Ukraine Uses F-16 Fighters to Shoot Down Russia's Jet-Powered Drones
Ukraine is using F-16 fighter jets against Russia's jet-powered drones. The New York Times reports that the approach is imperfect, since expensive aircraft are being used to counter a drone threat.
Ukraine is using F-16 fighter jets to shoot down jet-powered drones launched by Russia, according to a New York Times report published on 19 October 2026 about Russia's war against Ukraine.
The newspaper describes the fighters as a key tool against what it calls Moscow's latest weapon of choice: jet-powered drones. This gives the F-16s a significant role in Ukraine's air defence against this type of threat.
An imperfect fix
The report stresses that deploying planes worth multiple millions of dollars to counter drones is only a partial solution. In other words, using costly combat aircraft to deal with drones is not an ideal way to defend against these attacks.
The short summary available from the source does not give further details, such as the number of drones shot down, the tactics used or other air defence options.
