Iskander Missile Strike Kills Danish F-16 Pilot in Ukraine - Reports
Eastern Europe and Central Asia , Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft
Danish pilot and F-16 fighter instructor Jepp Hansen was reported killed in a missile strike on a Ukrainian Armed Forces training centre in Krivoy Rog in central Ukraine’s Dnepropetrovsk Region, according to Russian sources. Hansen had significant experience operating the F-16, and had reportedly helped to train dozens of Ukrainian personnel. An Iskander-M missile strike was reportedly used destroy a university building which had been converted into barracks, with the attack almost completely destroying the fourth storey. Denmark and the Netherlands were the first countries to donate American F-16 fighters to the Ukrainian Air Force, with the ageing aircraft procured in the 1980s having already been retired as both countries acquired modern F-35As to replace them. First delivered on August 1, the Ukrainian Air Force lost its first fighter under unclear circumstances on August 26, with this confirmed three days later. Both Denmark and the Netherlands have given Ukraine permission to use its F-16s to participate in deep strikes across Russian territory, although the lightweight aircraft’s short range, obsolete sensors and lack of long range weapons has limited its value in this regard. The fighters are expected to be modified to integrate a number of long range missile classes, with the United States reported to be considering supplying JASSM cruise missiles which would revolutionise their offensive potential.
The significant differences between the F-16 and prior Ukrainian fourth generation fighters such as the MiG-29 has raised serious questions regarding how quickly Ukrainian pilots could convert to the new aircraft, and fuelled speculation that the aircraft may be operated by contractors from NATO member states. Similar questions have been raised regarding other complex hardware such as Ukraine’s Patriot air defence systems, which were delivered in a fraction of the time that it would take to train Ukrainian operators. Western advisors, logisticians, combatants, and other personnel operating newly delivered NATO-standard hardware have played a central and growing role in the war effort since early 2022, with the New York Times observing that year regarding their operations: “Commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine... training and advising Ukrainian troops and providing an on-the-ground conduit for weapons and other aid.” The report emphasised the sheer “scale of the secretive effort to assist Ukraine that is underway.” It was confirmed near the end of the year that British Royal Marines were deployed for frontline combat operations from April, with further information on the operations of Western personnel emerging over the next two years. While conversion to the F-16 is less complex than conversion of air defence crews for Soviet missile systems to operate the new Patriot systems, the role of foreign contractors is nevertheless estimated to be significant.
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