This photo taken from an F-16 in Ukraine answers a frequently asked question: What is the F-16 doing in Ukraine?

The answer? A bit of everything!

In the image, the fighter jet is armed with:

8× GBU-39 SDBs (glide bombs for ground strikes)

1× AIM-9X Sidewinder & 1× AIM-9L Sidewinder (short-range air-to-air missiles)

2× AIM-120C AMRAAMs (long-range air-to-air missiles)

This loadout suggests a flexible mission profile: if a ground target appears, it strikes; if an aerial threat emerges, it engages.

This multi-role capability is exactly what the F-16 was designed for.