Ukraine may have used ‘America’s most modern missiles’ to deal with Russia

Military site War Zone On April 27, he posted a photo of a piece of the body of the American-made medium-range air-to-air missile AIM-120C-8. Debris was found after a Russian air strike on the city of Dnipro, central Ukraine, but the target of the interception and the time of the incident are unknown.

“This seems to be the first time it has been confirmed that Ukraine has the AIM-120C-8 missile, in addition to older AIM-120B variants,” said War Zone commentator Thomas Newdick. Images published last year showed that Ukrainian F-16 fighters carried AIM-120C missiles, but at that time it was not possible to determine what version this was.

The Ukrainian army has not commented on the information.

AIM-120C-8 has an estimated price of 2-2.4 million USD each, and is the most modern variant for export of the AMRAAM missile line.

The US military did not disclose the technical specifications of the AIM-120C-8, but this version is said to have a maximum range of 120-160 km, depending on the launcher. AMRAAM variants can equip F-16 fighters or the NASAMS air defense complex in the Ukrainian army. It is unclear whether the debris found is from a missile launched from an F-16 or a NASAMS.

“For F-16 fighter jets, the importance of AMRAAM is undeniable. This is the first line of surface-to-air missiles carrying active radar probes that Ukraine has put into use, and is also a weapon that they have been lobbying for a long time to own,” Newdick said.

Before receiving the F-16 and AMRAAM fighters, Ukrainian pilots said the lack of missiles carrying active radar detectors was the biggest problem for the country’s air force in the conflict with Russia.

News agency Reuters In March, citing three anonymous sources who had direct knowledge of the situation, they revealed that the Ukrainian F-16 fleet had a serious shortage of surface-to-air missiles in the period November-December 2025, while Russia was preparing to launch a large-scale winter raid campaign.

Images released by the Ukrainian Air Force at the end of 2025 showed that F-16 fighters were only equipped with old AIM-9L/M short-range air-to-air missiles, manufactured in the 1970s and 1980s, and no longer carried the most modern AIM-120B/C or AIM-9X medium-range bullets donated by the US like in the early stages of the war.

Missile shortage forced Ukrainian F-16 pilots to use 20mm rotary barrel guns to shoot down Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and switch to daytime missions. Carrying out this mission at night is very dangerous, although Russia often raids at night and in the early morning.

Ukrainian pilots also had to reuse “spray launcher” missiles, which were inactive during previous interceptions, in the hope that they would fire successfully after maintenance.