A seriously dated F-16 defeating Russia’s flagship fighter is a bit embarrassing if true. I wonder if maybe a Swede donated ASC-890 AEW&C aircraft was involved, giving the F-16 an advantage. Or a fixed radar system like Patriot of the TRMS-4D. Recent reports say Ukraine F-16s finally received Link-16 capability, meaning the ASC-890 or fixed radar systems could feed targeting data to the F-16, allowing the Falcon to engage targets with AMRAAM far beyond the capability of its radar, and the Sukhoi wouldn’t even know it was being targeted.
Perhaps we will see an increase in Su-34 shoot downs as well.