One F-16, Nine Drones: Ukrainian Pilot Sets New Single-Sortie Record

Ukrainian F-16 fighters destroyed roughly 1,100 Russian attack drones in October alone, while one pilot set a new single-sortie record by shooting down nine UAVs using only the jet’s 20mm M61A1 Vulcan cannon, Ukraine’s 107th Separate Aviation Wing reported on November 6.

The figures were released following remarks by the wing’s commander at the International Fighter Conference 2026 in Munich.

During one combat sortie, the Ukrainian F-16 pilot intercepted and destroyed nine Russian attack drones, firing exclusively from the fighter’s onboard cannon rather than using air-to-air missiles.

What makes the result even more striking is that the same pilot had set the previous record only days earlier.

During that earlier mission, he shot down eight Russian drones after firing 400 cannon rounds and returned to base with another 100 rounds still available.

A few days later, he took off again and broke his own record, destroying nine drones in a single sortie. After landing, he still had 80 rounds remaining.

“The tactic is simple—just get within range and fire the cannon,” the commander of the 107th Aviation Wing said, describing how Ukrainian F-16 pilots engage Russian attack drones.

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The simplicity of that description masks the difficulty of the task. Using the aircraft’s cannon requires the pilot to close to relatively short range, line up a small moving target, and fire accurately while preserving enough distance to avoid debris after the drone is hit.

The approach also has a major economic advantage. According to the wing commander, Ukrainian F-16s have now destroyed about 4,700 Russian attack drones in total, with the vast majority shot down using their onboard guns.

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That allows Ukraine to preserve expensive air-to-air missiles for targets where cannon fire is either impractical or too dangerous.

In October alone, Ukrainian F-16s were credited with destroying approximately 1,100 Russian drones—an indication of how central the Western-supplied fighters have become to Ukraine’s increasingly layered defense against mass UAV attacks.

Earlier, Denmark supplied Ukraine with more than 50,000 rounds of 20mm ammunition for the cannons aboard its F-16 fighters, giving Ukrainian pilots a far cheaper way to destroy Russian drones than using scarce air-to-air missiles.

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