Ukraine F16s/Patriot Team Up v Russian SU-35

[elxaime]

Earlier in week, reports emerged of an apparently successful ambush of a Russian SU-35 by three Ukrainian F-16's working alongside a forward deployed Patriot battery https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/07/09/ ... d-patriot/ Information and speculation comes only from the Russian war blogger side of things. This seems to be what happened:

1. A particular Russian Su-35, working with a SU-57 serving as its spotter, had become well-known for using R-37 at max range to keep Ukrainian F-16's on defense so they could not conduct glide bombing;
2. The Ukrainians conducted a joint operation with 3 F-16's and a Patriot brought within 60k of front. One F16 simulated a glide bomb attack which lured the SU-35 in close enough and it was downed, pilot ejecting successfully; speculation as to how the F-16 and Patriot interacted to paint the SU-35;
3. There is some dispute on how the downing occurred. Assumption it was an AIM-120 from one of the two covering F-16's. Others speculated the Patriot got the kill - but others discount the Patriot theory since pilot survival would be unlikely;
4. In any case, whether it was the F-16s or a SAMbush, Russian mil bloggers lament the SU-35 being so easily lured into such a trap. Apparently, this particular Russian pilot had been doing it long enough it had become predictable, then he got sloppy (possibly fatigued since this war has gone on so long)

[Tcao]

Somebody forgot to setup an NFZ, lol