Enlarge Image Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET

The F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet is a venerable machine that's been around since the late 1970s. Despite its long history, it can still learn new tricks. A Royal Danish Air Force F-16 participated in a live-fire exercise that involved shooting down a remote drone in mid-flight with a guided missile.

A new video of the exercise shows off the jet's impressive display of accuracy. The drone is a Banshee 600 from Meggitt Defence Systems in the UK. Meggitt describes it as the "industry standard in affordable aerial targetry for surface-to-air and air-to-air weapon systems." The footage of the F-16's guided missile tracking it down and taking it out is a thrill to behold.

The video, posted Tuesday, comes from YouTube channel World Conflict Films, known for military demonstration and combat films. The rest of the flick shows the F-16 picking off a flare with the dramatic launch of a Sidewinder missile from near the wing tip.

Fighter jets aren't the only things that can remove a drone from the sky. A man in New Jersey was arrested in late 2014 for allegedly shooting down a neighbor's drone with a shotgun, an act that ultimately amounted to criminal mischief and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose accusations. A group of firefighters were caught on film in early June knocking a drone out of the air with the powerful spray from a fire hose.

As drones continue to gain in popularity, we can probably expect to hear of increasingly creative ways of plucking them out of mid-flight.

(Via Ubergizmo)