The first F-16 fighter jet lost by Ukraine may have crashed because it unintentionally flew through a cloud of debris from a downed missile, Breaking Defense reports, citing Ukrainian defense industry sources.
According to Breaking Defense sources, the fighter worked in conjunction with the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system (SAM) and other air defense systems.
Among the versions put forward by experts is one that is being considered according to which fragments of the downed missile could have damaged the engine and other parts of the plane, the sources told the publication. This caused the fighter to crash and the pilot to die before he could eject, the portal notes.
According to one of the representatives of the Ukrainian defense industry leadership, similar precedents have already occurred: at the beginning of the military operation, kyiv “lost four more fighters for the same reason, when foreign objects in the air disabled the aircraft,” the interlocutor of the publication said.
