MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. The F-16 fighter jets Kiev has received are typical targets for Russia’s Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile and artillery systems and it "will not be difficult" to destroy them, Bekkhan Ozdoyev, the industrial director of the Rostec corporation's armaments cluster, has said.

"The Pantsir-S system is one of the most effective ones in its class. The complex successfully shoots down sophisticated targets with low radar visibility, for instance, Western low-observable Storm Shadow cruise missiles and high-accuracy multiple rocket launchers. It is not difficult for the Pantsir to destroy such a typical target as an F-16. At present, our enterprise is producing the systems ahead of schedule. Also, Rostec continues to work on the development of new versions of these machines," the corporation’s press service quotes him as saying.

Earlier this year, the manufacturers said that the Pantsir system successfully coped with the destruction of both ATACMS ballistic missiles and Storm Shadow cruise missiles in the special operation. In addition, it is known about the successful testing of a small-size missile for Pantsir, designed especially to destroy drones.

The Economist previously said that Kiev had received 10 F-16 fighter jets, and by the end of 2024 their number will increase to 20, while in all the Ukrainian authorities could count on 79 such fighters over time. One F-16 was destroyed in Ukraine at the end of August. The Wall Street Journal remarked that this sparked a controversy in the Western countries over whether the crash courses for the Ukrainian pilots were effective enough.

The Pantsir system was created at the A.G. Shipunov Instrument Design Bureau (part of the High-Precision Systems holding company of the Rostec state corporation). It is designed for short-range defense of civilian and military facilities, as well as for covering long-range air defense systems. The Russian Armed Forces use the Pantsir-S1 modification boasting a multi-channel target acquisition and tracking system. It is capable of engaging air targets flying at speeds of up to 1,000 m/s at ranges from 200 m to 20 km.