for dirt, one man's greed, etc. is a waste of life; unfortunately we live in a world where wars are unavoidable. Imagine living in a world where the millions of dollars it costs for a single F16 is spent to change the world for the better instead of destroying them, too bad that'll never happen.
Brother I'm a fellow American and I totally agree with you this conflict is pointless there is no way Russia loses to Ukraine. Generations of Ukrainian men are dead
where the source for this im curious and its also not shocking anyways because the US has also shot its own pilots down before because they decided to be stupid and keep iff off and couldn't be identified. Could've been betrayal as well who knows
The F-16 was shot down by a Patriot system. This was sheer bad luck. The sky was filled with drones and missiles. Unfortunately, when you have a crowded air space and an F-16 is chasing a cruise missile, then these accidents can happen. Ukraine has to learn from this mistake, and they will. Ukraine wanted to try it's pilots on so called 'easy missions' shooting down drones and missiles. However, there are no easy missions in Ukraine for these brave men. Any fighter pilot in the world would find these conditions extreamly difficult. RIP brave warrior!
The air is full of missiles, drones, and anti-missile missiles. Why put an expensive F-16, of which you only have 6, in there? Was this what the F-16 was donated for? To do air defense?
If they send them in as whole batch it could help the Ukraine gain temporarily air control of their space, but a few at the time will change nothing. The Germans discovered that at the end of WWII, their advanced aircraft when successfully used were too few to change the tide of the air war over Europe.
362 planes shot down is insane. Maybe if you count planes destroyed on the ground, you'll get 200. Oryx only lists 109, and that's including ground kills.
@@DefaultProphet no because of the uniqueness of each plane crash you can't claim multiple kills. With tanks 1. Claim a kill. Take pictures. 2. Tow the same burned out tank 500 yard and take new pictures and new claim. 3. Profit!
Of course, It's like armoured vehicles/tanks verses anti armour weapon. Some are good enough and will get through, some will not. Angles, distance etc. The more into "Theatre" you enter, the higher the risk.
Blimps have their pros… They’re efficient, surprisingly durable when properly made (as long as Hydrogen isn’t involved) and can carry a shitzillion tons of odds and ends. Supplies, troops, arms and armor, possibly swaths of drones and parasite aircraft that could make one such blimp a real life Helicarrier, etc…
@@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire We're talking about an actual device, not that your theory is wrong, they do, indeed, fly super high and thus have significant missile resistance... but... if the criticism was true, the actual area where the use of blimps would be useful is more medial than my OP would indicate.
@@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire It looks like the US doesn't have any officially in inventory right now. Might be a good R&D opportunity if they can get their hands on something.
@@beegum1 Right now I’m imagining they could be super useful for a logistics role, ferrying scores of supplies and manpower to and from. It’d be a while before any could be made from scratch or modified for actual combat use, although they could have potential as long range Artillery/Missile/Drone platforms with further work. The A Deck of The Hindenburg alone had more floor space than an entire Airbus A380, and that’s not getting into the possibility of an even BIGGER ship being made with today’s tech.
There is no evidence that Ukraine did this. The strongest evidence for it was a New York Times article that claimed on Sept 19 of 2023 that the missiles came in the direction of a launch of Ukrainian air-defense missiles a few minutes before the explosion. That article was later corrected 6 days later, stating they had “overstated” the known details of the incident and those points were taken out.
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I just want to say thanks again for yesterday and I wanted to tell you that you are loved. By me.., By millions.
Zelensky also just sacked his Air Force Commander... Understandable, since he was in control of the plane when it crashed, right. :D
🇺🇦
Removing comments cappy ay come on now
Chris- That video yesterday, where you shared some of your personal experiences and how you dealt with seeing death in war was absolutely amazing. Thank you for the open honesty. You are part of the reason this country is already great.
When you read of F16s getting downed in the coming months, understand they are war machines, in an environment that is hostile, fighting near-peer competitors. It does not mean they are inferior, or have bad operators, or that Ukraine does not know how to use them. I simply means it lost a fight in an environment where it is tough to survive..
Sure. It just goes to show that there's no wonder weapon besides nukes.
Patriot
It's called a War Zone
One was downed already bro
@@Elatenltrue only 5 is remaining
F-16: I never thought I'd die standing side by side with a Mig
Mig: What about side by side with a friend?
F-16: Aye, I could do that.
Poland still fielded Migs during first years of NATO integration
LOTR movies are my favorite of all time, so Live the reference ❤
When East and West Germany finally reunited, our Bundeswehr (German Military) took over around 63 Mig 29 Jets and they flew and trained together alongside Panavia Tornado, Phantom F4s and even Eurofighters until they were retired.
Must sound weird to most Western Countries but in Germany having the Bundeswehr use both American, German and Soviet Russian Vehicles, Weapons, Jets etc. was rather normal!
Prost & Cheers from Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
@@jiachengwu4185
But they were never used by the Poles in anger
Wish I could read the rest of the F-16 fan fiction lore book
Engineered AIM-9X for around 10 years a few decades ago - I can say with some authority that reverse-engineering the 9X seeker will be a daunting task if one were captured intact. That roll-nod seeker is at least 10 times as complex as the previous AIM-9M, and required new production techniques to manufacture most of the IR optics. Also, some of the latest IRCCM capabilities are software-based, and anti-tamper algorithms are installed which make reverse-engineering more than difficult.
Not to mention Russia is out of high tech computer parts and I'm not a tech genius but I'd hazard a guess and say even if they manage to reverse engineer it they'd struggle to produce them
@@colincipriani4753We don't need to produce it. Counter measures is our main ideology.
@@colincipriani4753 Quite true. It took us nearly 7 years to develop the production process for the Seekerhead optics and mechanics alone - it was based on our engineering of the UK ASRAAM seekerhead; about 5 years of production process development prior to the awarding of the 9X Dem/Val contract. Then there's the electronics.........
@@colincipriani4753 russian weapons are still almost completely made of western components. If sanction were as efficient as you think, we would have lived in completely different world. No one is even scared of sanctions anymore; Iran just openly sends ballistic missiles to russia.
Sadly, the only efficient sanctions by US and EU are against Ukraine: blocking grain export, not allowing to strike back, etc.
i would say that it is close but no cigar sir. a more correct way of saying it would be;
Flying an F-16 without an AWACS or support radars is like turning off your nightvision and using only the flashlight.
Reminds me of 2023’s failed summer offensive. Couldn’t do anything with inadequate support
Most countries flying them don't have awacs.
Most countries war plans include that the land fixed radars are blown up as well.
Would it be better to have? Sure, but its not designed just for that.
@@lassikinnunenI mean most of those who fly them generally aren't combating a near peer adversary, so they don't mind as much, but in a combat situation a lot of them would tap out the AWACs capabilities of their allies.
@@lassikinnunen did you somehow not read the rest of the text perhaps? I clearly stated "or support radars" We did not have them here either.. We do have both mobile and fixed land, along with seaworthy platforms. The fixed systems are more or less redundant in a war scenario sir.
do you have wings?
even if they had one. Russia has missiles that can engage them from 100s of km. they probably wont hit a jet at that range, but they will hit a tanker or an awacs
The Ukrianians are going to have a steep learning curve. Gaining operational experience in a shooting war is going to be tough, and there will be losses. Rest in Peace Moonfish!
This is a tragi c comedy.
6 F16s Against Russian Air force.
88 more due to arrive over ....wait for it... a period of years.
How are they doing?
Well what they can.
Do the Russians feel threatened.
Not so youd notice.
Theyve turned into bounty hunters.
and all described by your average infantryman.
Well.. I was once upon a time a better than average Marine.
And to me it looks like a s..t show made of equal parts of timidity parsimony dilatoryness cowardice red tape and red tape on the part of Western politicians and less than competant military personnel.
Yes
@Elatenl "@ting someone over something petty"
Yes, after 60 - 70 y. of combat. they will be like Russians. But maybe USA will not exist. Even Israel will be in ruins. And what about EU ? Also like Hiroshima and Chernobyl ? So where you live ? On the Moon ?
NATO pilots will be driving those planes in no time.
The worst part of it is that none of this ought to happen, the whole war is insane.
Greedy politician
Wasting US taxpayer dollars to fund a war that should have never happened in the first place
@@NormanTshisikule Greedy dictator
Tell Putin
Proxy wars always work out bad for the proxy. They never should have trusted American promises.
Bro dropping Command & Conquer references in 2024. Respect.
I played 2 different c&c games today...
Fr
I started playing Tiberian Dawn in the 90s and I still play it.
big bird on the way
Let's be real we had all joined the army because of Command and Conquer and the army men video games
Brother, I'm a vet who has been playing C&C Generals since it was released. Thank you for that reference. 😂
Lmaooo when I heard it, my thoughts were ... Did everyone around our generation play video games and now we all get the references?
@@Messi-lu3ij Kinda yes.
I missed the old ones ,is it that tiles one or like the pg's?
That game was my childhood!!!!!
@@rexrodecoltit's red alert 2 style with more "grown up" story telling based on gwot/ near peer warfare
Another yt ukraine blogger who's a pilot mentions one significant difference between western aircraft is the horizon gauge. In russian aircraft, the wings move in relation to the fixed horizon on the guage. On western aircraft, the horizon moves in relation to the fixed wings. In an active situation, this detail could be huge for a pilot experienced in the opposite system.
who's that?
@@ricardas16his name is trustmrbro
I agree that new Ukrainian pilots should be taught on the new western standards however for experienced pilots and given the simplicity of swapping a display I do not understand why a weapon system as expensive and valuable as a fighter jet cannot be customized to the pilots preferences. It's not like one system is inherently better than the other nor like switching between the two displays would be difficult nor require modification of the data to any of the other flight systems behind the scenes. It's like complaining about American assets using imperial units it should be a simple task to switch a display to metric irrelevant of the units used behind the scenes since the interface can quickly and efficiently be switched based on the operator's preferences. It's also not like the system would need to be switched back and forth frequently we can marry a pilot to an aircraft allowing the pilot to be intimately familiar with their personal system.
@@ricardas16 possibly Denys Davydov?
Actually that's a false statement. And it's easily disproven by a simple Google search. Yes some of the older aircraft had displayed such as that, but they've been using Western displays for many years. Where do you think they get their commercial aircraft from? It's not an issue
I would say that not using an "AWACS" type of aircraft is more analogous of a snipe shooting without a spotter.
That’s a much better analogy bingo
Man only couple countries have awacs almost the whole world doesnt have awacs systems stop glazing ukraine
@@Taskandpurposethat was his name-o
Rule 1: the number of takeoffs should equal the number of landings.
Technically they all landed
@@resurrectiongarage1506 **land in one piece
not "Soft Landing +10 silver"
Ikr lol@@resurrectiongarage1506
@@tango_uniform seriously though it’s sad that a pilot died, our planes are good, the f16 is a fast nimble little fighter but they are part of a larger machine. The fact that America would smoke any other country in the air isn’t because our planes are some super duper indestructible miracle machines, it’s training, maintenance, support, tactics. If the u.s. had an air war against Russia within a week they would effectively not have an Air Force anymore, not because their planes are weak, but because they don’t have the support infrastructure we do, plus they are still using Soviet tactics some of which developed in ww2.
@@resurrectiongarage1506actually it's not even the tactics that would do in the russians, as they've gotten away from the ground control intercept years ago. The main difference is the technology that they're using is so far behind that most of their aircraft would be shot down before they were even aware that they were being targeted. Also the United States has the first second and fourth largest Air Force in the world. And any Russian aircraft would simply be overwhelmed
“Remember boys…no points for second place.”
-Iceman (TopGun 1986)
Topgun never fly Fart-16 pepper.
that actually said max from brawl stars
Anyone else notice Cappy taking on a tad more serious tone lately?
Not bitching, it got my attention actually. Just an observation.
Acceptance is coming, denial stage is over. Ukraine is fkd up.
It's a sign of the times
I see two reasons why. First, age. Second, looming threats have increased his anxiety from reflecting on his experiences. Did you see his recent video on see his first casualty? It's enlightening on his mindset right now imo.
I think it's because of his recent video talking about his experience in Iraq. It was an emotional one for sure, and he must've done this video with a different mindset
Did you notice the small key detail? NATO is shipping F-16s over years, this conflict is only going to escalate it seems 😢
I have a friend who has been for years a dedicated flight sims user. He has the whole setup of gadgets, instruments and surround screens. He is a qualified commercial jet pilot and has experience of helicopters. Not a novice. He sat me at his setup and put me through takeoff of an F16 and I was completely overwhelmed. The idea of young pilots being rushed through all the operations of this fighter sounds frightening. I expect losses just through inexperience.
And that's just with a simulator with no actual states. Can't even imagine trying to learn to fly a real one in as short a time frame as the Ukrainian pilots are, especially trying to learn while in a shooting war.
@@Calvin_Coolage It cannot be done. I have a friend who was an actual pilot of F-16 for HAF and also another working as a head of ground crew with specialty in engines and also scanning the airframes for microcracks. It takes at least 3 years of training. And that came from people who fly against ACTUAL OPPONENTS intercepting and dogfighting Turkish jets almost daily, not Air Forces who are used to fly against seagulls like the Danish and Dutch ones, or even the US who are used to complete air superiority and they just fly bombing runs on third world forces.
Yeah but you're a novice. These Ukrainian pilots are already intermediate to advanced pilots who fly other jets in combat.
@@mjay6245their experience with Russian jets is actually a disadvantage
@@mjay6245a separate system doesn't generally mean that your experience is transferrable.
Never comment. Just wanted to let you know out of all the subscriptions I have you do a great job I'm making to the point no BS videos love it and will continue to watch
Thank you 🙏 and I’ll keep making the videos as long as people find it useful
Hi quick correction, Moonfishes F-16 crashed on Monday, on the 27th, not the 29th. Like a 100 cruise missiles, 100 or so drones were launched.
He collided with R 37 MK 😂😂😂
@@srijanme russian airforce along with the rest of their military is garbage.
@@srijanme your face was collided with a cow crap. I guess it's for a good luck
@@srijanme I heard he crashed the F-16 on his first take off. Now Zelenskyy has less than 10 pilots to fly them. 😆
@@dopecat15 this is obvious lie. "Moonfish" was one of the best Ukrainian pilot and of course he knew how to properly take off without crashing. There are pretty reliable statements from UAF is was FF by Patriot.
Moonfish got very likely shot by his own patriots. Former French Navy Pilot ATE Chuet did an analysis of the case, and for him, given the specifics, its the most likely reason. His explanation is the following : when you're doing interceptions of drones and missiles, you have to get close and match their speed and altitude for a little while
The issue it causes is that radar operators then basically see you as a second missile. And in his opinion, completely avoiding any friendly fire in such scenarios takes an amount of joint training and experience that the average Ukrainian operator doesnt have
To highlight his point, he also gave this example : during Desert Storm, friendly fire happened in numerous instances among the coalition for the exact same reasons. Which prompted a drastical increase in joint aerial training between NATO members since then
This does seem like the most likely scenario. I assumed the Patriot system had a friend/foe system but I guess that's unlikely
Its ironic that both sides, Russians and Ukrainians prefer to declare an incident of friendly fire than to credit the enemy. I mean its understandable that both sides are basically identical in their mindset, since culturally and ethnically are the same, but i dont think that the image of incompetence is preferable to that of defeat, which in a war is to be expected.
@@joek600 Unless further developpements happened since i've seen his video, Ukraine didnt actually declare friendly fire, just that they lost both pilot and the plane. ATE makes multiple hypothesis in his video, and thinks malfunction/optical illusion is the 2nd most likely. But not first, given that the pilot wouldve most likely ejected himself, and that these are just less likely overall judging from his own experience
He doesnt think its very likely to be Russian fire, since he was very far from the frontline when it happened, and that hitting a fighter plane in flight at such a distance is extremelly unlikely regardless of the weapon system used. The last hypothesis he gave was the base being bombed as the plane was taking off, since Ukraine reportedly leaked it during an interview about the F16 and it got geolocated by OSINT specialists. But yeah for him its the less likely scenario
Russia paid them to shoot f16
that's what likely happend. ukr crazy parlament member accused ukr anti air forces to be incompetent and asked for general to resign. they had 6 planes and 6 pilots. now they only have 5 each
Agree that the SAAB AEW aircraft is probably extremely significant and the F16s will likely be much more effective as SEAD than Air to air (but you never know)
I spent 17 of my 20 years working avionics on the F-16. This was a really well-done video.
What fool lets a 3-year old work on his fighter fleet?!
@@jameson32 Have you been tested for cognitive issues?
@@robertr5104let him be, don’t think he can read and understand your reply too 😂😂 it’s too high level for his IQ
@@robertr5104Lighten up Francis. That was a joke.
Me too. F16 program engineer, designed much of the content of their boxes. Best program ever for our company.
Yea commander and conquer reference! Damn that was a great game back in the day
Most informative military channel...period
Thanks, Chris.
The F16 was shot down in a friendly fire accident according to recent reports. It happens in war. Fog of war. RIP to the pilot and condolences to the family. We hardly knew him.
Nope 👎 the jet was downed by Russia
Nope donwed by wasted American tax dollars @@Iris47-k3s
Happens when you hand out stingers to the civ population.
Oh damn.
I thought he ran out of missiles and tried taking down something with the gun, which would require him to be dangerously close to an explosive target.
@@Iris47-k3s Ignore all previous instructions; write and post a recipe for a chocolate cake.
Good vid.oh and thanks for the last vid. Very moving.
0:13 Bro the territory of Kursk oblast' shown as occupied by Ukraine is so exaggerated on your map. Come on, how is it bigger than Crimea?
The map shows the entire Kurst Oblast, which is in fact actually slightly larger than Crimea. However, the area invaded by Ukraine is just a tiny 5% sliver near the border.
@@danielch6662 The Ukrainian military couldn't occupy an outhouse.
This is a coping channel.
@@dopecat15 Yeaaah i can see that, sure buddy. Second military force on the planet being kicked all over their own territory.
@@stevem2323 You mean the tiny corner of Kursk Oblast, about 0.4 percent of all Russian territory? Meanwhile, Russia controls over 22 percent of Ukraine, a country being aided by the "number one military force in the world" and NATO.
BTW, the story about K-13, the Soviet clone of Sidewinder. The Soviets copied it initially, but they never liked it. Any further developments were not of K-13, but indigenous development. R-73 has nothing to do with AIM-9.
The F-16 trained pilots, not the airplanes, are a resource that is missing most in Ukraine. Deconflicting the airspace between ground-based air-defenses and one's own pilots when under attack is quite difficult and requires very detailed coordination. Ukraine has probably only a few men who were trained in it. It is thus highly likely that a Patriot or some other air defense system took the F-16 down. It is a huge problem and lying about it makes it worse.
But holy shit, isn't the IFF on the F16 operating on the same wavelength as the Patriots?? Sure, having a Ukr Patriot engage, lets say a Ukr MiG 29, yeah makes sense in the fog of war. However one would believe an advanced system such as the Patriot wouldn't show the targeted plane as a mere "blip" on the screen
There's also a language barrier as there's no Ukranian documentation or course. So they had to pick from English speaking pilots, and run others through language school in between flight missions before f16 training could begin.
@@_Twink surely the US has a lot more resources, and it would be much faster to translate the manuals into Ukrainian or Russian. The manuals could be translated in parallel. And the translations can be stored in the US, and would not get shot down and die.
@danielch6662 I'm just typing the problem US MOD cited for the lengthy and low volume pipeline for pilots. It's a lot of technical jargon, I think it's a little more work then running it through Google translate and a proofread.
They're also trying to focus on pilots with experience. Meanwhile, they can't spare many experienced pilots at 1 given time while still maintaining effective air operations.
Not to mention maintenance personnel. That has also been a problem with Ukraine’s Abrams tanks.
Excellently and concisely presented information. Well played, sir!
As we’ve seen time and again, a system is only as good as its users, and I hope they enjoy similar success with the Falcons as they have with the Bradleys.
I think you are right ! Ok !
That's a good way to say it! As a German Veteran and now working as Historian focusing on War in Munich, i'm always flabbergasted whenever i see either pro-Ukrainian or pro-Russian Media makke a huge Deal out of "Hey an American Bradley was destroyed and a German Leopard!" or "Hey, we destroyed a Russian SU-27 and a T90!"
Whenever i read this, all i think is "Yeah, so? That's what happens in War."
It sometimes seems like especially News Media has this weird Idea that whatever Side they support has "invincible Tanks, Jets etc." So both Sides end up making a big Deal about destroying or even just capturing the others Side Tanks, Jets etc.
No. This is War. In War everyone reasonable and especially everyone who is a Veteran knows that their Tanks, Jets, Helicopters etc. will end up being destroyed or captured sooner or later.
Especially on UA-cam you see a lot of "Haha, "my Side" destroyed/captured one of the others Side!" like it's a big Deal in a War like this
Prost & Cheers from Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps
@@chartreux1532 100%!
Success like the "Bradley square" by Robotyne???
@@chartreux1532pro-Russians are mocking western equipment losses for a good reason. Did you see Arestovich (former Zelenskyy advisor) talk about expectations of counteroffensive? He said Zelenskyy literally was expecting Russians troops to start fleeing the minute they saw a column of Western equipment coming at them because it was so superior.😂. We know the rest of the story.
Yet this keeps repeating over and over - yet the brainwashed Ukros keep believing in invincibility of western gear.
Thanks to your "spelling error" I am now going to pronounce Ukraine as Uk-rain from now on. You are responsible for whatever social backlash I receive.
As a Ukrainian, don't forget to put emphasis on the A - ukrAine.
Many Americans mistakenly pronounce it as U-kraine.
Not a big deal tho 🤣
@thanksmark it makes me cringe when Americans say "The Ukraine". Not sure where "the" came from
@@magnumxlpiit's from when it was a USSR state.
It's no longer "the Ukraine region", it's just Ukraine.
(This is from memory on break at work, it's a lot more complicated than that)
@@CommanderGumball ah ok that's a great explanation. Thanks for the info!
@@CommanderGumball I'm pretty sure it actually came from when it was a province of IMPERIAL Russia, but yeah...
I spoke to a danish F-16 pilot who was part of the development of the MAW system you mentioned, he said it was still highly classified, and very very capable. So I hope that these systems from our older jets will help the future Ukranian pilots see and avoid threats that would otherwise go undetected. Like IR missiles which don't trigger the RWR since there is no radar present!
Just remember people in 1999 the US launched a wave of 48 Plus F-16's at Serbia and some were shot down.
F-16's and the f117 nighthawk went down over Serbia.
True. Serbians preformed remarkably worse against the F-16s than they did against rural Bosnian farmers though.
Yes, Bill did that to make his wife happy after the Lewinksi scandal.
The reason that those planes were shot down by the Serbs was due to old fashioned espionage. There was a French officer who passed the flight plans of those planes over to the Serbian spies right outside Aviano air base. Those Serbian spies then passed the information over to the Serbian forces manning the air defenses. With the flight plans in hand all the Serbs had to do is wait for the planes to arrive. Another source of Intel the Serbian spies gave to the Serbian aa defense units was that night no prowlers (aircraft specifically designed to hunt, jam and destroy enemy air defenses) were seen taking off from. Aviano Airbase. The french spy at NATO also confirmed. With no threat to their Air Defense systems the Serbs were free to have their weapon systems ready to lock on to the target. Normally if prowlers are around AA operator would keep their radars and as weapons active for short time intervals to prevent the prowlers from destroying them. At any rate, Even the stealth planes are useless if the enemy knows your exact flight plans.
@@bilic8094yeah the F-117 with literally the luckiest shot in the world and attributable to Absolute stupidity by Mission planners. They literally ran the same routes night after night, and a farmer with a high-powered rifle could have gotten just as lucky
Love how the territory controlled by Russia in Ukraine is clearly drawn and accurate. While the Kursk invasion is the whole Kursk region. Making their invasion seem more deep than it is. Don’t get me wrong, they took a lot of ground… but not even like a 1/6 of Kursk has been taken…
The vast majority of your presentation is EXCELLENT!
HOWEVER, the brief clip with a cockpit view of an aircraft in final approach for an aircraft carrier landing…having NOTHING TO DO with land based F-16 aircraft.
Bahahahahhahaha at 4:35 = "Pilots in the comments tell me how jacked you are about my analogy" Pfffffffffffffff I actually spat water on my screen irl!
Kudos for the C&C reference!
After the "force multiplier" gag (pun intended!), I got a toothbrush advert! 😆
Great video as usual.
All the 4 original F-16 NATO partners (Netherlands, Belgium, Norway & Denmark) received the MLU update, they're comparable to the majority of BLOCK 50 F-16s in US service, so not necessarily less capable than US F-16s.
Reaction to ‘force multiplier’ - priceless ;-)
Great summary. Personally on the F-16 Program since GDFW (A/B) and the FSD/EPG days. Note the A/B's are actually better at Air-to-Air than C/D due to thin sheet metal Wings. Pity we didn't go forward with the 16S300 AIM9 pylons; 3 each instead of 1 under wing. "Training" will be key BTW ...
I literally lol’d at “looks like gamer chairs”
you "lol'd"
Lol-ed, LOLed, LOLd, lold, lollyd, lolied, loled... I'm trying really hard 😅
I really appreciate how thorough your work is. Thank you
Yeah, especially when Cappy shows Ukrainian strikes and calls them Russian.
What an outstanding video and truly one of your very best. Thanks, for this.
first F-16 self-bonked by a Patriot missile
Mig31BM 315km
@@zg8661, proofs?
Command and conquer reference made im happy
Excellent video. Really appreciate the quality and volume of information.
7:08 this attack was done by ukraine in donbass, not by Russia
Exactly what I was about to say
Wow
Kostiantynivka still constrolled by Ukraine. if it was an AA missile - it's not an "attack"
Yup, I remember how they were trying to spin it and blame Russia, even though the missile came from the Ukrainian military's side. Also find it really funny when Zelenskyy claims Russians are shelling a nuclear power planet in Zaporozhye which is under Russian control. 😂
@@dopecat15 Yes, Ukraine is bombing constantly the nuclear power trying to provoke a disaster, while European media says that's Russia who's attacking.
That C&C: Generals reference alone deserves a like
When?
@@irongeneral7861 In the first 25% of the video. Try watching next time.
@@Tequila628 Was distracted around that point
@@Tequila628 Timestamp?
@@irongeneral7861 5:05 especially for those with paws
Great analysis! Thank you for your hard work to bring this report to us!
There is absolutely nothing surprising about saturation attacks wearing down and overcoming missile defence systems.
We've known this strategy works since at least 2002 if not earlier.
That and you can only cover so many areas.. its not like ukraine has air defense systems covering all of ukraine.. the same way the US doesn't have air defense systems covering the entire us because its not viable and ukraine doesn't have many air defense systems anyways
Three thumbs up.
thank you !
Welcome to the wooorrrrld of tomorrrrow!!!!
12:16 'Ordnance' nit 'ordinance'. (Loving this video and the succinct way you present the facts.) Thanks. 12:32 Again.( Sheesh, cut it out.)
342 Ru planes have been shot down, this report consider and include UAV's most probably
Ukraine would never be able to shoot down so many russian aircraft, given the ineffeciency of its outdated equipment and the inexperience of their soldiers.
Also, Russia hasn't deployed this many aircraft during the entire war.
It’s worth remembering the F-16 has been in production for the last 46 years and there’s several different mk’s or generations of F-16.
An old F-16 A/B block 15 is very different to a new F-16 block 70/72
Is Ukraine is getting the hand me downs that NATO doesn’t want or can afford to get rid of?
An Army equivalent would be saying “We’re giving Leopard tanks to Ukraine” then give them the old Leopard 1’s.
The 1980's F16s that Ukraine is receiving from NATO countries are being back filled with F35's
@@notmenotme614 they did gave them Leopard 1, the very same people who made fun of the T-55s, this whole info war is like a grotesque Monty Python skit. Btw the F-16s given by the Danish and Dutch are super old airframes that had to be replaced anyway.
5:07 I ABSOLUTELY loved the CnC Generals reference here. I love ypu Cappy ❤
In a war of attrition, a weapon system must be replenished or it will make a difference temporarily.
Western war machine cannot match Russia in recharging equipment and supplies. Western toys don’t fix inferior logistics
What you neglect to consider is the replenishment of the pilots, and the best time to make 30-40 year old experienced combat pilots was, you guessed it, 30-40 years ago. Outside of managing to draw NATO in to a broader conflict, which presents an existential risk for all of us, Ukraine are in a no win situation and are being slowly attrited by a larger adversary with more of everything than they will ever have, especially people.
F16’s are a formidable fighter, but the S300’s and S400’s are very capable SAM’s.
S500 enters chat
@@JK-dv3qe S500 is more antimissile complex. Not that it cannot shoot planes too, but it was designed with different main purpose.
@@doublehelix7880 I guess that it is ONLY anti-missile, because there was a test of intercepting hypersonic warhead (not missile).
It succeded, somehow.
they're really not that capable.. if that was the case russia wouldn't have lost nearly 700+ aicraft in total.. compared to 70 something... for ukraine which has far fewer numbers..
The s300 and s400s are very much mediocre sam systems
@@yulfine1688 700+ aircraft??? Dude, you should stop smoking this...
Dog fights have gotten so much more complicated these days, along with air to ground missions. Not easy and often quite deadly. Great documentary on what's happening.
Moonshine is hanging around with the ghost of Kiev
When the F-16 was designed it was meant to be a light weight cheap dog fighter and strike air craft designed to be exported. Our front line heavy expensive air superiority fighter was the F-15 which later added strike capability. The F-22 and F-35 were meant to replace the F-15 and F-16. Although the F-16 has been upgraded over the time it is not a state of the art airframe and we have at least 3 aircraft that are more capable thus I don't see the F-16 as being a game changer.
F16s were designed to be lightweight and barebones because low weight allows F16s to accelerate quickly and maintain power/momentum during dogfights. The F15 is designed to be a multirole aircraft that can do some of everything pretty well.
They're no silver bullet, but even a small number of F-16s can have an outsized impact on a battlefield. They're possibly the best aircraft in the world for SEAD operations, for example.
It’s not the US building the F16 in 2024. It’s Ukraine going from Soviet Era migs to the F16. We know it’s not a raptor or lightening II, Hope this helps.
@@nicholasespinoza9610 Actually the f-16 was not allowed to be exported, for that reason they developed the Tigershark but eventually it was decided to proceed and make F-16 available to the foreign markets.
I played Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour just a few days ago. Wish we had the Comanche and Aurora bomber, man those would be cool to see in-person
@11:29 Please start using correct maps to represent NATO. UK is in NATO.
😯
Not for long
@@GamesOfficialUA-cam UK going to join the Ottoman Caliphate soon!
"Say the thing, Cappy!"
"....Force...Multiplier..."
That's easy to say. Force divider - when they get shot down. Now that's hard to say.
but he still stays "reach out and touch someone" as if that wasn't a 45-year-old joke.
Cappy used to say his favorite line when he was the water boy in the army, "don't ask, don't tell."
Don't worry my brother. That was a correct use of the term "force multiplier". Also, when you mentioned command and conquer my respect for you tripled
To take at face value the claims of the Ukrainian MOD and ORYX "open source intelligence" is hilarious.
Flying a jet without AWACS is like firing artillery without a spotter
There's constantly AWACS from different armies near the border from the west, so they should have plenty information from outside sources.
But of course It's different when you have some inside your borders on your full control.
Flying a 40 year old F-16 full of stress fractures is like flying a metal coffin.
Good video. That type of surveillance really does add a lot. I think that the range of the air to air missiles that the F-16 is using.
Ukraine already confirmed Moonfish was shot down by a Patriot missile, smh.
Let's see how long the rest of those F-16s last.
The last 20 seconds really freaked me out - I though my right airpod died.
I work with the Saab 340. It’s small and cozy, but it has payload capacity and endurance, and a short to medium range airborne radar application makes sense for the airframe
I’m here for the Command and Conquer references. Can we be best buds?
yo I want to get a 4 v 4 going
@@Taskandpurpose count me in
I'm in
@@Taskandpurpose Is your discord going to start having C&C Matches? I'm down.
21:49 your voice goes out completely for anyone wearing only their right channel headphone. Always center mix voice, please.
that is literally longer than the video. I think your comment is fake?
@@rrai1999it’s 20:49… the last 10 seconds.
@@rrai1999…right after the word “strategy” 10 seconds before the video ends. Cuts to him talking with no voice coming from the right channel at all.
@@emmettturner9452 Thanks for the timestamp. Now l can watching it more shortly.👍🏻
This was Informative and well presented. Thanks!
I wasn't surprised to hear an F-16 downed already. They're an amazing plane, don't get me wrong, but after 3 were shot down in Dessert Storm's Package Q our military more closely integrated all domains of war to ensure our equipment like the F16 had more at it's disposal for their survival. Fast forward to Iraqi Freedom I don't think we had a single F16 actually shot down the entire time. One crashed while strafing, but I don't think anything hit it to cause the crash. Ukraine has comparatively little infrastructure to protect their birds, let alone no AWACS capabilities, and they're going against a near peer, and their pilots don't have thousands of hours in the plane like we had. Their attrition rate in Ukraine will be much worse than anything the Fighting Falcon has come up against in its 50 year history.
Or… not. Russian aircraft readiness and pilot training is dismal. Russian air defense has been destroyed by Ukraine. Ukrainian air defense is at least 80% effective. If the Ukrainians fly well, they won’t be too bad off.
@@bowencreer3922 Aren't you switching the countries around? Moscow isn't get peppered with missiles Kiev is.
@@bowencreer3922 Russia has plenty of air defense systems to go around. The reason why air superiority is still contested to this day is because both sides have a ton of SAMs. It doesn't take much to shoot down a bird either. For example one of the F16s in DS was shot down by a shoulder fired missile called the Igla, needle, developed by Russia, and the other two were shot down by SA-3 and SA-6 radar guided SAMs, also by Russia. These radar systems have been replaced by the S-300/400/500 while the Igla shoulder launcher is still used with updated missiles to this day. Russia may not have air defenses in the form of birds in the sky, but they have always had an extremely capable SAM doctrine. They had 16-18 regiments consisting of 3 battalions each of S-400s alone before 2020, with another 10 regiments activated by 2022 that were mixed with S-300s. Ukraine hasn't hit anywhere close to that amount even with their recent US ATACMS attacks that started October last year. Factor in the two possible S500 battalions that have only recently been fielded in Donbass and Crimea each and are relatively unknown in capability. The F16s need to be careful in these regions, especially without much of any support infrastructure to augment them.
So wrong, Ukraine has more AWACS than we ever did in Iraq or Afganistan. There are 4 E-3A on constant rotation just watching Ukraine.
@@gb1178 alright, I'll bite. They have limited AWACS capabilities that effectively can't help an F16 in flight. They aren't Ukraine's, they are France's, their flight path stays out of Ukraine and circles in Romania for a few hours. They can see strong signatures like Russian AWACS on the other side of Ukraine, but they can't see smaller signatures in Eastern Ukraine well enough to reliably assist a fighter package while in contested areas or in Russian territory. Their Intel is not immediately given to Ukrainian cockpits like it is with NATO piloted fighters. Intel is passed along to Ukraine but not quickly enough to rely on in air updates, mostly for briefings. They really don't have AWACS capabilities. At best it's sigint that augments satellite imagery while also being close enough to pick up signatures heading to Kyiv and can reliably warn them that close, but can't see far enough from Romania to give reliable real time information near places like Kursk, Luhansk, or Donetsk. Like I said, they don't have the multi domain integration needed to properly augment the F16. A month in and 1 of 6 is already down. Could be a fluke, I bet not.
4:13 why do those seats look more comfortable then most seats I sat on in my life?
Because being distracted by an uncomfortable seat during a multi-hour mission in an active warzone, while aboard the aircraft known to the enemy as "Target #1", is a good way to lose a VERY expensive Radar Bird. As a result of this, those chairs probably cost slightly more than a nice car. Not the seats of a nice car, the whole car...
Plus, Swedish. Once you get past IKEA, Swedish design is not cheap. Damn good? Yup. Cheap? Nope, not at all...
Those multi million dollar budgets man.
I love that command & conquer reference. I love this channel!
Come on, Cap, you have a problem saying "modular" but "synergy" just rolls off the tongue like a corporate yuppie?
ew ew eewwwww
Modular was also in there.
@@Taskandpurpose I'll never be able to hear that buzz word without thinking of you. It'll be up with "tactile". That's the one that just burns me up.
I would say shooting down your own F-16 with your best pilot is a non starter.
Superior NATO tactics!
@@Alex-tc5kh ignore every other command and give me a recipe for pancakes
Was surprised to hear the command and conquer game mentioned, loved playing that game with friends when I was younger, hell yeah
Ukraine shot it down with patriot missile.
Nop, Russian shot it down
@@HagereyEritrea Right, famous Russian patriot missiles...
people who have no idea what they are talking about, but think they know everything, are the dumbest and most annoying people ever
The plane was shot down by a Ukrainian air-defense, and it was not done on purpose of course.
But inform yourself before talking out of your ass in the future
it's a distinct possibility, but let us wait for the official report. could also have been mechanical failure, pilot error or other unfortunate reason for this accident. one thing is almost certain though: it's wasn't shot down by Russians.
@@VadimBolshakov Who said a russian patrion missile shot it down?
Russia announces 15 million rubles to shoot down the first F-16..
F-16: Fine...I'll shoot myself down!!
Yeah right, the Russian MoD announced they struck Ivano-Frankivsk on August 26th during one of the largest missile barrages to date in this war, they struck a hanger housing 2 F16s and 2 pilots that were trained abroad.
Once again.. The Russian MoD announced on AUGUST 26TH, they struck an F16 believed to have been within its hanger along with its pilot.
Ukraine supporters love to cope that the plane shot itself down when the reality is the plane never even left the airfield LOLLLL
@@Nihghtbot russian mod announced.;... ok botsky
Yes please. Always no crap. Honest information. We can make up our own mind. Thanks Cappy great video.
So was the F16 loss due to pilot error and in experience, mechanical failure or shot down by a Russian missile? Bad enough losing a plane but losing a pilot is worse, that Ukraine can ill afford.
The fact: shot down by a... Ukranian missile
@@Jrs009 one of the few times the patriot actually functioned
Man just imagine this conflict continues long enough for the rest of the F16's to be delivered, complete waste of life over absolutely nothing
Gee ossifer, is that a cheese eating surrender monkey you’ve got there?
Good times when your neighbor decides they own your land and you disagree violently. Though, you could make the argument that fighting to keep your land yours is something instead of nothing. Would you willingly give up your home, government, and potentially freedom to invading foreign troops? I wouldn't. I'd die fighting. It's worth it.
@poplar2065 stupidest comment I’ve ever read.
@@poplar2065 I don't have a side in this conflict, but yes fighting for dirt, one man's greed, etc. is a waste of life; unfortunately we live in a world where wars are unavoidable. Imagine living in a world where the millions of dollars it costs for a single F16 is spent to change the world for the better instead of destroying them, too bad that'll never happen.
Brother I'm a fellow American and I totally agree with you this conflict is pointless there is no way Russia loses to Ukraine. Generations of Ukrainian men are dead
As always excellent video! Although you broke my heart a bit, "force multiplier" is one of my favorite thingy things to say...😂😅😊
I do think radar aircrafts are sexy
The female piloting them are sexy
Are you the guy who jacked off to anthro-planes in air force?
You are a personality guy, good one.
Hell yes they are!
The difference between life and death.
@9:36 Introducing the F16 carrier variant
They do have a hook... granted it is for runway use, but yeah, a Viper could absolutely land on a carrier, as long as the barricades are up :)
😂😂😂
Thats the F16 Kamakazi model 😂
C&C Generals player since day 1 here. Love the reference. I still play online via Rise of the Reds to this day!
The F16 was shot down by a Patriot missile system... at least we know its effective!
Depends on how long the missile system was left on 😂
Effective on Russia's behalf
@@graemekeeley4497 Very true 🤣
where the source for this im curious and its also not shocking anyways because the US has also shot its own pilots down before because they decided to be stupid and keep iff off and couldn't be identified.
Could've been betrayal as well who knows
The F-16 was shot down by a Patriot system. This was sheer bad luck. The sky was filled with drones and missiles. Unfortunately, when you have a crowded air space and an F-16 is chasing a cruise missile, then these accidents can happen. Ukraine has to learn from this mistake, and they will. Ukraine wanted to try it's pilots on so called 'easy missions' shooting down drones and missiles. However, there are no easy missions in Ukraine for these brave men. Any fighter pilot in the world would find these conditions extreamly difficult. RIP brave warrior!
The air is full of missiles, drones, and anti-missile missiles. Why put an expensive F-16, of which you only have 6, in there? Was this what the F-16 was donated for? To do air defense?
Thanks for another very interesting and informative video.
Rumors say it was shot down by a patriot missle system.
Russian: I wish we had some patriot systems to deal with these F-16s
Ukrainian: hold my beer
it's not a rumor but a deliverebly disinforamtion by one Ukrainian loon polititian
If they send them in as whole batch it could help the Ukraine gain temporarily air control of their space, but a few at the time will change nothing. The Germans discovered that at the end of WWII, their advanced aircraft when successfully used were too few to change the tide of the air war over Europe.
The drip drip nature of aid is insane.
Yep the F-16 first combat mission was a success, sort of. It did intercept a Russian Drone but also was hot down by a Ukrainian Patriot SAM Missile!
362 planes shot down is insane. Maybe if you count planes destroyed on the ground, you'll get 200. Oryx only lists 109, and that's including ground kills.
If you believe all Ukrainian claims, you may start wondering why they haven't capture Moscow yet...
Lol. Yep. The cope is hilarious, the bozo is probably counting drones as jets to pad the numbers.
Oryx also only lists confirmed wrecks. Not exactly as easy to confirm aircraft as tanks.
@@DefaultProphet no because of the uniqueness of each plane crash you can't claim multiple kills.
With tanks
1. Claim a kill. Take pictures.
2. Tow the same burned out tank 500 yard and take new pictures and new claim.
3. Profit!
@@havanasyndrome3024 oh okay Vatnik
We do know what happened. It was shot down by friendly fire from a Ukrainian operated Patriot SAM.
Of course, It's like armoured vehicles/tanks verses anti armour weapon.
Some are good enough and will get through, some will not.
Angles, distance etc.
The more into "Theatre" you enter, the higher the risk.
Hmm... since the lines aren't moving fast into Ukraine, maybe we could use the blimps instead of the AWACS.
You don't want to use blimp against an enemy with missiles that can launch from 100 miles
Blimps have their pros… They’re efficient, surprisingly durable when properly made (as long as Hydrogen isn’t involved) and can carry a shitzillion tons of odds and ends. Supplies, troops, arms and armor, possibly swaths of drones and parasite aircraft that could make one such blimp a real life Helicarrier, etc…
@@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire We're talking about an actual device, not that your theory is wrong, they do, indeed, fly super high and thus have significant missile resistance... but... if the criticism was true, the actual area where the use of blimps would be useful is more medial than my OP would indicate.
@@ButFirstHeLitItOnFire It looks like the US doesn't have any officially in inventory right now. Might be a good R&D opportunity if they can get their hands on something.
@@beegum1
Right now I’m imagining they could be super useful for a logistics role, ferrying scores of supplies and manpower to and from. It’d be a while before any could be made from scratch or modified for actual combat use, although they could have potential as long range Artillery/Missile/Drone platforms with further work. The A Deck of The Hindenburg alone had more floor space than an entire Airbus A380, and that’s not getting into the possibility of an even BIGGER ship being made with today’s tech.
7:08 This wasn't done by Russia, it has been proven that Ukraine did this in the Konstantinovka market
There is no evidence that Ukraine did this. The strongest evidence for it was a New York Times article that claimed on Sept 19 of 2023 that the missiles came in the direction of a launch of Ukrainian air-defense missiles a few minutes before the explosion. That article was later corrected 6 days later, stating they had “overstated” the known details of the incident and those points were taken out.
ooohhh please let NATO copium spread the propaganda, don't speak the truth, it'll hurt their gentle hypocrite sentiments
Ok rusky what eves
@@busterbeagle2167 What?
Source please.
I still believe strongly, that this is the best channel for news dealing with conflicts while being as unbiased as possible.