F-16 Fighting Falcon News

March 31, 2024 (by Lieven Dewitte) - On Thursday the Venezuelan Air Force reported that one of its F-16 fighters shot down an aircraft declared hostile after it violated national airspace.
The aircraft was declared "hostile" as it did not have a flight plan nor an authorization from air traffic control to operate in the area.

The news was reported through the force’s official Twitter account, which also provided a video of the fighter jet’s firing run. At the time of this publication, neither the National Bolivarian Armed Forces nor the AMB have issued an official statement providing further details on the incident that occurred.

In the video sequence you can see how the pilot of the F-16 fighter from the 16th Fighter Air Group made a firing run that resulted in the downing of the hostile aircraft. It can be presumed that all protocols were followed for such unauthorized flights, including attempts to communicate with the aircraft orders to land at an airport specified by the authorities, with shooting it down as a last resort.

The Venezuelan F-16s have been carrying out various deployments in recent months to guard sovereign airspace. One of the most relevant was their participation in the joint military exercise “General Domingo Sifontes,” amid tensions with Guyana over the Esequibo territory. More recently, the combat aircraft based at El Libertador Air Base conducted an air-to-air missile launch exercise. This activity involved the participation of three F-16A/B aircraft (two single-seaters and one two-seater) armed with AIM-9L Sidewinder and Rafael Python 4 missiles.