Venezuelan Fighter Shoots Down US F-16 over Cuba

Who knows if this has any truth but it grabbed my attention. The US is admitting an F-16 went down due to mechanical failure per the article. I wonder if the shoot down was reported before the mechanical failure claim? Has anyone seen anything related to this out there? It would also be one of the first engagements by the Sukhoi-30MK2 Russian Fighter Jet.

F-16 down

F-16 down 2

[edit on 13-3-2007 by on_yur_6]

35 miles east of Marathon puts the crash half way up the Florida Keys 150 miles North and East of Cuba?

Ok, lets say the F16 was hit, why didn't it land in Key West or at the Naval Air Station at Boca Cica 1 mile North of Key West?

Hmmmm, F-16 link #2 makes no mention of an attack.

The Key West paper says nothing about an attack, just a crash.

F-16 pilot survives crash off Marathon
BY TRACI RORK
Citizen Staff
MARATHON — An $18.8 million Air Force fighter jet crashed into the Florida Straits just after 11 a.m. Monday, 35 miles east of Marathon, according to Air Force and Navy sources

keysnews.com...

I'm not going to trust what this site says. For one thing the speech from the Cuban Defense Minister makes no mention of the F-16 crash.

More curiously, however, and almost immediately after Russian Military Analysts reporting on this shoot down to the Kremlin, Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro, the brother of the ailing Cuban Leader Fidel Castro and present leader of Cuba, issued this statement:

"If anyone attacks us, we're ready to pay any price necessary, but the price paid by the invaders of our country would be much higher."

This source instead shows this...
english.people.com.cn...

Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro on Monday warned against an invasion of his country, saying the price paid by invaders would be high.

"If anyone attacks us, we're ready to pay any price necessary, but the price paid by the invaders of our country would be much higher," said the 75 year-old during a speech to troops participating in a military exercises in the western Pinar del Rio province.

Raul, who has been the Caribbean country's defence minister since 1959, called the Cuban revolution "unbeatable."

The exercises are to help the country improve the preparedness of its armed forces, he said, adding that Cuba is training its military for the presence of an enemy politically committed to the destruction of the revolution. The Island nation is less than 200 km from the east coast of the United States.

Besides look at the bottom of what this source mentions...

[Ed. Note: The United States government actively seeks to find, and silence, any and all opinions about the United States except those coming from authorized government and/or affiliated sources, of which we are not one. No interviews are granted and very little personal information is given about our contributors, or their sources, to protect their safety.]

[Ed. Note: The United States government actively seeks to find, and silence, any and all opinions about the United States except those coming from authorized government and/or affiliated sources, of which we are not one. No interviews are granted and very little personal information is given about our contributors, or their sources, to protect their safety.]

Wow, then I should have been silenced a long time ago. lol

Anyhow, I suppose any aircraft shot down could technically be claimed as lost due to mechanical failures... bullets and missiles do tend to cause mechainical failures...

Sorcha Faal :shk:

Hardly a source that is considered reasonable and or trustworthy on ATS, Just ask others.






[edit on 3/13/2007 by shots]