The Pentagon says who is leading the F-16 investigation

The United States Department of Defense refused to disclose the possible reasons for the downing of the F-16 in Ukraine. They said Ukraine was conducting an investigation. Ukrinform wrote this on Tuesday, September 3.

In particular, during the briefing, Pentagon Speaker General Patrick Ryder advised journalists to ask about this accident on the Ukrainian side, which is investigating the incident.

“Like any sovereign country where such an incident occurs, they play a leading role in the investigation. Therefore, Ukraine is the main one in the investigation,” Ryder said.

It was previously reported that the Pentagon considers it unlikely that the F-16 fighter that recently crashed in Ukraine was shot down by friendly fire.

Recall that the F-16 crashed in a massive missile attack from Russia on August 26. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) reported that American fighters were involved in repelling the attack with units of anti-aircraft missile forces. While approaching the next target, contact was lost with one of the aircraft. Later, the plane crashed, killing the pilot, Alexander Mes, who was flying it.

He is among about a dozen pilots trained to fly the F-16 in combat conditions. On the day of the tragedy, Mes managed to shoot down three Russian cruise missiles and an attack drone that he was rushing to intercept another target when ground control lost contact with his plane. Later it turns out that the plane crashed and the pilot died.