UPDATE: We now have confirmation from General Caine that it was an F-16 which took the kill shot. When I made the video, we didn’t yet know whether it was the Patriot or an F-16 which downed the Russian fighter. In the video, I suspected it was an F-16, not the Patriot, due to the current Patriot interceptor shortage.
Ukraine shot down a Russian Su-35 on July 8th using a three-aircraft F-16 ambush and a repositioned Patriot battery, exploiting a Russian intercept habit that had worked every time; until Ukraine built the entire trap around it. Russian military bloggers, including Fighterbomber, confirmed the loss and described it themselves: three aircraft plus a Patriot against one of theirs.
Ukraine didn’t out-gun the Su-35. It out-thought the pilot flying it.
